Outside, the rain had stopped. Marcus walked back to the site, his stomach protesting every step. He had lost the bet, paid a fortune, and committed to manual labor on his day off. But as he thought about the glint in Sofia’s eye, he realized he was actually looking forward to Saturday. The cream may have been too sweet, but the victory? That had a bite to it he hadn't expected.
Moynihan, P. J., & Petersen, P. E. (2014). Diet, nutrition and the prevention of dental caries. Public Health Nutrition, 17(1), 25-31. sofia sweet bet
Classic economic theory assumes rational agents discount future rewards exponentially (Frederick et al., 2002). However, real-world decisions—from gambling to dieting—deviate from this model. The “Sofia Sweet Bet” paradigm introduces a social-anthropomorphic cue (“Sofia”) to test whether personification reduces hyperbolic discounting. Outside, the rain had stopped