CHOICE BETWEEN LONG-TERM AND SHORT-TERM INTERESTS - BEYOND SELF-CONTROL

In the real world, there are choices between large, delayed, punctuate rewards and small, more immediate rewards as well as choices between patterns and acts. A common element in these situations is the choice between long- and short-term interests. Key issues for future research appear to be how acts are restructured into larger patterns of behavi or, and whether, as Rachlin implies, pattern perception is the cause o f pattern generation.