A Psychophysical Approach to Discounting : Sex and Food.

Abstract

Discounting has been defined as a decrease in the subjective value of an outcome as the delay to or uncertainty of receiving the outcome increases. Previous research on discounting indicates that when outcomes are either delayed or uncertain, consumable primary reinforcers (reinforcers that fill a biological need and that one can satiate on) are discounted similarly to each other. The present study extends previous research by using a psychophysical approach to examine how a previously uninvestigated primary reinforcer (sex) is discounted relative to another previously investigated primary reinforcer (food).