Abstract: Negative discounting behavior in intertemporal decision-making, which refers to individuals' preference for immediate aversive events over delayed ones, poses a notable challenge to traditional temporal discounting models based on positive discounting assumptions. Previous interpretations have predominantly centered on emotional factors, such as dread, yet they have generally neglected the cognitive processes involved, particularly the crucial role of information retrieval content and sequence during decision-making. This study, grounded in query theory, which postulates that decision preferences are constructed through the sequential retrieval of internal information, proposed that individuals who more frequently and prioritally retrieve “value-increasing” information—encompassing the positive and negative attributes of immediate and delayed losses, respectively—are more inclined to display negative discounting behavior. Conversely, those who predominantly access “value-decreasing” information, including the negative and positive attributes of immediate and delayed losses, respectively, tend to exhibit positive discounting tendencies. To provide a cognitive framework complementing existing emotion-focused explanations, the current study hypothesized that loss magnitude moderates negative discounting behavior by shaping the content and order of queries.
Four systematic studies were conducted with adult participants recruited via online platforms. Study 1 (n = 208) and Study 2 (n = 202) adopted the aspect listing method under the “Pre-Decisional Querying” and “Reasoning First” procedures, respectively, combined with a binary choice paradigm and 7-point scales. Participants were exposed to four negative scenarios (i.e., losing 100 yuan, being stung by hornet, receiving a poor grade, and taking an exam) and were required to list their decision-making reasons either before or after indicating their temporal preferences. Study 3 (n = 223) directly manipulated the query order by instructing participants to generate reasons for immediate or delayed loss first to verify the causal relationship between query order and negative discounting behavior. Study 4 (n = 386) varied the magnitude of loss across four levels (i.e., ¥10, ¥100, ¥1, 000, ¥10, 000) to explore how loss magnitude impacts decision preferences. Across all studies, participants' open-ended reasons were coded into value-increasing and value-decreasing categories, and weight analysis was performed on these reasons.
Results of Studies 1 and 2 indicate that negative discounting behavior was prevalent across the four negative scenarios, with the most prominent tendency observed in the “taking an exam” context. Consistent with the initial hypotheses, individuals with negative discounting tendencies retrieved significantly more value-increasing information, whereas those leaning toward positive discounting accessed more value-decreasing information; the two types of information jointly predicted decision preferences. In addition, individuals with negative discounting showed distinct characteristics in the sequential order of information retrieval, which was closely correlated with their choice tendencies. Note that across all scenarios, the reasons retrieved first were assigned greater weight in decision-making compared with those generated later. Study 3 demonstrated that manipulating query order exerts an impact on decision preferences. In most scenarios, participants instructed to prioritize reasons for immediate loss were more likely to opt for immediate aversive events. The exception was the “being stung by hornet” scenario, in which the manipulation had no significant effect. Study 4 revealed that loss magnitude moderated negative discounting behavior, because increases in loss magnitude led to a corresponding shift in individuals' tendency toward delayed loss. Moreover, information retrieval played a mediating role in the relationship between loss magnitude and decision-making, bridging the two factors through cognitive processing pathways.
This research identifies the content and sequential order of information retrieval as the core cognitive mechanism underlying negative discounting behavior, supplementing the traditional emotion-based explanatory frameworks. It enriches intertemporal choice theory by integrating the query-based cognitive process into the existing theoretical system and provides empirical evidence that decision preferences can be altered by manipulating the query order. From a practical perspective, findings offer actionable insights for behavioral interventions in such domains as financial debt repayment, health management, and preventive medical care. By structuring the sequence of queries, individuals could be guided toward making adaptive intertemporal choices, thereby highlighting the theoretical and practical significance of this study.

Key words: negative discounting behavior, query theory, intertemporal decision-making, time discounting