Bikinis Instigate Generalized Impatience in Intertemporal Choice

By Bram Van den Bergh, S. Dewitte, Luk Warlop. 2008

279 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Neuroscientific studies demonstrate that erotic stimuli activate the reward circuitry processing monetary and drug rewards. Theoretically, a general reward system may give rise to nonspecific effects: exposure to “hot stimuli” from one domain may thus affect decisions in a different domain. We show that exposure to sexy cues leads to more impatience in intertemporal choice between monetary rewards. Highlighting the role of a general reward circuitry, we demonstrate that individuals with a sensitive reward system are more susceptible to the effect of sex cues, that the effect generalizes to nonmonetary rewards, and that satiation attenuates the effect.

Subfields: Applied Psychology, Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/2d23520b3964cf1a2f4bc77374fac4dbb7f5aaf4

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In Applied Psychology

In Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience

In Experimental and Cognitive Psychology

Citations in the corpus

Content and process priming: A review ☆ (2014, unknown): “As a third example, Van den Bergh, Dewitte, and Warlop (2008) found that exposing heterosexual men to pictures of sexually suggestive stimuli made them demand more money to accept a delay in a monetary reward.”
Survey of time preference, delay discounting models (2012, unknown): “Van den Bergh, Dewitte, and Warlop (2008) reached similar conclusions for men who were asked to handle bikinis .”
Affect as a Decision-Making System of the Present (2013, unknown): “An emerging body of evidence suggests that the two modes of judgment and decision making may tap into separate systems: ( a ) a reason-based, analytical system and ( b ) a feel-ing-based, affective system (Epstein and Pacini 1999; Strack and Deutsch 2004).”
On Intertemporal Selfishness: How the Perceived Instability of Identity Underlies Impatient Consumption (2011, background): “People who score high in reward responsiveness may be more susceptible to factors that induce impulsivity in discounting tasks (Van den Bergh, DeWitte, and Warlop 2008), and nonplanning impulsiveness has been linked to higher discount rates (Hinson, Jameson, and Whitney 2003).”
A Goal-Based Model of Product Evaluation and Choice (2012, background): “…increases the desire for a massage (Wadhwa, Shiv, and Nowlis 2008), fearful stimuli (which may activate a safety goal) increasing the desire for social goods (Griskevicius et al. 2009), and bikinis (which may activate a desire goal) influencing impatience (Van den Bergh, Dewitte, and Warlop 2008).”
The Role of Emotions in Advertising: A Call to Action (2019, background): “For example, the positive arousal that is evoked in men when shown ads with seductive women (Van den Bergh, Dewitte, and Warlop 2008), the strong persuasive effects of highly pleasurable ads (Das, Galekh, and Vonkeman 2015), or the hope one may experience after seeing an ad about revolutionary…”
Slowing Down in the Good Old Days: The Effect of Nostalgia on Consumer Patience (2016, background): “Appetitive stimuli (e.g., dessert) and sexual cues (e.g., women with bikinis) can have similar effects (Kim and Zauberman 2013; Li 2008; Van den Bergh et al. 2008).”