June 4, 2018, by Suzanne
How to become more patient – and not eat the cream bun
Professor Daniel Read
NIBS Co-Investigator Daniel Read, looks at our behaviour when we make decisions on how to act now that will affect our future. He says; “Most of our decisions are intertemporal choices, ranging from the person on a diet agonising over a cream bun to the world’s scientists and leaders convening every year to agonise over the problem of climate change. Should we buy an expensive TV now or put the money into our pension plan? These are intertemporal trade-offs and despite economics teaching us we should weigh up the options, calculating the benefits between the two points in time and choosing the most beneficial, we don’t always do this in a way that is best for us, or for society”.
Behavioural experiments have shown that we have no patience in such circumstances and pick the tempting offer available to us now – we eat the cream bun even though we are on a diet. Read more about Daniel’s research and how to become more patient, in this news article published by Warwick Business School.
More information about Daniel, including links to his recent publications, can be found on his WBS profile page.
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