Thinking into the future: how a future time perspective improves self-control

Dreves, Parker A.; Blackhart, Ginette C.

doi:10.1016/j.paid.2019.05.049

Cited by 37 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…The responses in the theme “planning on living a long and healthy life” represented the presence of goals in the distant future instead of the near future; in other words, the participants whose responses were included in this theme may have had a long-term perspective. Having a long-term time perspective is associated with improved self-control since this perspective influences the incentive value of their motives [ 10 ]. Importantly, it has been reported that positive personal characteristics such as self-control, self-efficacy, and self-esteem are associated with diabetes management and glycemic control in diabetic patients [ 11 , 12 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Qualitative and Quantitative Study on Components of Future Time Perspective and Their Association with Persistent Treatment for Type 2 Diabetes

et al. 2021

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Introduction: Future time perspective (FTP) means the capacity to foresee, anticipate, and plan for future desired outcomes, and it contributes to persistent treatment for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). However, the components of FTP specific to T2DM patients have not been clarified. This study aimed to explore the components of FTP and to examine the associations between such components and persistent/impersistent diabetes treatment. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, using qualitative and quantitative methods, 106 T2DM patients were enrolled by purposive sampling. The participants were interviewed in October and November 2018 by public health nurses in Koriyama City Public Health Center, Japan. In addition to the participants' status of treatment engagement (persistent/impersistent), their responses regarding reasons for persistent/impersistent treatment were collected and then summarized into nine subthemes, which were then merged into two main themes according to the presence or absence of FTP with a sense of T2DM ownership for analysis. Results: The main theme, ''presence of FTP with a sense of T2DM ownership,'' included subthemes such as ''securing social independence,'' ''planning on living a long and healthy life,'' ''prioritizing avoiding being a burden on family and friends,'' ''valuing improvement of diabetes,'' ''avoiding tragic results,'' ''optimistically viewing treatment as a form of self-development,'' and ''improving mental health,'' whereas the main theme, ''absence of FTP with a sense of T2DM ownership,'' included ''lack of consciousness of disease'' and ''living a dissipated life.'' The association between the presence of FTP with a sense of T2DM ownership and persistent treatment for T2DM was found using Fisher's exact test (p \ 0.001). Conclusion: Health care professionals should support T2DM patients in having an FTP with a sense of T2DM ownership and purpose in life instead of treatment goals when such patients mention their dissipated life or lack of insight into the disease.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Qualitative and Quantitative Study on Components of Future Time Perspective and Their Association with Persistent Treatment for Type 2 Diabetes

et al. 2021

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“…This finding dovetails with the observed effect on content specificity, in the sense that an orientation towards the future also aligns the imagined episode closer with the potential moment of receiving the later reward. The temporal direction may thus constitute a core component of EFT that shifts attention towards a delayed choice option (Lin & Epstein, 2014) and thereby provides motivational incentives for the pursuit of long-term goals (Dreves & Blackhart, 2019).…”

Section: Vividnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Promoting farsighted decisions via episodic future thinking: A meta-analysis

Rösch¹,

Stramaccia²

2021

Preprint

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Episodic future thinking (EFT) denotes our capacity to imagine prospective events. It has been suggested to promote farsighted decisions that entail a trade-off between short-term versus long-term gains. Here, we meta-analyze the evidence for the impact of EFT on such intertemporal choices that have monetary or health-relevant consequences. Across 174 effect sizes from 48 articles, a three-level model yielded a medium-sized effect of g = 0.44, 95% CI [0.33, 0.55]. Notably, this analysis included a substantial number of unpublished experiments, and the effect remained stable following further adjustments for remaining publication bias. We exploited the observed heterogeneity to determine critical core components that moderate the impact of EFT. Specifically, the effect was stronger when the imagined events were positive, more vivid, and related to the delayed choice. We further obtained evidence for the contribution of the episodicity and future-orientedness of EFT. Of note, EFT had a greater impact in samples characterized by choice impulsivity (e.g., in obesity), suggesting that EFT can ameliorate maladaptive decision making. Additional analyses indicated that the effect is unlikely to merely reflect demand characteristics. Together, these results highlight the potential of EFT in promoting long-term goals, a finding that extends from the laboratory to real-life decisions.

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“…Alternatively, unhealthy food intake may only be affected by time orientation in individuals who are motivated to consume the food [ 40 ]. Contrary to the experiment by Dassen and colleagues [ 23 ], participants in our study were not asked to fast prior to the experiment, which could have led to them being overall less motivated to consume the unhealthy food.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Time Is Ripe: Thinking about the Future Reduces Unhealthy Eating in Those with a Higher BMI

Chang

Claassen

Klein³

2020

Foods

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Research suggests that being oriented more towards the future (than the present) is correlated with healthier eating. However, this research tends to be correlational, and thus it is unclear whether inducing people to think about their future could increase healthy eating. Therefore, we investigated whether inducing people to think about their lives in the future versus the present would influence their intake of healthy (muesli) and unhealthy (Maltesers) food. Across two experiments, the effect of thinking about the future versus the present interacted with participants’ body mass index (BMI) to influence their consumption of unhealthy food, but no reliable effects were found for the consumption of healthy food. Among individuals with a higher BMI, thinking about their lives in the future resulted in lower consumption of the unhealthy food compared to thinking about their lives in the present. However, this effect was reversed for those with a lower BMI. In Experiment 2, we found no evidence that this effect was due to reduced impulsivity (as measured by a delay discounting task and a stop-signal task). This suggests that thinking about the future can reduce unhealthy eating among heavier people.

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Thinking into the future: how a future time perspective improves self-control

Cited by 37 publications

References 39 publications

Qualitative and Quantitative Study on Components of Future Time Perspective and Their Association with Persistent Treatment for Type 2 Diabetes

Qualitative and Quantitative Study on Components of Future Time Perspective and Their Association with Persistent Treatment for Type 2 Diabetes

Promoting farsighted decisions via episodic future thinking: A meta-analysis

The Time Is Ripe: Thinking about the Future Reduces Unhealthy Eating in Those with a Higher BMI

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