Date of Award

12-2025

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Anthony DeFulio, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Cynthia Pietras, Ph.D.

Third Advisor

Hugo Curiel, Ph.D.

Keywords

Delay discounting, shared decisions, social context

Access Setting

Masters Thesis-Open Access

Abstract

Substance use disorders are a significant public health concern, and improving treatment outcomes requires a better understanding of the behavioral processes that influence drug consumption. Delay discounting, or the tendency to overvalue immediate reinforcers, is reliably more severe among individuals with substance use disorders. Recent work suggests that shared decision-making may increase tolerance for delayed rewards; however, prior studies used procedures that confounded delay to token delivery with delay to token exchange, limiting conclusions. The present study evaluates delay discounting across individual and social decision-making contexts using a traditional delay discounting paradigm.

Ten undergraduate participants completed sessions involving choices between smaller sooner and larger later monetary reinforcers using the Monetary Choice Questionnaire. Sessions included rapidly-alternating individual and shared decision-making conditions, and most participants completed sessions with multiple partners to evaluate within-subjects effects of partner familiarity and decision-making order. The primary dependent variables are percentage of smaller sooner choices and patterns of agreement during shared trials.

Significant between-subjects effects suggest that decision-making context influenced delay tolerance, and within-subjects analyses show significant effects for most returning participants. In shared conditions, pairs typically shifted toward larger later options following initial disagreement. The order of decision-making also significantly impacted discounting outcomes, as individuals who made choices with a partner first showed greater delay tolerance. Overall, shared decision-making systematically affected delay discounting in one social context, suggesting that social processes can meaningfully influence delay tolerance and may be a potential target to explore for improving substance use disorder treatment outcomes.

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