Goals

Goals are desired future outcomes that we are willing to work towards and believe are possible to bring about. Chapter 7 reviews how goals link to mental health and well-being. Aspects covered include the content of the goals that people have, why they have them, whether the goals are about attaining new desired outcomes, or avoiding future outcomes that people do not want. How personally invested in their goals people are, and whether they disengage from goals that are not looking likely to be successful or develop a state of painful engagement with goals are also discussed in relation to well-being and mental health. Ways that goals might contribute to well-being are reviewed, including impact on anticipatory affect and satisfaction with progress, both of which are disrupted in depression.

Optimism and pessimism

Optimism and pessimism are commonly used ways of talking about a future outlook. Chapter 3 discusses questions such as whether people are, in general optimistically biased and whether those who are depressed are more accurate in their predictions for the future. A variety of ways of defining optimism–pessimism have been developed, from describing a broad attitude to the future through to beliefs in the likelihood of events happening to oneself compared to others. Evidence suggests that, on the whole, people have an optimistic outlook, although the extent of this might depend on how it is measured as well as on other factors such as culture and age. Those low in well-being and those suffering from psychological disorders are less optimistic and more pessimistic than average, but the idea that they are less biased and more accurate has not received consistent support.

Thinking about the future

The ability to think about the future has been fundamental to human evolutionary success, as well as to our everyday functioning. But, it also plays a key role in our emotional well-being and mental health. The growing recognition of the importance of prospection is shown by the burgeoning literature on the topic, including an expanding literature relating to well-being and mental health. This introductory chapter provides a brief overview of the importance of prospection, its relative neglect in the psychological literature and the recent blossoming of interest in the area. The chapter concludes with an overview of the material covered in the remainder of the book.

Predicting feelings

As well as predicting outcomes, we also anticipate how we are going to feel when those outcomes happen, This chapter discusses affective forecasting. These affective predictions are likely to be important in guiding our behaviour. There is evidence that people overestimate the strength of feeling that they will experience in response to future events, both positive and negative, although the conclusion that we are poor at judging our future feelings has been overstated. Those who are depressed do show lowered expectations of feeling good in future positive situations, something that is an important component in their of lack of motivation and engagement. Evidence about how depressed people actually do respond emotionally when situations do occur is very mixed. Similarly, studies examining whether those who are high in depression are more (or less) accurate, or are biased, in predicting their feelings have also produced mixed findings.

Prospection, well-being, and mental health

Chapter 11 provides an overview of Chapters 1 to 10 and introduces the idea of a subjective future life trajectory. A subjective future life trajectory describes the sense that persons have of themselves being located in the present, but always moving forward into the future. The trajectory involves both short-term and long-term representations about the future, which vary in detail and value. Disruptions to the trajectory can take different forms, with anxiety and depression representing the two main kinds of disruption. A settled trajectory enables someone to focus on the present, whereas disrupted trajectories pull attention away from the present to try to ‘repair’ the trajectory. A future trajectory, and a present focus, can also be disrupted by memories relating to the past portion of the trajectory. Methodological issues that have been touched upon throughout the book are revisited and suggestions made for how research could move forward.

Plans

Chapter 8 reviews the relationship between planning for the future and well-being. Plans are the future steps we think of to reach our goals. Specific plans bridge the gap between intention, and acting on the intention and low states of well-being and mental health, including suicidal behaviour, are related to lack of planning specificity. Highly specific behavioural plans (implementation intentions), have also been shown to promote the ability to carry through desired but difficult behaviour. Planning links to well-being in a number of ways. First, through providing a sense that future outcomes will be achieved and creating a sense of progress, plans facilitate in-the-moment positive affect. Planning also provides structure and direction, and promotes engagement in activities. Finally, having formed plans frees up resources to think on the present, and reduces intrusive thoughts about what is going to happen in the future.

Memory

Prospection is only possible because of memory. The well-established difficulty that people have when they are depressed in recalling specific memories is mirrored by a difficulty in thinking about specific future episodes. These, and other similarities between memory and prospection, suggest that elements of episodic memory are used to construct mental representations of future possible episodes. As well as similarities between memory and prospection, Chapter 6 also discusses differences, including the greater involvement of semantic memory in thinking about future episodes. Future episodes are less specific than memories, due to the fact that they are having to be imagined rather than retrieved, but they are consistently rated as more important and more positive than memories, reinforcing the importance of prospection to well-being.

Anticipatory feelings

Emotional states do not simply arise in response to events that have happened, but can arise when we think about what might happen in the future. These anticipatory affective states are mediated by distinct neural systems different from those involved in emotional responses to events as they occur. Hope and fear are the typical anticipatory feelings that arise in response to possibilities of future positive and negative events, respectively. Anticipatory feeling states are often quite subtle and elusive, but Chapter 5 reviews some of the attempts to measure these kinds of feeling states. The chapter also discusses the clinically important phenomenon of avoidance of emotions, including the idea that worry functions as a form of emotional avoidance.

Intervention

A variety of methods have been used to try to change problematic prospection. In the case of well-being and mental health the main issues are how to reduce or minimize the impact of negative thoughts about the future and how to increase positive future thoughts. Existing clinical interventions do obviously address prospection but not in a developed or systematic way, and not in a way that is particularly informed by the general psychological literature. Specific interventions that address how someone thinks about the future vary from simple, short exercises to longer, more intensive programmes. Chapter 10 concludes by suggesting two promising avenues: interventions that teach goal setting and planning skills and those that enhance more specific thinking.

Temporal orientation and mindfulness

Individuals can differ in how much they have a tendency to think about the future, as opposed to the present or the past. Findings from many different areas of prospection point to the value of being future-minded, and its value is inherent in how well-being is sometimes defined (e.g. having goals and a sense of purpose). On the other hand, mindfulness, which has become prominent in ideas about well-being and treatment of mental health difficulties, appears to point to the value of a present focus. Chapter 9 reviews evidence related to both of these questions, critically evaluating evidence on the relationship of well-being to self-report measures of both mindfulness and future orientation. A distinction is also made between the temporal present and the experienced present, which helps to resolve the apparent contradiction between being mindful and thinking about the future.