TY - JOUR
T1 - Texting while driving as impulsive choice
T2 - A behavioral economic analysis
AU - Hayashi, Yusuke
AU - Russo, Christopher T.
AU - Wirth, Oliver
N1 - Funding Information:
The present study was supported by Undergraduate Research Grant from Office of Academic Affairs at Pennsylvania State University , Hazleton. We would like to thank Anne Foreman for her comments on earlier versions of this paper. The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Elsevier Ltd.
PY - 2015/8/17
Y1 - 2015/8/17
N2 - Abstract The goal of the present study was to examine the utility of a behavioral economic analysis to investigate the role of delay discounting in texting while driving. A sample of 147 college students completed a survey to assess how frequently they send and read text messages while driving. Based on this information, students were assigned to one of two groups: 19 students who frequently text while driving and 19 matched-control students who infrequently text while driving but were similar in gender, age, years of education, and years driving. The groups were compared on the extent to which they discounted, or devalued, delayed hypothetical monetary rewards using a delay-discounting task. In this task, students made repeated choices between $1000 available after a delay (ranging from 1 week to 10 years) and an equal or lesser amount of money available immediately. The results show that the students who frequently text while driving discounted delayed rewards at a greater rate than the matched control students. The study supports the conclusions that texting while driving is fundamentally an impulsive choice made by drivers, and that a behavioral economic approach may be a useful research tool for investigating the decision-making processes underlying risky behaviors.
AB - Abstract The goal of the present study was to examine the utility of a behavioral economic analysis to investigate the role of delay discounting in texting while driving. A sample of 147 college students completed a survey to assess how frequently they send and read text messages while driving. Based on this information, students were assigned to one of two groups: 19 students who frequently text while driving and 19 matched-control students who infrequently text while driving but were similar in gender, age, years of education, and years driving. The groups were compared on the extent to which they discounted, or devalued, delayed hypothetical monetary rewards using a delay-discounting task. In this task, students made repeated choices between $1000 available after a delay (ranging from 1 week to 10 years) and an equal or lesser amount of money available immediately. The results show that the students who frequently text while driving discounted delayed rewards at a greater rate than the matched control students. The study supports the conclusions that texting while driving is fundamentally an impulsive choice made by drivers, and that a behavioral economic approach may be a useful research tool for investigating the decision-making processes underlying risky behaviors.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.aap.2015.07.025
DO - 10.1016/j.aap.2015.07.025
M3 - Article
C2 - 26280804
AN - SCOPUS:84939509832
SN - 0001-4575
VL - 83
SP - 182
EP - 189
JO - Accident Analysis and Prevention
JF - Accident Analysis and Prevention
M1 - 3879
ER -