| Summary: | Preferences about
delayed rewards and preferences about risk are central to the literature on
decision making. Several proposals suggest that such preferences arise from a
single process and thus predict strong associations between preferences about
delay and risk. Although there is a wealth of data on this association, the
evidence is inconclusive; some studies have reported significant associations
but many have not. Consequently, it is unclear whether the association between
delay preferences and risk preferences is strong enough to support
single-process theories. To further explore this question, we took a
meta-analytic approach surveying 26 studies totaling 32 effect sizes. Results
reveal a small to moderate association between risk preferences and delay
preferences. This result provides little support for existing proposals because
the observed relationship is no stronger than associations observed between
either delay preferences or risk preferences and other variables. Moderating
variables provide some explanation for inconsistencies across studies.
Implications, including the apparent discrepancy between this literature and
the conventional construct of impulsivity, are also discussed.
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