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Reciprocal Discounting: A Pilot Study

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Abstract

Altruistic choice can be described quantitatively by social discount functions that indicate how rewards decrease in value with increases in social distance. Reciprocation from others has been implicated as an influential variable for altruistic choice. To investigate reciprocation and social discounting, a novel reciprocal discounting task asked participants to report what various individuals on their list would choose between money for themselves and money for the participant. Results from 150 participants show that reciprocal discounting is well-fit by Mazur’s hyperbolic equation and correlates significantly with social discounting.

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Correspondence to Natalie R. Buddiga.

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Approval was obtained from the institutional review board of the University of Nevada, Reno (project ID: 1135726-1).

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Buddiga, N.R., Locey, M.L. Reciprocal Discounting: A Pilot Study. Psychol Rec 72, 505–509 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40732-020-00449-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40732-020-00449-4

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