Open to evidence either way. I haven't seen people improve it even with what seems to be terrible negative consequences associated with poor temporal discounting ability, but I'd love to read differing perspectives.
Research on heritability have found that the amount of temporal discounting we do is moderately heritable. With twin studies ranging from 30-60% of our natural variability explained by genes.
This strongly suggests that genetics definitely slips a thumb on the scale, but ultimately we are able to also impact our personal behavior.
More importantly, research such as https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31270766/ shows that there are techniques (such as mindfulness practices) that have been demonstrated to improve our abilities in practice. I have personally seen these have an impact.
Of course if you have a condition such as severe ADHD, you might not be able to reach the same level as is possible for someone with good genetics. But you still have the ability to move the needle. If you have a condition such as traumatic brain injury, even your ability to move the needle may be lacking.
But most of us should be able to make a positive change.
> This strongly suggests that genetics definitely slips a thumb on the scale, but ultimately we are able to also impact our personal behavior.
If it's 30-60% heritable, that leaves 70-40% to split between personal decisions and environment. It does not guarantee that personal decisions matter much at all...
