Rethinking time: Implications for well‐being

Abstract

How people think about and use their time has critical implications for happiness and well‐being. Extant research on time in the consumer behavior literature reveals a predominantly dichotomized perspective of time between the present and future. Drawing on research on emotions, social relationships, and financial decision‐making, we discuss how removing categorical dichotomies might lead to beneficial outcomes. From this, we propose a conceptualization of time that assumes a less stark contrast between the present and the future, allowing these two time frames to more flexibly coexist in people's minds and experiences. Finally, we discuss one way people might adopt this perspective to increase happiness—by taking an elevated or “bird's‐eye” perspective of time where the future and present, as well as the past, become equally visible, and where events from different time points are treated and experienced as part of one's life and being overall.

When and Why to Replicate: As Easy as 1, 2, 3?

“…Article 8's topic is theoretically important and certainly currently relevant: understanding the relationship between motivation and initiating healthy eating behavior is important for many reasons (for developing strategies to lowering the global burden of health due to preventable disease, for instance). However, the link between temporal landmarks and motivation has been demonstrated often and by different research groups (Peetz & Wilson, 2013;Mogilner, Hershfield, & Aaker, 2018;Urminsky, 2017), as well as in other studies by related groups (Dai, Milkman, & Riis, 2014;Lee & Dai, 2017), including a randomized clinical trial measuring adherence to medical treatment (Dai et al, 2017).…”

Conceptual metaphors shape consumer psychology

“…The former not only predicts repeat purchases and brand loyalty, but also predicts positive word‐of‐mouth endorsements to other potential consumers. More broadly, ensuring a positive experience is a step toward promoting the public's overall productivity, happiness, and subjective well‐being (Mogilner, Hershfield, & Aaker, ).…”

Health decision making

“…Evidence that some consumers are sophisticated enough to limit their exposure to temptation by forgoing bulk discounts on unhealthy items like junk food and cigarettes has led researchers to explore whether this insight can be more explicitly leveraged in the marketplace. Specifically, recent studies have examined the extent to which consumers are willing to explicitly “precommit” to being healthier by imposing physical and financial constraints on their ability to give in to future temptation (for a review of decision making over time, see Mogilner, Hershfield, & Aaker, ). For instance, the fast‐food restaurant patrons who were prompted to downsize their starchy side dishes had effectively precommitting to smaller portions.…”