Present Bias
Hernando is deciding whether to run errands or attend a parenting workshop. The payoff from finishing the errands is immediate; the parenting workshop will only benefit him in the long term. Hernando decides to complete his errands.
Hernando’s decision is shaped by present bias, or the tendency to prefer receiving smaller rewards sooner over receiving larger rewards later.
Why it’s relevant to parent engagement:
Parenting often involves making sacrifices in the short term to reap benefits several months, years, or decades later. Learning how to interact with children and implementing new parenting behaviors typically require immediate effort.
In contrast, positive academic, physical, and socioemotional outcomes develop slowly in children and only become apparent over time.
This mismatch in timing leaves parents vulnerable to present bias.
Evidence:
Present bias has been shown to affect health-related behaviors. For example, women’s adherence to the American Cancer Association’s mammogram guidelines is lower than would be expected given the procedure’s potential value. The upfront costs of scheduling a mammogram appear to outweigh the largely distant benefits, reflecting present bias.
Similarly, effectively managing chronic HIV entails immediate costs, from remembering to take pills daily to enduring side effects to paying for the medicine. The benefits of the prescription, such as better health and a longer life, occur in the future. A study of Ugandan HIV patients found that individuals displaying present bias (as measured by a standard test) were 13.4% less likely to regularly take their medicine.
In the parenting realm, single mothers who are more present-oriented spend less time with their kids, share fewer meals together, and offer less homework help.
Several studies of parenting programs suggest that incentivizing desirable behaviors may be a successful strategy for combating present bias among parents. In one experiment, parents received financial incentives for behaviors such as attending workshops and helping their children with homework. The intervention substantially increased children’s test scores among the white and Hispanic families in the sample.
Hernando is deciding whether to run errands or attend a parenting workshop. The payoff from finishing the errands is immediate; the parenting workshop will only benefit him in the long term. Hernando decides to complete his errands.
Hernando’s decision is shaped by present bias, or the tendency to prefer receiving smaller rewards sooner over receiving larger rewards later.
Why it’s relevant to parent engagement:
Parenting often involves making sacrifices in the short term to reap benefits several months, years, or decades later. Learning how to interact with children and implementing new parenting behaviors typically require immediate effort.
In contrast, positive academic, physical, and socioemotional outcomes develop slowly in children and only become apparent over time.
This mismatch in timing leaves parents vulnerable to present bias.
Evidence:
Present bias has been shown to affect health-related behaviors. For example, women’s adherence to the American Cancer Association’s mammogram guidelines is lower than would be expected given the procedure’s potential value. The upfront costs of scheduling a mammogram appear to outweigh the largely distant benefits, reflecting present bias.
1
Fang, H., & Wang, Y. (2015). Estimating dynamic discrete choice models with hyperbolic discounting, with an application to mammography decisions. International Economic Review, 56(2), 565-596.
Similarly, effectively managing chronic HIV entails immediate costs, from remembering to take pills daily to enduring side effects to paying for the medicine. The benefits of the prescription, such as better health and a longer life, occur in the future. A study of Ugandan HIV patients found that individuals displaying present bias (as measured by a standard test) were 13.4% less likely to regularly take their medicine.
2
Linnemayr, S., & Stecher, C. (2015). Behavioral economics matters for HIV research: The impact of behavioral biases on adherence to antiretrovirals (ARVs). AIDS and Behavior, 19(11), 2069-2075.
In the parenting realm, single mothers who are more present-oriented spend less time with their kids, share fewer meals together, and offer less homework help.
3
Pabilonia, S. W., & Song, Y. (2013). Single mothers’ time preference, smoking, and enriching childcare: Evidence from time diaries. Eastern Economic Journal, 39(2), 227-255.
Present bias can also shape major economic decisions, namely, single mothers’ decision to seek employment or rely on welfare.
4
Fang, H., & Silverman, D. (2009). Time‐inconsistency and welfare program participation: Evidence from the NLSY. International Economic Review, 50(4), 1043-1077.
Several studies of parenting programs suggest that incentivizing desirable behaviors may be a successful strategy for combating present bias among parents. In one experiment, parents received financial incentives for behaviors such as attending workshops and helping their children with homework. The intervention substantially increased children’s test scores among the white and Hispanic families in the sample.
5
Fryer, R. G., Jr., Levitt, S. D., & List, J. A. (2015). Parental incentives and early childhood achievement: A field experiment in Chicago heights (No. 21477). Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research.
A similar intervention in Houston found that financial incentives increased students’ achievement in math and parents’ attendance at parent-teacher conferences.