Delay Discounting Rate by a Surrogate Decision Maker Depends on the Smoking Status of the Recipient

The tendency to devalue future rewards is known as delay discounting. Discounting is measured using a series of intertemporal choices between smaller, sooner outcomes and larger, later outcomes. We used a surrogate delay discounting task to explore whether such choices would differ if a hypothetical recipient was a smoker or was an individual with good health habits. Across three studies, the descriptions of the recipient included only information about smoking status (n = 66), smoking status and equal annual income (n = 47), and smoking status and equal weekly expenditures (n = 42). Higher rates of delay discounting for the smoker recipient compared to the nonsmoker recipient were observed across all three studies. These results parallel previous findings showing group differences in discounting between actual smokers and nonsmokers. We discuss the similarities between the present results and previous studies in light of an extension of Bem's (1967) self-perception theory, which posits that choices in laboratory-based delay discounting tasks are informed by observation of real-world intertemporal choice. The theory asserts that there is no fundamental difference between a first-person account of such knowledge and a third-person account. Public Health Significance The results indicate that taking the perspective of a smoker leads to more impulsive choices, as revealed on a surrogate delay discounting task, compared to taking the perspective of a nonsmoker. A source of these differences in impulsive choice might be due to a preexperimental history of observing smokers making more real-world impulsive choices compared to nonsmokers. The results have implications in understanding individual differences in delay discounting in smokers compared to nonsmokers.