Prioritising the present doesn’t mean you lack willpower | Psyche Ideas

People living in poverty tend to favour smaller immediate rewards over a larger delayed payoff.

A possible reason for this is if you live in a highly uncertain environment or where people tend not to keep their promises, a farsighted view will lead you to get what you can now. Even children will use background information when forming expectations about whether their patience will pay off.

Metacognition - the ability to reflect on our thinking - plays a large part in our decision-making processes.

We don't only have emotions or desires that drive us. We also reflect on our emotions, regret our decisions, and try to work around them to pursue our immediate and delayed goals.

The label of 'failure' when people don't opt for delayed gratification is often completely misleading, such as when someone chooses immediate rewards because they don't trust the promise of a delayed reward.

Prescriptive moulds that say how people are supposed to act is unhelpful. Instead, the goal should be to understand the actual reasons for decision-making within the broader context.