Skip to main content

Extending Future Time Perspective Theory through Episodic Future Thinking Research: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Thinking About the Future

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Time Perspective

Abstract

This chapter considers expanding the work on time perspective to include both imagining and planning for the future. Specifically, the authors argue that Future Time Perspective (FTP) and motivation researchers have focused on how we set and achieve goals, but have failed to consider how imagining the future affect can influence our motivation in the present. The authors also dispute the representation of FTP and other future-oriented motivation as cold and rational, highlighting the empirical neglect of how thinking of the future may support positive emotions. Additionally, they assert that neurocognitive research on episodic future thinking may provide FTP researchers with a path to bring thinking about the future together with feeling about the future.

Author Note

Jenefer Husman, Department of Educational Studies, University of Oregon. Jonathan C. Hilpert, Department of Curriculum Foundations and Reading, Georgia Southern University;

Funding for the current work was provided by National Science Foundation Grant, REC-0960551, CAREER: Connecting with the Future: Supporting Career and Identity Development in Post-Secondary Science and Engineering.

Correspondence concerning this chapter should be addressed to Jenefer Husman, Department of Education Studies, College of Education, 5277 University of Oregon, Eugene OR 97403 E-mail: jhusman@uoregon.edu

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Addis, D. R., Cheng, T., Roberts, R. P., & Schacter, D. L. (2011). Hippocampal contributions to the episodic simulation of specific and general future events. Hippocampus, 21(10), 1045–1052.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Addis, D. R., Wong, A. T., & Schacter, D. L. (2007). Remembering the past and imagining the future: Common and distinct neural substrates during event construction and elaboration. Neuropsychologia, 45, 1363–1377.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • D’Argembeau, A., Ortoleva, C., Jumentier, S., & Van der Linden, M. (2010). Component processes underlying future thinking. Memory & Cognition, 38(6), 809–819. https://doi.org/10.3758/mc.38.6.809

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daugherty, J. R., & Brase, G. L. (2010). Taking time to be healthy: Predicting health behaviors with delay discounting and time perspective. Personality and Individual Differences, 48(2), 202–207.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ellis, R. D., & Newton, N. (Eds.). (2000). The caldron of consciousness: Motivation, affect and self-organization—An anthology. Amsterdam: J Benjamins.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fung, H. H., Carstensen, L. L., & Lang, F. R. (2016). Age-related patterns in social networks among European Americans and African Americans: Implications for socioemotional selectivity across the life span. The International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 52(3), 185–206.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hilpert, J. C., Husman, J., Stump, G. S., Kim, W., Chung, W.-T., & Duggan, M. A. (2012). Examining students’ future time perspective: Pathways to knowledge building. Japanese Psychological Research, 54(3), 229–240. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-5884.2012.00525.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Husman, J., Hilpert, J., & Brem, S. (2016). Future time perspective connectedness to a career: The contextual effects of classroom knowledge building. Psychologica Belgica, 56(3), 210–225.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Husman, J., & Lens, W. (1999). The role of the future in student motivation. Educational Psychologist, 34(2), 113–125.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • James, W. (1890/1918). The principles of psychology (Vol. 1). New York: Henry Holt & Co.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Kappes, H. B., & Oettingen, G. (2011). Positive fantasies about idealized futures sap energy. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47, 719–729.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keough, K. A., Zimbardo, P. G., & Boyd, J. N. (1999). Who’s smoking, drinking, and using drugs? Time perspective as a predictor of substance use. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 21(2), 149–164.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kogut, T., Eyal, T., & Sharon, I. (2017, April). Seeing into the future: Future time orientation as a moderator of temporal distance effects on educators’ decisions. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making. https://doi.org/10.1002/bdm.2015

  • Lang, F. R., & Carstensen, L. L. (2002). Time counts: Future time perspective, goals, and social relationships. Psychology and Aging, 17(1), 125.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, J., Husman, J., Green, S. B., & Brem, S. K. (2016). Development and validation of the persistent academic possible selves scale for adolescents (PAPSS). Learning and Individual Differences, 52, 19–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lens, W., Paixao, M. P., Herrera, D., & Grobler, A. (2012). Future time perspective as a motivational variable: Content and extension of future goals affect the quantity and quality of motivation. Japanese Psychological Research, 54(3), 321–333.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewin, K. (1942). Time perspective and morale. In G. Watson (Ed.), Civilian morale (pp. 48–70). New York: Reynal & Hitchcock.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luria, A. R. (2012). Higher cortical functions in man. New York: Springer Science & Business Media.

    Google Scholar 

  • Markus, H., & Nurius, P. (1986). Possible selves. American Psychologist, 41(9), 954–969.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mello, Z. R., Zhang, J. W., Barber, S. J., Paoloni, V. C., Howell, R. T., & Worrell, F. C. (2016). Psychometric properties of time attitude scores in young, middle, and older adult samples. Personality and Individual Differences, 101, 57–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oettingen, G. (2012). Future thought and behaviour change. European Review of Social Psychology, 23, 1–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oettingen, G., & Reininger, K. M. (2016). The power of prospection: Mental contrasting and behavior change. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 10(11), 591–604.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oettingen, G., Stephens, E. J., Mayer, D., & Brinkmann, B. (2010). Mental contrasting and the self-regulation of helping relations. Social Cognition, 28, 490–508.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oyserman, D., Bybee, D., Terry, K., & Hart-Johnson, T. (2004). Possible selves as roadmaps. Journal of Research in Personality, 38(2), 130–149.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oyserman, D., Bybee, D., & Terry, K. (2006). Possible selves and academic outcomes: How and when possible selves impel action. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91(1), 188–204.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Oyserman, D., & Destin, M. (2010). Identity-based motivation: Implications for intervention. The Counseling Psychologist, 38(7), 1001–1043.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Oyserman, D., Gant, L., & Ager, J. (1995). A socially contextualized model of African American identity: Possible selves and school persistence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69(6), 1216–1232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oyserman, D., & James, L. (2011). Possible identities. In S. J. Schwartz, K. Luyckx, & L. Vivian (Eds.), Handbook of identity theory and research (pp. 117–145). New York: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Oysersman, D., & Markus, H. (1990). Possible selves in balance: Implications for delinquency. Journal of Social Issues, 46(2), 141–157.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paixao, M. P., Abreu, M. V., & Lens, W. (2012). Motivation, future time perspective, and vocational planning behavior. In D. A. Leontiev (Ed.), Motivation, consciousness and self-regulation (pp. 41–63). Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schacter, D. L., & Addis, D. R. (2007). The cognitive neuroscience of constructive memory: Remembering the past and imagining the future. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 362(1481), 773–786.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schacter, D. L., & Addis, D. R. (2009). On the nature of medial temporal lobe contributions to the constructive simulation of future events. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 364(1521), 1245–1253.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Schacter, D. L., Addis, D. R., & Buckner, R. L. (2007). Remembering the past to imagine the future: The prospective brain. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 8(9), 657–661.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schacter, D. L., Addis, D. R., & Szpunar, K. K. (2017). Escaping the past: Contributions of the hippocampus to future thinking and imagination. In D. E. Hannula & M. C. Duff (Eds.), The hippocampus from cells to systems (pp. 439–465). New York: Springer International Publishing.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Strathman, A., Gleicher, F., Boninger, D. S., & Edwards, C. S. (1994). The consideration of future consequences: Weighing immediate and distant outcomes of behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66(4), 742.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Suddendorf, T., & Corballis, M. C. (1997). Mental time travel and the evolution of the human mind. Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs, 123(2), 133–167.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Szpunar, K. K. (2010). Episodic future thought: An emerging concept. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 5(2), 142–162.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tulving, E. (1993). What is episodic memory? Current Directions in Psychological Science, 2, 67–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walker, T. L., & Tracey, T. J. G. (2012). The role of future time perspective in career decision-making. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 81(2), 150–158.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, M., Rieger, M. O., & Hens, T. (2016). How time preferences differ: Evidence from 53 countries. Journal of Economic Psychology, 52, 115–135.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Worrell, F. C., Temple, E. C., McKay, M. T., Živkovič, U., Perry, J. L., Mello, Z. R., Musil, B., & Cole, J. C. (2016). A theoretical approach to resolving the psychometric problems associated with the Zimbardo time perspective inventory. European Journal of Psychological Assessment. https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000313

  • Zimbardo, P. G., & Boyd, J. N. (1999). Putting time in perspective: A valid, reliable individual-differences metric. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77(6), 1271–1288.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Copyright information

© 2017 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Husman, J., Hilpert, J.C. (2017). Extending Future Time Perspective Theory through Episodic Future Thinking Research: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Thinking About the Future. In: Kostić, A., Chadee, D. (eds) Time Perspective. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-60191-9_12

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics