Time Orientation Flashcards
1: Time Orientation and Health Intro
Learning objectives
- What is time orientation?
- What is time orientation important for health?
- How is time orientation related to health?
- Current methods and evidence
1: Time Orientation and Health Intro
What is time orientation?
Definition: the tendency to be motivated by one temporal frame over others when making decisions
Time orientation develops + is reinforced over time - becomes cognitive temporal bias. This is what is meant by orientation, it develops from a series of choices depending on some sort of temporal trade-off (“now? or later?”) and to that extent that we find that choice rewarding, we continue to make that same temporal trade-off and begin to show bias to a particular temporal frame.
e.g. The last time I had chocolate cake it was amazing, I want the chocolate cake in order to feel good now now, but if I have it I’ll gain weight, if I have the apple instead, I will feel good later etc
Commonly viewed as being one of three temporal frames: past, present and future.
1: Time Orientation and Health Intro
How does a bias for a particular time orientation develop?
We naturally (automatically?) and unconsciously assign temporal categories to structure, order and add meaning to the flow of our experiences.
If one temporal frame is favoured when decision making then that frame serves as a cognitive temporal bias that, with chronic use over time, becomes a trait-like tendency that motivated behaviour.
Time can be argued as an artificial mental construct, an abstract concept – we separate events in our heads.
1: Time Orientation and Health Intro
The self over time (self-continuity)
William James – The Principles of Psychology (1890/1981)
- William James said we are a different self every day. The self we are everyday changes according to our experiences, we are slightly different each day, the way we see things, think etc.
- However, there remains a sort of thread of continuity that links these selves together each day. We have an ability to perceive an “unbrokenness in the stream of selves” despite the temporal partitioning of the self (p.335).
Integration of these temporally partitioned selves = self-continuity
1: Time Orientation and Health Intro
Why is time orientation important for health?
Physical inactivity and unhealthy diet are major contributors to the obesity epidemic worldwide (WHO, 2015).
Obesity is a precursor to the development of lots of chronic diseases: CVD, Type 2 diabetes, cancer, arthritis, some types of cancer etc. In order to stave off these illnesses one must engage in health behaviours.
Health behaviours are the prototypical self-regulation task (Wagner & Heatherton, 2015) – must regulate thoughts, feelings, emotions etc.
Engaging in health behaviours involves making intertemporal choices and decisions
1: Time Orientation and Health Intro
How is time orientation related to health?
Time orientation/perspective is primarily linked to health via its associations with health behaviours.
- Preventative health behaviours e.g. cancer/ diabetes screening, suncream use.
- Time orientation most predictive of engaging in H.B here is future - Health-promoting behaviours e.g. healthy eating, exercise, stress management
- Time orientation most predictive of engaging in H.B here is future - Health risky behaviours
e. g. smoking, alcohol use, substance abuse
- Time orientations most predictive of (not) engaging in H.B here are high present and low future
1: Time Orientation and Health Intro
Research methods for time orientation and health - brief overview
Print that shit out xx
Moving down the list, the research methods are, arguably, more rigorous
Randomised control trial is sort of the gold standard of research
1: Time Orientation and Health Intro
Future time perspective and obesity - Reading 1
(Hall, Fong & Sansone 2015)
Hall Fong & Sansone 2015
Sample of community adults (N = 135; Mean age 54.59) took part in a cross-sectional study
- Multiple measures of health behaviours and body composition.
BMI = Body Mass Index (Weight/height)
BMI > 25 = overweight
BMI > 30 = obese
TPQ = time perspective (high – more future oriented, low – more past oriented).
Prevalence of obesity as a function of TPQ category
Findings:
- Higher levels of TPQ (future oriented) corresponded the ppts being less likely to be obese (13% were obese) vs low time perspective (low levels of future orientation, more past oriented) corresponded with more instances of ppts being obese (23% were obese in this category).
- This indicates a relationship between time perspective and BMI, suggesting a connection between time orientation and health behaviours.
1: Time Orientation and Health Intro
(Hall, Fong & Sansone 2015)
They took this a step further…
They found an association between time perspective and BMI, but this assumed that the obesity was as result of poor health behaviour.
They also had a measure of health behaviour index (HBI).
They tried to see if HBI (measure of health behaviour) explained the relationship between future orientation and lower BMI (negative relationship as higher the future orientation, lower the BMI).
The stars on the figure mean the results were significant, the mediation analysis showed that the third variable (HBI) explained the relation between orientation and BMI.
(DRAW OUT FIGURE)
1: Time Orientation and Health Intro
Future time perspective and smoking
Sansone et al 2012 (n.imp)
Wanted to look at how future time orientation related to being a smoker vs a non-smoker
Overall, across all (5) countries those with higher levels of future time orientation are less likely to smoke, but not by much.
In China, time orientation didn’t predict smoking behaviour.
The variation in these results across different countries indicated that time orientation is not the only factor influencing this particular health behaviour (perhaps all health behaviour), culture for example, influences this as well.
1: Time Orientation and Health Intro
Temporal framing and the decision to take part in type 2 diabetes screening - Reading 2
(Orbell and Haggar, 2006)
Orbell and Haggar 2006
210 adults (mean age=53)
- Experimental design -
CFC is a measure called “consideration of future consequences”, high scores – more future oriented, low scores – more past oriented
1) High-CFC individuals were expected to be more sensitive to distant consequences that are both positive and negative
2) Low-CFC individuals were expected to be more sensitive to immediate consequences that are both positive and negative.
The researchers here decided to not try to change time orientation, they instead changed the way that they framed the health behaviours presented to ppts, mapping onto time perspectives that the ppts were already biased towards.
So, if someone had a high present time orientation, they wouldn’t map the behaviour they wanted them to undergo as being beneficial to the future, because that wouldn’t make them more likely to engage, they framed it as being beneficial for the now (immediate benefits).
***Temporal message framing – this is how they worded it
ST (short term), LT (long term), + (positive consequences), - (negative consequences)
- Some people find that taking part in screening means that they have to undergo unpleasant and inconvenient procedures immediately. ST-
- Some people find that taking part in screening gives them peace of mind about their health for years into the future. LT+
- Some people find that taking part in screening gives them immediate peace of mind about their health. ST+
- Some people find that taking part in screening means find that they worry about their condition and have to take tablets and live a different lifestyle for the rest of their life. LT-
1: Time Orientation and Health Intro
Study cont.
TPB dimensions as a function of message framing & time
They mapped all of this onto the theory of planned behaviour (shown in the graph), which considers attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, emotions (affect) and also intentions.
The graph just shows positive consequences, dark bar – short term benefits, light bar – long term benefits.
Findings:
- For those with high levels of future orientation presented with a message framing long term benefits, have higher intentions to engage in health behaviour (diabetes screening) than if the message had been framed for immediate benefits.
- For those with low levels of future orientation presented with a message framing long term benefits, have lower intentions to engage in health behaviour (diabetes screening) than if the message had been framed for immediate benefits.
In essence, mapping the message to fit onto a person’s time orientation, gives them more of an intention to engage in a health intention.
Intentions are important because they are a reasonable predictor of health behaviour engagement.
1: Time Orientation and Health Intro
Summary
- Time orientation is the tendency to be motivated by one temporal frame over others when making decisions.
- There are past, present and future time-orientations, but research on health outcomes has focused primarily on future and present time perspective.
- There is very little research looking at past time perspective and health, probably because when we have health related choices, most often the time frames being compared are present and future. But it is also possible to consider the past (i.e. last time I tried to exercise I didn’t like it, or considering a failed attempt to quit smoking) – this could also influence health behaviour engagement.
- Time perspective is linked to health mainly through health behaviours.
- Health behaviour intentions (TPB) are inherently future-oriented
- When people “intend” to engage in a health behaviour, they are thinking ahead, to intend to do something is thinking in terms of the future
- Future time perspective (FTP) is associated with better practice of health-promoting and preventive behaviours, whereas low FTP and present orientation are associated with health risky behaviours.
- Tailoring health messages to time orientation can help maximize their benefits for health behaviour intentions.
2: Time Orientation: Procrastination, Future-Self, and Health
Learning objectives:
- What is procrastination?
- What is the role of short-term mood regulation in procrastination?
- How is time-orientation implicated in the health outcomes associated with procrastination?
- What is the role of stress in time-orientation and health?
2: Time Orientation: Procrastination, Future-Self, and Health
Starter questions
- How is procrastination associated with physical health?
A chronic procrastinator is someone who puts immediate gratification and maintenance of positive current mood over long term goals and positive consequences. Procrastination has been found to be negatively associated with future time perspective and positively associated with present time perspective (they orient their thinking in terms of the “now” rather than the future). So, procrastination is associated with present time orientation, which is turn is associated negatively with health – for example procrastination is associated negatively with mindfulness (which positively corresponds with health). Mindfulness plays a vital role in self-regulation as it reduces stress and permits non-judgement awareness of the discrepancies between current-self and future-self.
- How is time-orientation implicated in the health outcomes associated with procrastination?
Procrastination is negatively associated with proactive health behaviours such as exercise, screening, healthy eating etc, as such behaviours would require future outcomes to be weighted as more important than immediate gratification (it’s not immediately gratifying to go for a run rather than sit on the sofa, but it has benefits for health in the long-term). Chronic procrastination of such behaviours can lead to poor health, with developing conditions such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease etc.
2: Time Orientation: Procrastination, Future-Self, and Health
Definitions
Procrastinate - derived from the Latin root prō + crāstinus
= “of tomorrow”
- A common self-regulatory problem involving the unnecessary and voluntary delay of important intended tasks despite the recognition that this delay may have negative consequences (Lay, 1986; Sirois & Pychyl, 2015)
- A temporally bound (phenomena that occurs across different time frames) behaviour that has consequences not only for the present self, but also the future self (Sirois & Pychyl, 2013).
2: Time Orientation: Procrastination, Future-Self, and Health
Reading - Sirois and Pychyl
Procrastination and the Priority of Short-Term Mood Regulation: Consequences for Future Self
Priority of short-term mood regulation is central to procrastination as a concept
Procrastination occurs for tasks that have a negative or aversive quality: boring, frustrating, lacking in meaning/ structure
More pleasurable: less aversive
- Doesn’t have to be pleasurable in itself, just less unpleasant than the more important task/ the one they are procrastinating from completing.
- This can be seen in procrastinators who clean/ organise instead – doesn’t mean they aren’t procrastinating.
Procrastination has an overall goal of minimising emotional distress, regulation of immediate mood is prioritised over acting to achieve long term goals – “Giving in to feel good”
2: Time Orientation: Procrastination, Future-Self, and Health
Procrastination and the temporally extended self
Problem is that when we procrastinate in order to feel this immediate gratification/ regulate our emotional distress, we are not dealing with the more important task at hand, we are pushing it off for our future self to deal with (making poor intertemporal choices).
Past Self: makes intention to act –> does not
- Puts onus on Future Self to do so
- Past Future Self is now the Present Self
- Present Self has to deal with the unfinished task
Present Self: believes Future Self can take care of
it, puts it off, and so on…….
- Poor intertemporal choices
The future self becomes the beast of burden to our present selves choices to put tasks off, thinking that in the future we will be better able to deal with those tasks – when in actual fact a lot of the time, that burden is too great and can induce feelings of stress and being overwhelmed.
2: Time Orientation: Procrastination, Future-Self, and Health
Further research has supported the findings of Fuscia and Tim’s work…
Procrastination must be associated with less focus on the future (non-future orientation
If you’re making decisions now that negatively affect your future self, you must not really be thinking about that future self when deciding whether to engage in health behaviours…
Meta-analysis - looking at lots of samples of published/ unpublished data, looking at the association between to variables to get a sense of the average association
Is procrastination associated with poor health behaviours? Yes, as a trait-like quality it is
Hypothesis: Is this because it’s related to low levels of future orientation/ high levels of present? Is this because they just forget about the future or is it because they are more focused on the present?
Across every study a moderately large negative correlation was found between procrastination and future time perspective, robust evidence. Less data on the present perspective, but average of -.45 looking at a general tendency to procrastinate (trait-like) and future time orientation. Weak positive correlation .15 between tendency to procrastinate and present orientation – so not just about being in the present moment, it’s actually about them not thinking about the future.
The tendency to think about the present vs not think about the future are different things.
