In their recent book, The Winner’s Curse, authors Richard H. Thaler, a Nobel Prize winner and co-director of the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Behavioral Economic Project, and Alex O. Imas, a Behavioral Economics professor at the University of Chicago, wrote that it’s remarkable how much future benefit people will forego for a little instant gratification.
One American book reviewer added that behavioral economics could also be applied to people who go the extra mile to save $5 on a supermarket item, but would most likely ignore the $5 savings on a new car, even though the amount saved is the same $5.
On the other hand, the two book authors explain that despite the insights from behavioral economics, the concept of instant gratification remains largely absent from mainstream economics textbooks.
The business of television is also subjective. Streamers often release entire seasons at once so viewers can binge instead of waiting week‑to‑week, satisfying the urge to see the whole story now. This model is used to drive quick spikes in viewing hours and subscriptions right after a release.
Another example is when programmers will pay extra to run a TV show with an A-lister, even though a lesser-known talent could probably bring the same results (in terms of audience and/or revenue). Strategically, it sacrifices long‑term upside (developing cheaper, fresh talent and more differentiated brands) for the comfort of a star‑driven bet today.
As for the “instant gratification” part, the New York City-based publication Psychology Today reported that the term “instant gratification” has become a fixture in the modern lexicon. “Examples are everywhere,” stated the publication, “our food, entertainment, online shopping, and even dating have been engineered to make it incredibly easy for us to obtain whatever we want in increasingly short order.” But, the magazine warned, “many of the activities that promote instant gratification are linked to unhealthy behaviors. The more we overvalue instant gratification, the more likely we are to be distracted from longer-term, more meaningful goals.” This last bit of advice could certainly benefit Wall Street investors.
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