If you’re looking to the future rather than immediate, present-day rewards, then you may make healthier decisions that benefit you long-term, say researchers from Kansas State University.
That certainly seems to make sense on a few levels. People who participate in risky sexual behaviors or unhealthy habits like smoking may not be thinking about long-term health consequences of their actions.
“If you are more willing to pick later, larger rewards rather than taking the immediate payoff, you are more future-minded than present-minded,” said James Daugherty, a psychology doctoral student who led the study. Daugherty said that future-minded individuals are more likely to exercise and less likely to smoke and drink.
The researchers wanted to determine what type of time perspective measurements are good at predicting health behaviors. For the study, they first surveyed college students to see whether their thinking was long- or short-term. Other social psychology surveys determined their concerns with health risks.
Daugherty and fellow researcher Gary Brase, K-State associate professor of psychology, found that students who gave future-minded answers in the initial surveys were more likely to report healthy behaviors in latter surveys.
The researchers reason that those who tend to have a present-minded perspective may have an easier time reaching goals like weight loss if they can see rewards sooner. So, measuring someone’s time perspective may help with reaching health goals. The research is published in the January issue of Personality and Individual Differences.
Next, the researchers plan on looking at how present-mindedness and future-mindedness correlate with environmentally responsible behaviors. My guess? People who recycle are more future-minded.
How do you feel about the idea of an individual’s time perspective affecting decisions like whether to smoke or drink?
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