How We Feel is a Matter of Time: Relationships Between Time Perspectives and Mood

Both personality and emotional experiences may be influenced by people’s time perspectives. The Zimbardo time perspective inventory measures five trait dimensions related to past, present and future perspectives. Two studies were conducted to investigate how these time perspective dimensions related to mood. The first study (n = 260) confirmed that ZTPI scales predicted moods including energetic arousal, tense arousal and Hedonic Tone, revealing that past negative and Present Hedonistic time perspectives are the most robust predictors of current emotional states. Moreover, future time perspective proved to predict energetic arousal, but the effect was suppressed by present hedonism. The second study (n = 65) measured mood twice in a 4-week period, and focused on relationships between the ZTPI and recalled and anticipated mood. Analyses conducted using DBTP, an index of temporal harmony based on the ZTPI scores, proved that balanced time perspective was related to more positive mood states in both studies. Findings confirmed that time perspective appears to influence both recall and anticipation of mood. For example, past negative time perspective is associated with anticipation of negative moods, and Past Positive perspective relates to both recall and anticipation of energy. Time perspective may structure the individual’s affective experience.

[1]  D. Mackinnon,et al.  Equivalence of the Mediation, Confounding and Suppression Effect , 2000, Prevention Science.

[2]  F. Strack,et al.  Happiness and reminiscing: The role of time perspective, affect, and mode of thinking. , 1985, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

[3]  N. Cantor,et al.  Personality, cognition, and purposive behavior. , 1990 .

[4]  Stephen J. Anderson,et al.  Rewriting the past : Some factors affecting the variability of personal memories , 2000 .

[5]  M. Conway,et al.  The construction of autobiographical memories in the self-memory system. , 2000, Psychological review.

[6]  A. Beekman,et al.  Time perspective, personality and psychopathology: Zimbardo’s time perspective inventory in psychiatry , 2011 .

[7]  P. Zimbardo,et al.  The Time Paradox: The New Psychology of Time That Will Change Your Life , 2008 .

[8]  P. Zimbardo,et al.  Present time perspective as a predictor of risky driving , 1997 .

[9]  Carey K. Morewedge,et al.  PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE Research Article The Least Likely of Times How Remembering the Past Biases Forecasts of the Future , 2022 .

[10]  C. Dunkel,et al.  Using Three Levels of Personality to Predict Time Perspective , 2010 .

[11]  Seymour Epstein,et al.  Cognitive-experiential self-theory. , 1998 .

[12]  P. Zimbardo,et al.  Time Perspective Therapy: A New Time-Based Metaphor Therapy for PTSD , 2014 .

[13]  Amanda K. Emo,et al.  Emotional intelligence, personality, and task-induced stress. , 2006, Journal of experimental psychology. Applied.

[14]  William B. Swann,et al.  The Trouble with Change: Self-Verification and Allegiance to the Self , 1997 .

[15]  Ryan T. Howell,et al.  Comparing Three Methods to Measure a Balanced Time Perspective: The Relationship Between a Balanced Time Perspective and Subjective Well-Being , 2013 .

[16]  A. Beekman,et al.  Future oriented group training for suicidal patients: a randomized clinical trial , 2009, BMC psychiatry.

[17]  Ryan T. Howell,et al.  Do time perspectives predict unique variance in life satisfaction beyond personality traits , 2011 .

[18]  A. Grob,et al.  Dimensional models of core affect: a quantitative comparison by means of structural equation modeling , 2000 .

[19]  William A. Cunningham,et al.  Feeling stuck in the present? Mania proneness and history associated with present-oriented time perspective. , 2012, Emotion.

[20]  R. Thayer.  The Origin of Everyday Moods: Managing Energy, Tension, and Stress , 1996 .

[21]  Matthijs Baas,et al.  Hedonic tone and activation level in the mood-creativity link: toward a dual pathway to creativity model. , 2008, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[22]  Jun-ichiro Kawahara,et al.  Selective bias in retrospective self-reports of negative mood states , 2011, Anxiety, stress, and coping.

[23]  Martin A. Conway,et al.  The Self and Autobiographical Memory: Correspondence and Coherence , 2004 .

[24]  J. Connor-Smith,et al.  Relations between personality and coping: a meta-analysis. , 2007, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[25]  P. Zimbardo,et al.  The Time Cure: Overcoming PTSD with the New Psychology of Time Perspective Therapy , 2012 .

[26]  Michael D. Robinson,et al.  Belief and feeling: evidence for an accessibility model of emotional self-report. , 2002, Psychological bulletin.

[27]  Avishai Henik,et al.  SUPPRESSION SITUATIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH : DEFINITIONS, IMPLICATIONS, AND APPLICATIONS , 1991 .

[28]  P. Zimbardo,et al.  Time perspective, emotional intelligence and discounting of delayed awards , 2011 .

[29]  T. Apostolidis,et al.  Future time perspective as predictor of cannabis use: exploring the role of substance perception among French adolescents. , 2006, Addictive behaviors.

[30]  Dylan M. Jones,et al.  Refining the measurement of mood: The UWIST Mood Adjective Checklist , 1990 .

[31]  Michael Hoerger,et al.  Affective forecasting and the Big Five. , 2010, Personality and individual differences.

[32]  Andrzej Nowak,et al.  Dynamical Patterns in Bipolar Depression , 2002 .

[33]  P. Zimbardo,et al.  Putting Time in Perspective: A Valid, Reliable Individual-Differences Metric , 1999 .

[34]  Andrea M. Nave,et al.  A Retrospective Survey of Childhood Experiences , 2011 .

[35]  T. Trull,et al.  Clinical assessment of affective instability: comparing EMA indices, questionnaire reports, and retrospective recall. , 2009, Psychological assessment.

[36]  G. Matthews,et al.  Emotional Processes in Development and Dynamics of Individual Time Perspective , 2015 .

[37]  Kurt Lewin,et al.  Time perspective and morale. , 1942 .

[38]  Robert A Emmons.  Abstract versus concrete goals: personal striving level, physical illness, and psychological well-being. , 1992, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[39]  Timothy D. Wilson,et al.  Affective Forecasting , 2005 .

[40]  Ilona Boniwell,et al.  A question of balance: Time perspective and well-being in British and Russian samples , 2010 .

[41]  Elaine Duncan,et al.  Time Perspective and Correlates of Wellbeing , 2008 .

[42]  H. Markus,et al.  The interpersonal self. , 1990 .

[43]  N. Weinstein.  Unrealistic optimism about future life events , 1980 .

[44]  Cheryl L. Carmichael,et al.  Affective forecasting and individual differences: accuracy for relational events and anxious attachment. , 2010, Emotion.