The effect of state self-control on the intertemporal decisions made by individuals with high and low trait self-control

Abstract

The present study aimed to explore how state self-control influences the intertemporal decisions made by individuals with high and low trait self-control. State self-control, represented by the degree of depletion, was manipulated by conducting Stroop tasks with different levels of difficulty, and the intertemporal decision task was used as a self-control task. Compared with participants with high trait self-control, the preferences of participants with low trait selfcontrol for immediate rewards were more vulnerable to the difficulty of depletion tasks. Throughout the experimental stages, the heart rate variability (HRV) of participants with high trait self-control was significantly higher than that of participants with low trait self-control, indicating that individuals with high trait self-control may have stronger and more stable self-control abilities.