The Relationship Between an Alternative Form of Cognitive Reflection Test and Intertemporal Choice

The cognitive reflection test (CRT) has been popular because it has demonstrated a good predictive validity of a variety of biases in judgment and decision making. Thomson and Oppenheimer (2016) further developed a second version of the cognitive reflection test, CRT-2. Although CRT-2 has been found to be associated with several biases in judgment and decision making, its relationship with intertemporal choice remains unclear. Previous studies have shown that intertemporal choice characterizes the competition between intuition and reflection, and can be predicted by the original CRT. To further validate CRT-2, the present study tests the relationship between CRT-2 and intertemporal choice. The study finds that better performance on CRT-2 is significantly associated with fewer impulsive intertemporal choices in both gain and payment conditions. Moreover, impulsive choices are related to intuitive errors but not non-intuitive errors generated from CRT-2. The study suggests that CRT-2 provides some more items for researchers to select to characterize individual differences in thinking style and judgment and decision making