Dialecticism and the Future Self in Cultural Contexts

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qi Wang ◽  
Yubo Hou ◽  
Tracy Gould
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Original Data ◽  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
Dialectical Thinking ◽  
Mainland Chinese ◽  
Cultural Foundations ◽  
Future Selves ◽  
The Future ◽  
Future Self ◽  
Past Experiences

Dialectical thinking reflects both a view of the world and a view of oneself as fluid and changing. This chapter discusses the role of dialectical thinking in people’s prediction of changes in their future selves. Focus is on the future self-concept, namely, the conceptual representation of the self in the future, and the episodic future self, namely, the anticipation of specific future personal events. It is proposed that dialectical thinking, as a form of cultural knowledge, may guide people in their perception of their future selves relative to their present and past selves and in their construction of plausible future events from past experiences. The chapter further discusses the relation of dialectical thinking and the future self to psychological well-being. Throughout the discussion, original data from a cross-cultural project with mainland Chinese and European American college students are presented, to illustrate the psychological and cultural foundations of the future self.

A Discriminative Ontology for Future Selves

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 372-381
Author(s):  
Juraj Odorčák ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Second Order ◽  
Practical Advantage ◽  
Future Selves ◽  
The Future ◽  
Future Self ◽  
The Right ◽  
Practical Feasibility

The article presents a critique of the commonly held assumption about the practical advantage of endurantism over perdurantism regarding the problem of future-directed self-concern of a person. The future-directed self-concern of a person crucially depends on the possibility of the right differentiation of diverging futures of distinct persons, therefore any theory of persistence that does not entail a special nonbranching relation of a person to only their future self seems to be counterintuitive or unrealistic for practical purposes of personal persistence. I argue that this pragmatic rationale about future-directed self-concern is equally challenging for both theories of persistence. Moreover, I indicate, that both of these theories fall and stand on the practical feasibility of hidden ontological presuppositions about specific second-order notions of concerns of persons for their future.

Letters to our Future Selves? High-Powered Replication Attempts Question Effects on Future Orientation, Delinquent Decisions, and Risky Investments

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (6) ◽  
pp. 521-554
Author(s):  
Laura Quinten ◽  
Anja Murmann ◽  
Hanna A. Genau ◽  
Rafaela Warkentin ◽  
Rainer Banse
Keyword(s):  
Problem Behavior ◽  
Related Problem ◽  
Future Orientation ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Sample Sizes ◽  
Replication Studies ◽  
Future Selves ◽  
The Future ◽  
Future Self ◽  
Letter Task

Enhancing people's future orientation, in particular continuity with their future selves, has been proposed as promising to mitigate self-control–related problem behavior. In two pre-registered, direct replication studies, we tested a subtle manipulation, that is, writing a letter to one's future self, in order to reduce delinquent decisions (van Gelder et al., 2013, Study 1) and risky investments (Monroe et al., 2017, Study 1). With samples of n = 314 and n = 463, which is 2.5 times the original studies' sample sizes, the results suggested that the expected effects are either non-existent or smaller than originally reported, and/or dependent on factors not examined. Vividness of the future self was successfully manipulated in Study 2, but manipulation checks overall indicated that the letter task is not reliable to alter future orientation. We discuss ideas to integrate self-affirmation approaches and to test less subtle manipulations in samples with substantial, myopia-related self-control deficits.

Identity-Based Motivation

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daphna Oyserman
Keyword(s):  
Self Esteem ◽  
The Self ◽  
Personal Traits ◽  
Underlying Process ◽  
Self And Other ◽  
Future Selves ◽  
The Future ◽  
Identity Based ◽  
Future Self ◽  
Over Time

People experience themselves across time—recalling who they were and imagining who they will become. This consciousness of the self over time (Tulving, 1985; Wheeler, Stuss, & Tulving, 1997) and the ability to mentally “time travel” is a general human capacity (Epstude & Peetz, 2012) that develops by about age five (Atance, 2008; Atance & Jackson, 2009; Atance & Meltzoff, 2005; Russell, Alexis, & Clayton, 2010). For this reason, the future self can play a role in current choices from an early age. Indeed, when asked, people report imagining their future selves; they can describe both positive and negative possible identities their future selves might have (Dalley & Buunk, 2011; Norman & Aron, 2003). People say they care about whether they are making progress toward attaining their positive and avoiding their negative future identities (Vignoles, Manzi, Regalia, Jemmolo, & Scabini, 2008). They even report that their future selves are truer versions of themselves than their present selves, which are limited by the demands of everyday life (Wakslak, Nussbaum, Liberman, & Trope, 2008). Given all that, it might seem unnecessary to test whether people’s current actions are influenced by their future identities. Surely it has to be the case that future identities matter. Yet uncovering the circumstances in which the future self and other aspects of identity matter for behavior has turned out to be difficult. It is not always apparent that identities matter in spite of people’s feelings that they must. Figuring out the underlying process is critical to reducing the gap between aspirations and attainments and is the focus of this book. Does the future self really make such a difference in behavior? In the next sections, I provide a perspective and research evidence to answer the question. While often used interchangeably, the terms self, self-esteem, and identity are based on different concepts (Oyserman, Elmore, & Smith, 2012). Self-esteem is the positive or negative regard one has for oneself. Identities are descriptors (e.g., homeowner, middle-aged), personal traits (e.g., shy, outgoing), and social roles (e.g., mother, daughter) and the content that goes with these traits, descriptors, and roles (e.g., proud, worried).

To Know and to Care: How Awareness and Valuation of the Future Jointly Shape Consumer Spending

2015 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
pp. 1469-1485 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel M. Bartels ◽  
Oleg Urminsky
Keyword(s):  
Behavioral Interventions ◽  
Opportunity Costs ◽  
Consumer Spending ◽  
Time Discounting ◽  
Discount Factors ◽  
Future Selves ◽  
The Future ◽  
Future Self ◽  
Future Outcomes

Abstract Reducing spending in the present requires the combination of being both motivated to provide for one’s future self (valuing the future) and actively considering long-term implications of one’s choices (awareness of the future). Feeling more connected to the future self—thinking that the important psychological properties that define your current self are preserved in the person you will be in the future—helps motivate consumers to make far-sighted choices by changing their valuation of future outcomes (e.g., discount factors). However, this change only reduces spending when opportunity costs are considered. Correspondingly, cues that highlight opportunity costs reduce spending primarily when people discount the future less or are more connected to their future selves. Implications for the efficacy of behavioral interventions and for research on time discounting are discussed.

scholarly journals Temporal Distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic: Letter Writing with Future Self can Mitigate Negative Affect

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuta Chishima ◽  
I-Ting Huai-Ching Liu ◽  
Anne E Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Negative Affect ◽  
Mental Distress ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Letter Writing ◽  
Temporal Perspective ◽  
Future Selves ◽  
The World ◽  
Future Self ◽  
Novel Coronavirus

Novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is spreading across the world, threatening not only physical health but also psychological well-being. We reasoned that a broadened temporal perspective may attenuate current mental distress and tested a letter-writing manipulation designed to connect people to their post-COVID-19 future selves. Participants were randomly assigned to either send a letter to their future self (letter-to-future), send a letter to present self from the perspective of future self (letter-from-future), or a control condition. Participants in both letter-writing conditions showed immediate decrease in negative affect and increase in positive affect relative to the control condition. These effects were mediated by temporal distancing from the current situation. These findings suggest that taking a broader temporal perspective can be achieved by letter-writing with a future self and may offer an effective means of regulating negative affect in a stressful present time such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Identity-based motivation and the paradox of the future self: Getting going requires thinking about time (later) in time (now)

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daphna Oyserman ◽  
Andrew Dawson
Keyword(s):  
Motivation Theory ◽  
Future Selves ◽  
The Future ◽  
Identity Based ◽  
Future Self

Abstract People can imagine their future selves without taking future-focused action. Identity-based motivation theory explains why. Hoerl & McCormack outline how. Present-focused action prevails because future “me” feels irrelevant to the choices facing current “me” unless future “me” is experienced as occurring now or as linked to current “me” via if-then simulations. This entails reasoning in time and about time.

Identity Over Time: Perceived Similarity Between Selves Predicts Well-Being 10 Years Later

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 160-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph S. Reiff ◽  
Hal E. Hershfield ◽  
Jordi Quoidbach
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Longitudinal Data ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Perceived Similarity ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Long Run ◽  
The Future ◽  
Future Self ◽  
Initial Survey ◽  
Over Time

When individuals feel similar to their future self, they are more likely to delay present gratification and make plans for the long run. But do these feelings of similarity actually correspond with heightened well-being for the future self? Theoretically, making patient decisions in the present could lead to a future self who is better off and thus more satisfied. Alternatively, perceived overlap with the future self could cause people to continually deny themselves pleasures in the present, diminishing satisfaction over time. To adjudicate between these possibilities, we use a 10-year longitudinal data set ( N = 4,963) to estimate how thoughts about one’s future self in an initial survey predict life satisfaction 10 years later. Controlling for initial life satisfaction, greater perceived similarity to the future self is linearly associated with greater life satisfaction 10 years after the original prediction, a finding that is robust to a number of alternative analyses.

Pleas for patience from the cumulative future self

2021 ◽  
Vol 44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sam J. Maglio ◽  
Hal E. Hershfield
Keyword(s):  
Future Selves ◽  
The Future ◽  
Future Self

Abstract Current selves wield all the power in intertemporal tradeoffs. Although one set of future selves will make similar tradeoffs in the future, another self – who we term the cumulative future self – falls on the receiving end of those dictated decisions. How current selves commune with the cumulative future self determines whether the former heed pleas, from the latter, for patience.

scholarly journals A test of a triadic conceptualization of future self-identification

PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (11) ◽  
pp. e0242504
Author(s):  
Michael T. Bixter ◽  
Samantha L. McMichael ◽  
Cameron J. Bunker ◽  
Robert Mark Adelman ◽  
Morris A. Okun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Self Control ◽  
First Year ◽  
Three Samples ◽  
The Future ◽  
Future Events ◽  
Future Self ◽  
Perceived Relatedness ◽  
Intertemporal Decisions ◽  
Three Components

People encounter intertemporal decisions every day and often engage in behaviors that are not good for their future. One factor that may explain these decisions is the perception of their distal future self. An emerging body of research suggests that individuals vary in how they perceive their future self and many perceive their future self as a different person. The present research aimed to (1) build on and extend Hershfield’s et al. (2011) review of the existing literature and advance the conceptualization of the relationship between the current and future self, (2) extend and develop measures of this relationship, and (3) examine whether and how this relationship predicts intrapsychic and achievement outcomes. The results of the literature review suggested that prior research mostly focused on one or two of the following components: (a) perceived relatedness between the current and future self in terms of similarity and connectedness, (b) vividness in imagining the future self, and (c) degree of positivity felt toward the future self. Additionally, differences in how researchers have labeled the overall construct lead us to propose future self-identification as a new label for the three-component construct. Our research built on existing measures to test the validity of a three-component model of future self-identification. Across three samples of first-year undergraduates, this research established the psychometric properties of the measure, and then examined the relationships between the components and four outcome domains of interest: (1) psychological well-being (self-esteem, hope), (2) imagination of the future (visual imagery of future events, perceived temporal distance), (3) self-control, and (4) academic performance. We demonstrated that the three components of future self-identification were correlated but independent factors. Additionally, the three components differed in their unique relationships with the outcome domains, demonstrating the utility of measuring all three components of future self-identification when seeking to predict important psychological and behavioral outcomes.

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