Time preferences, cognitive abilities and intrinsic motivation to exert effort

STANĚK, Rostislav and Ondřej KRČÁL. Time preferences, cognitive abilities and intrinsic motivation to exert effort. Applied Economics Letters. UK: Taylor & Francis, 2019, vol. 26, No 12, p. 1033-1037. ISSN 1350-4851. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13504851.2018.1529387.

Basic information

• Original name: Time preferences, cognitive abilities and intrinsic motivation to exert effort
• Authors: STANĚK, Rostislav (203 Czech Republic, guarantor, belonging to the institution) and Ondřej KRČÁL (203 Czech Republic, belonging to the institution).
• Edition: Applied Economics Letters, UK, Taylor & Francis, 2019, 1350-4851.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Article in a journal
• Field of Study: 50201 Economic Theory
• Country of publisher: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• WWW: URL
• Impact factor: Impact factor: 0.752
• RIV identification code: RIV/00216224:14560/19:00107180
• Organization unit: Faculty of Economics and Administration
• Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13504851.2018.1529387
• UT WoS: 000462880600012
• Keywords (in Czech): časové preference; kognitivní schopnosti; motivace; laboratorní experiment
• Keywords in English: time preferences; cognitive abilities; intrinsic motivation; laboratory experiment
• Tags: International impact, Reviewed

Abstract

The experimental literature has found a positive relationship between patience and performance in cognitive tests that are not incentivized by money. It has also been shown that unincentivized cognitive tests capture not only cognitive ability (CA), but also intrinsic motivation related to the test takers’ personality traits. In order to determine whether the relationship between patience and test scores is driven by intrinsic motivation or CA, we run an experiment in which subjects take either incentivized or unincentivized cognitive tests. We find that while incentivized test scores positively correlate with patience, the unincentivized scores are not related to the time preferences of our subjects. The observed correlation between patience and cognitive test scores therefore seems to be driven by CA rather than by intrinsic motivation related to personality traits.

Links

• GA18-19492S, research and development project: Name: Vliv kvality bydlení na preference a chování: ekonomické experimenty s účastníky randomizovaného kontrolovaného experimentu

Investor: Czech Science Foundation