Future oriented live longer
American psychologist Philip Zimbardo, Emeritus Professor at Stanford University, is the author of new book, The Time Paradox: The New Psychology of Time That Will Change Your Life.
In it he argues people tend to make decisions based on whether they are orientated to the past, present or future.
Some people are dominated by their past experiences and this influences how they make decisions now. These past experiences may be positive – family or cultural traditions or rewards for good things they’ve done in the past – or they may be negative events – past traumas influencing what they do in the present.
People with post-traumatic stress syndrome have been negatively influenced by their past, he writes.
Other people are orientated towards the present. They seek immediate rewards, without much thought for the future, and are influenced by their body sensations and physiology (hunger, thirst, desire for sex etc) or what their peer group is doing.
Rather than plan ahead, these people often rely on luck or fate and they tend to have lower levels of impulse control and emotional stability.
Zimbardo says people who have addictions are very often present-thinkers, as are gamblers or those who run up credit card debts.
Then there are people who are focused on the future, these people think of the consequences of their actions. They are good at controlling their egos and impulses; are conscientious, consistent, non-aggressive, and have low levels of depression.
In reality we all have a bit of past, present and future orientation, but we tend to be skewed to one and underuse the others, says Zimbardo.
So what we need is a balance of all three ways of thinking.
Zimbardo suggests there’s a very strong correlation between future orientation and health, the more future oriented you are, the healthier you’ll be and the longer you’re likely to live.
Research published in the British Journal of Health Psychology last month supports Zimbardo’s theory. Studies show people who are future thinkers tend to use drugs less, and adopt safe sex practices, the researchers say.
