Present Bias

What is present bias?

Present bias is extra weight placed on immediate costs or rewards relative to future ones. It can help explain why a planned choice changes when a temptation becomes immediate or it is time to make an effort. It is more specific than simply preferring an earlier reward.

Frederick, Loewenstein and O’Donoghue (2002) distinguish such patterns from other reasons to prefer earlier outcomes, including uncertainty. “Instant gratification” or “immediate gratification” describes an experience or behavior; neither is an exact technical synonym.

Present bias example

Suppose you prefer a larger reward in two weeks to a smaller one in one week. A week later, you prefer the smaller reward now to the larger one still a week away. If the options and relevant information are otherwise comparable, that shift illustrates the extra weight placed on immediacy.

Quasi-hyperbolic discounting provides a formal model that separates an immediate present bias from later discounting.