Many of us struggle to resist instant rewards, whether by scrolling instead of working or splurging rather than saving. This common habit, known as present bias, not only sways daily choices but may also distort how we recall them. A new study suggests that people prone to favouring the now often remember their past behaviour as more disciplined than it really was, potentially making it harder to break cycles of procrastination and poor self-control. The findings were published in the Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics.
Researchers invited university students to take part in a simple money-choice experiment across three classroom visits. In the first session, participants picked between smaller sums available in two weeks and larger ones in four weeks. Two weeks later, they faced the same options but with one reward available immediately. A month after that, they returned to recall their earlier selections.
Roughly one third of students displayed present bias. They required more compensation to wait when immediate money was on offer, switching later to the bigger delayed payment. When asked to remember choices from the session with instant rewards, these individuals showed noticeably lower accuracy. They tended to recall switching to the larger-later option earlier than they actually had, painting themselves as more patient.
Time-consistent participants, who chose similarly in both sessions, remembered far more accurately. The distortion appeared only for memories tied to immediate temptations, not for decisions where both payments lay in the future. Future-biased students, who valued delay more when the present was involved, showed different and less predictable memory patterns.
The strength of present bias mattered too. Those with stronger bias exhibited larger gaps between actual and recalled choices. This directional error aligns with motivated misremembering, where the mind reshapes events to protect self-image. Alternative explanations, such as general forgetfulness or random mental noise, could not fully account for the specific timing and direction of the inaccuracies.
These findings carry real implications for everyday life. Present bias already links to problems in health, education and personal finance. If people conveniently forget their impulsive moments or recall them as rarer than they were, they may miss opportunities to learn and adjust. Without clear awareness of past lapses, building better habits or using commitment tools becomes tougher.
The research adds fresh insight to long-standing discussions about procrastination and behavioural change. It highlights how memory itself can reinforce self-control struggles rather than help overcome them. Simple strategies, such as keeping decision diaries or receiving honest feedback, might one day counter this effect.