The Influence Of Future Self-continuity On Intertemporal Decision-making In Social Field

Some studies have examined the relationship between future self-continuity and intertemporal decision-making in the field of money and vacation,and found that individuals with high self-continuity in these areas can wait patiently in intertemporal decision-making to obtain more benefits in the future.Parent-child relationship and friend relationship are important components of college students' social relationship.And having good parent-child relationship and friend relationship is conducive to the healthy growth of individuals.Some studies have pointed out that college students are indifferent,have less contact with their parents,and prefer to communicate with friends.Therefore,this study examines the impact of future self-continuity on intertemporal decision-making in the social field,enriches predecessors' research,and hopes to provide new ideas for improving the social status of college students.In this study,undergraduates from Henan University were selected as subjects,and the study was conducted by a combination of scale and intertemporal decision-making task.At first the study asked the subjects to complete the future self-continuity scale.And then the study ranked subjects by scale score from high to low,and identified 38 subjects as high score group and 38 subjects as low score group.And finally,the both groups completed Parent-oriented social intertemporal decision-making task in the study 1,and after study 1,they completed friend-oriented social intertemporal decision-making task in the study 2.In this study,the dependent variable was the selected behavior of the subjects in the social intertemporal decision-making,and the dependent variable indicators were the probability of choosing postponed larger option and reaction time in the social intertemporal decision-making.Finally,collecting and organizing the data,and using SPSS 17.0 to analyze the data.Study 1 found that subjects in the group of high future self-continuity had a higher probability of choosing postponed larger option than the group of low future self-continuity in the parent-oriented social intertemporal decision-making,and the difference was significant;There was no significant difference in reaction time of two groups in social intertemporal decision-making.The correlation between future self-continuity and the probability of choosing postponed larger option in this type of social intertemporal decision-making was significant;And the future self-continuity was not significantly correlated with the reaction time.Study 2 found that subjects in the group of high future self-continuity had a higher probability of choosing postponed larger option than the group of low future self-continuity in the friend-oriented social intertemporal decision-making,and the difference was significant;There was no significant difference in reaction time of two groups in social intertemporal decision-making.The correlation between future self-continuity and the probability of choosing postponed larger option in this type social intertemporal decision-making was significant;And the future self-continuity was not significantly correlated with the reaction time.Therefore,it can be concluded that future self-continuity will affect the outcome of social intertemporal decision-making behavior.The individuals of higher future self-continuity are more likely to choose the postponed option that can spend more time with families or friends in social intertemporal decision-making.But it is found that future self-continuity will not affect the individuals' response speed in social decision-making.