Date of Award

5-1-2011

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Behavior Analysis and Therapy

First Advisor

Dixon, Mark

Abstract

The present study showed the impact of discounting across multiple populations that were obese to that of matched controls. The experiment used one decreasing hypothetical temporal procedure and three probabilistic health discounting procedures in which, of 38 participants interviewed, 20 were obese. It appears that age and obesity alter the subjective values of the delayed rewards within both temporal and probabilistic paradigms. The current data showed a significant difference between populations that were obese to that of the matched controls. In addition, statistically significance was found between the two obese populations within the study. Implications of the future of delay discounting are addressed, in addition to the stigma of delay discounting within behavior analysis.

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