Time perspective stability

The individuals’ subjective notions about time represent a vast and relevant topic with strong implications not only for the understanding of human behaviour, but also because they function as the backbone for critical cognitive processes and permeate the objects’ perceptive process. Among these very unique and individual notions there is one that has gained tremendous prominence in recent decades and it is called Time Perspective. This construct has been considered for many years as a keystone in the motivational domain, more specifically in the school context, mainly through its future frame or Future Time Perspective. Recent theoretical and empirical developments have also demonstrated the importance of Time Perspective in a wide array of behaviours and cognitions. Yet, although empirically validated by several authors, in different countries and with different methodologies, there is still a lack of information about which external influences affect the stability of Time Perspective as a cognitive-motivational process.

In this project, the factor structure of Time Perspective was addressed, with the development of an integrative model of Time Perspective, which combines Zimbardo & Boyd’s (1999) 5-dimension model, the Transcendental Future (Boyd & Zimbardo, 1997) and the notion indirectly referred to by Lewin (1965) of Future Negative. This model’s predictive and conceptual validity was tested through a series of studies using Structural Equation Modelling, in which Time Perspective appears as an important predictor of several well-known psychological traits such as Consideration of Future Consequences, Hope and Self-Esteem. The issue of Time Perspective stability as also addressed, via a short-term longitudinal study analyzing the differences observed in Time Perspective after a one-year time period. The obtained results suggest that context has little or no effect on Time Perspective, since no strong differences were found between the assessments in the college and the home context. Regarding the temporal stability of Time Perspective, the results allow us to consider that in a one-year period Time Perspective is a quite stable construct, since there were no significant differences in any of its dimensions.