Bikinis Instigate Generalized Impatience in Intertemporal Choice (2008)

Bram Van den Bergh Siegfried Dewitte Luk Warlop

Journal of Consumer Research, Volume 35, Issue 1, June 2008, Pages 85–97,

https://doi.org/10.1086/525505

Abstract

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.