Time perspective and volunteerism: The importance of focusing on the future

Abstract

Because volunteerism is a planned activity that unfolds over time, people who more frequently focus on the future might also be more likely to initiate volunteerism and sustain it over time. Using longitudinal (Study 1) and experimental (Study 2) paradigms, we investigated whether time perspective, and in particular a person's orientation toward the future, is related to volunteers' beliefs and behavior. In Study 1, a person's dispositional level of future time perspective was closely linked to volunteer beliefs and behavior. In Study 2, people who wrote about the future reported higher intentions to volunteer, and this was particularly true for infrequent volunteers and those with lower levels of dispositional future time perspective. Across two studies, we found evidence that future time perspective, whether a chronic disposition or a pattern of thought elicited by someone else, is linked to volunteer beliefs and behavior.

Looking forward to helping: The effects of prospection on prosocial intentions and behavior

“…Data from this study supported the hypothesis that people engaged in prospection would express significantly higher prosocial intentions than people who engaged in retrospection. This finding is consistent with previous studies (Gaesser & Schacter, ; Maki et al, ), but extends them by showing that prospection influences intentions to help in various ways—such as donating to charity or consoling a friend—rather than just within the individual situation that the person imagined or to volunteering. The next step was to assess whether the effects of prospection on prosociality extended to behavior.…”

“…In a more recent study, Maki and colleagues () conducted an experiment to examine the effects of prospection on volunteering intentions. They randomly assigned 96 participants to write about the current moment or the future in the most objective terms possible.…”

“…Consistent with this account, they found that people who remembered or imagined helping others more vividly were more likely to express intentions to help that person. Although empathy plays a role in both imagining oneself helping others and prosociality (Davis, ), other work shows that prospection evokes prosociality even when people do not imagine helping others (Maki et al, ). Alternatively, Maki and colleagues () speculate that prospection might increase feelings of optimism, which then makes people more likely to help others.…”

“…Although empathy plays a role in both imagining oneself helping others and prosociality (Davis, ), other work shows that prospection evokes prosociality even when people do not imagine helping others (Maki et al, ). Alternatively, Maki and colleagues () speculate that prospection might increase feelings of optimism, which then makes people more likely to help others. This notion finds some evidence in the health literature: prospection increases optimism, which promotes medication adherence (Mann, ).…”

“…In sum, evidence suggests that thinking about the future can increase one's intentions to help in a similar situation in the present (Gaesser & Schacter, ) and to volunteer in general (Maki et al, ). There is theoretical and empirical evidence suggesting that this effect might be mediated by positive affect or optimism, but these have not been tested.…”