The Study On The Relationship Between Experience Of Power And Temporal Discounting

The study on the temporal discounting stems from the economics and has been popular in the field of behavior decision-making. Temporal discounting is defined as the psychological phenomenon that individuals’ estimate on the value of future rewards decreases as the time. Based on the approach-avoidance theory of power, this study explored the relationship between experience of power and temporal discounting which was measured by fixed sequence titration method and also tested the effect of experiences of frustration and stoicism on the relationship.This study consisted of three sub-studies. Study 1(N=78), which aimed to explore the relationship between experience of power and temporal discounting and its mechanism, was conducted among students and grouped them into high/low power conditions by letting them recall something. Study 2(N=273), which verified the results in Study 1 and explored the moderating effect of experiences of frustration, chose the employees in real organizations as subjects and measured their experience of power by generalized sense of power scale. Study 3(N=80), which designed to examine the moderating effect of stoicism on the relationship between experience of power and temporal discounting, was conducted among students from Han and Tibetan nationality and grouped them using the same method in Study 1. The conclusions were as follows:(1) Power reduced temporal discounting. Compared with low-power individuals, temporal discounting of high-power individuals was lower.(2) The confidence mediated the relationship between power and temporal discounting. Power improved individuals’ confidence, thus reduced individuals’temporal discounting.(3) Experiences of frustration negatively moderated the positive relationship between power and confidence. If high-power individuals had more experiences of frustration, the positive relationship between power and confidence would be weakened.(4) The interactive effect of power and experiences of frustration was mediated by confidence, thus influenced individuals’ temporal discounting.(5) The mediation effect of confidence on the relationship between power and temporal discounting is significant for students from Tibetan nationality; the mediation effect of confidence on the relationship between power and temporal discounting is not significant for students from Han nationality. In one word, confidence mediated the relationship between power and temporal discounting only when individuals’ stoicism is low.