But we think more about now than about the future. We would rather have a piece of chocolate now than a bar in a week. The Toyota Prius also sold so well, according to Ariely, because it looked so different. You make a statement: look at me with my Prius. I care about the environment. Other cars that were hybrids like the Prius but had a more mainstream look sold. We are willing to do something for the environment, as long as others see that.
Another human thing Ariely talked about is that we want things now. The marshmallow example is list to data an example of this. A number of 4-year-old children were given a choice: either 1 marshmallow now or 2 later (about 10 minutes). The results were about 33/33/33. A third of the children grabbed the marshmallow right away. A third waited but ate the marshmallow anyway, and the last 33 percent waited the 10 minutes. Years later, it turned out that the last category of children who waited (delayed gratification) did better in school later and were more positive. There were a number of other benefits that come from being able to control desires.
Victor Lamme
Victor Lamme is a professor at the UvA in the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences. He conducts research into consciousness and what it is exactly. Lamme looks at this mainly from the inside, by means of an MRI. Lamme also mentioned that we are less interested in the future than in the present. The example he used was retirement. For many, this is a 'far from my bed show', until it becomes interesting and then it is actually too late. We think we are rational, but in fact we are not at all. The reward in the future is simply worth less.