Ran Kivetz, a marketing researcher at Columbia University, has found that some people have a very difficult time choosing current happiness over future rewards. They consistently put off pleasure in the name of work, virtue or future happiness – but eventually, they regret their decisions. Kivetz calls this condition hyperopia – a fancy way of saying farsightedness. Most people, as we’ve seen, are perpetually nearsighted. When the promise of a reward is in front of their eyes, they cannot see past it to the value of delaying gratification. People who suffer from hyperopia are chronically
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