Work

The Probabilistic Price of Life Across Time: Generational and Probabilistic Distance Render a Life Today Worth More Than Ten Tomorrow

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: = 5,095), we employed an intergenerational probability discounting task, discovering people discount the value of life as uncertainty and intergenerational distance from the present increase. Specifically, as uncertainty about impacting the future rises, individuals increasingly prioritize saving fewer present lives over more future lives, particularly for more distant future beneficiaries (Studies 1-2b). Experimental evidence (Studies 3a-4) suggests that certainty perceptions drive intergenerational concern, rather than the inverse. Drawing upon seminal research from cognitive science and behavioral economics, these findings address gaps in emerging social psychological inquiry into long-term intergenerational concern, shed light on mechanisms underlying debates on the ethical philosophy of longtermism, and highlight practical implications for decision-makers, stressing the need to increase certainty perceptions surrounding about pro-future actions to enhance intergenerational beneficence.

Source: Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

DOI: 10.1177/01461672241303993

Authors: Kyle Fiore Law, Stylianos Syropoulos, Brendan Bo O’Connor, Liane Young

Institutions: Boston College, State University of New York, University at Albany, State University of New York

Language: English

Topic: Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics

Subfield: General Decision Sciences

Field: Decision Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,700

Funder: John Templeton Foundation