What describes preferring immediate rewards over larger future rewards?

• A. Temporal Discounting
• B. Confirmation Bias
• C. Moral Credential Effect
• D. Bandwagon Effect

Answer: (A)

Temporal discounting describes preferring immediate rewards over larger future rewards. People tend to value a reward today more than the same or greater reward later, so waiting for a bigger payoff often feels costly or risky in comparison. This effect is central to decisions in finance, health, and everyday self-control, and it can be stronger as the delay grows or when the outcome is uncertain. The idea is often modeled with discounting functions that shrink the present value of future rewards, capturing why someone might choose $50 now over $100 a year from now. The other biases mentioned—seeking information that confirms beliefs, using past good deeds to justify bad actions, or following the crowd—describe different cognitive tendencies and don’t specifically describe the choice between present and distant rewards.