Increasing Saving Behavior Through Age-Progressed Renderings of the Future Self

Abstract

Many people fail to save what they need to for retirement (Munnell, Webb, and Golub-Sass 2009). Research on excessive discounting of the future suggests that removing the lure of immediate rewards by pre-committing to decisions, or elaborating the value of future rewards can both make decisions more future-oriented. In this article, we explore a third and complementary route, one that deals not with present and future rewards, but with present and future selves. In line with thinkers who have suggested that people may fail, through a lack of belief or imagination, to identify with their future selves (Parfit 1971; Schelling 1984), we propose that allowing people to interact with age-progressed renderings of themselves will cause them to allocate more resources toward the future. In four studies, participants interacted with realistic computer renderings of their future selves using immersive virtual reality hardware and interactive decision aids. In all cases, those who interacted with virtual future selves exhibited an increased tendency to accept later monetary rewards over immediate ones.

Perception of strength and power of realistic male characters

“…Virtual reality studies have demonstrated that self-avatars with different ages [Hershfield et al 2011], shapes [Piryankova et al 2014], and races [Kilteni et al 2013] alter participants' perception and attitudes. Future work could investigate if self-perception of strength and power can also be influenced by a modified self-avatar.…”

Two minds, three ways: dual system and dual process models in consumer psychology

“…Behavioral economic theories have studied impulsiveness from the perspective of present bias and a discounting of the future, which has informed a dual self theory of impulsiveness (Fudenberg and Levine 2006). Establishing a connection and interaction between present and future self by means of age-progressed photographs can increase people's likelihood to accept delayed monetary rewards over immediate rewards (Hershfield, Goldstein, Sharpe, Fox, Yeykelis,Carstensen, and Bailenson 2011).…”

Thinking Forward: Future-oriented Thinking among Patients with Tobacco-associated Thoracic Diseases and Their Surrogates

“…Temporal discounting, or the tendency to undervalue future risks and rewards as compared with more proximal events or states, may contribute to these errors (53). Fortunately, emerging evidence suggests that this prevalent bias may be surmountable (54)(55)(56). This study demonstrates that patients or potential surrogate decision makers facing a preference-sensitive medical decision attempt to engage in future-oriented thinking, but that they often err in systematic ways.…”