Do Time‐Biases Promote or Frustrate Wellbeing?

ABSTRACT Evidence shows that people have multiple time‐biases. One is near‐bias, another is future‐bias, and a third is present‐bias. Philosophers have argued that, in part, the normative status of these biases depends on the extent to which they tend to promote, or frustrate, wellbeing, where “wellbeing” is taken to be of fundamental value. Since near‐bias is thought to be associated with impulsivity, lack of self‐control, and poor long‐term health and financial outcomes, it has often been supposed that it is associated with lower wellbeing and is therefore rationally impermissible. By contrast, philosophical views about the normative status of future‐bias have been mixed, with some arguing that future‐bias is impermissible because it frustrates wellbeing, and others arguing that it is at least permissible (and perhaps obligatory) because it is the product of mechanisms whose functioning can be expected to promote wellbeing. However, to date, there are no studies that directly probe how time‐biases correlate with wellbeing. We empirically investigate which biases promote or frustrate wellbeing. We find no evidence that near‐bias or present‐bias frustrate wellbeing, but future‐bias is associated with higher measures of wellbeing on several measures.