Why do professional athletes have different time preferences than non-athletes?
Journal Title: Judgment and Decision Making - Year 2011, Vol 6, Issue 6
Abstract
The objective of this paper is to measure and compare the subjective time discounting of professional athletes and non-athletes. By using a questionnaire, we found higher subjective discounting for professional athletes than for non-athletes. We also found that the professional athletes’ win-orientation positively affected their present preferences. On the other hand, professional athletes’ play- orientation, which reflects their attitude towards the game itself, negatively affected their present preferences. No such effects were found in non-athletes. We argue that the “win-at-all-costs” competitive approach that leads athletes to sacrifice everything in order to win may cause (or reflect) their higher preference for the present.
Authors and Affiliations
Alex Krumer, Tal Shavit and Mosi Rosenboim
Keywords
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