ISSN 1671-3710
CN 11-4766/R

Advances in Psychological Science ›› 2015, Vol. 23 ›› Issue (11): 1981-1990.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2015.01981

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The Effect of Self on Intertemporal Choice from the Perspective of Cultural Individualism-collectivism

A Bu-Lai-Ti-Jiang1; LIU Yang2,3; ZHU Xiao-Rui4; ZHENG Rui2; LIANG Zhu-Yuan2; RAO Li-Lin2; WU Bin2,3; LI Shu2   

  1. (1 School of Management, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China)
    (2 Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China)
    (3 College of Humanities & Social Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China)
    (4 School of Materials Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China)
  • Received:2015-02-05 Online:2015-11-15 Published:2015-11-15
  • Contact: LI Shu, E-mail: lishu@psych.ac.cn

Abstract:

Intertemporal decision-making, which is vital for human beings, refers to the tradeoff between the benefit and cost of choices at different times. The self of the decision-maker greatly influences intertemporal decisions. Furthermore, cultural individualism-collectivism plays an important role in shaping the self. However, the relationship among the self, intertemporal decision-making, and cultural individualism- collectivism is vague in the context of cultural individualism-collectivism. Hence, we explore the influence of the self on intertemporal decision-making from the perspective of cultural individualism-collectivism. First, we introduce concepts of intertemporal decision-making and their theoretical development. Next, we summarize two theories of the self in intertemporal decision-making: multiple-self model and self-continuity model. Then, we review the relationship between cultural individualism-collectivism and self, and briefly summarize studies on the influence of culture on intertemporal decision-making and its psychological mechanisms. Finally, we come up with a research conjecture that taking cultural individualism-collectivism into consideration when studying the influence of self on intertemporal decision-making. Our research exploration aims to provide a new viewpoint for future research and deepen our understanding of the mechanisms of intertemporal decision-making.

Key words: intertemporal decision-making, culture, self, individualism, collectivism