Is your time perspective making you happy or miserable?

I just skimmed a thought provoking article in Time and Society by Drake et al (2008) on peoples "time perspectives." Although not dealing specifically with the milli-second level processing of the brain clock (the primary focus of the IQ Brain Clock Blog), I found the time-related article thought-provoking. I was unfamilar with the research suggesting it is possible to measure and categorize a persons "time perspective" (TP) and, more importantly, relate different patterns of TP's to level of general happiness.

First, below is the abstract of the specific article. I was less interested in the objectives and findings of the current study (relating TP to "mindfullness"), and was more captivated by the overview of the TP literature in the introduction.

• ABSTRACT. This study investigated correlates of five time perspectives (TPs) and the Balanced Time Perspective (BTP) construct proposed by Zimbardo and colleagues. Two hundred and sixty Scottish participants completed the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI: Zimbardo and Boyd, 1999), Subjective Happiness Scale (Lyubomirsky and Lepper, 1999) and Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (Brown and Ryan, 2003). The most prevalent TP profile was moderate to high scores on all five TPs of the ZTPI. BTP participants were significantly happier and more mindful. Happiness and mindfulness were positively correlated but a future TP did not correlate with subjective happiness.

It appears that the predominant researchers in the TP field are Zimbardo and colleagues. Below are the gems I pulled from the introduction:

TP is define by "the manner in which individuals, and cultures, partition the flow of human experience into distinct temporal categories of past, present and future." Past, present and future temporal frames can be measured and subdivided into five categories These are:

• Past Negative (PN) - a pessimistic attitude towards the past and possibly the experience of traumaticlife events.
• Past Positive (PP) - a more sentimental and positive view of one’s past.
• Present Hedonistic (PH) - associated with the desire for spontaneous pleasure with slight regard to risk or concern for future consequences.
• Present Fatalistic (PF) - defined as a lack of hope for the future and belief that uncontrollable forces determine one’s fate.
• Future (F) - characterized by reward dependence that occurs as a result of achieving specific long-term goals.

The literature review suggests that certain TP's are associated with more negative life outcomes and feelings while others are more associated with more positive outcomes (you can read the entire literature review yourself for specifics).

According to researchers, the healthiest goal is to strive to achieve a "Balanced Time Perspective" (BTP) that is characterized, statistically, as moderate to high scores for the PP, PH, and F factors and relatively low scores for the PN and PF factors. This would translate into a person who has the ability to hold past present and future time perspectives concurrently (keeping the positive past, present fun stuff, and goal-oriented future collectively in one's day-to-day thinking) and to be able to move between each perspective to adopt the one that is most appropriate to the current situation.

According to Zimbardo et al., having a balanced time perspective (BTP) is central to function at the top of ones game in day to day living. "By that they mean that the individual will reap psychological benefits if they are able to ‘work hard when there is a mission to be accomplished, but play hard when the work is done’ "

Interesting and thought provking concepts. I'd like to find a copy of the survey and measure and categorize my time perspective.


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