Culture, temporal focus, and values of the past and the future

Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 2012 Aug;38(8):1030-40. doi: 10.1177/0146167212443895. Epub 2012 Apr 24.

Abstract

This article examines cultural differences in how people value future and past events. Throughout four studies, the authors found that European Canadians attached more monetary value to an event in the future than to an identical event in the past, whereas Chinese and Chinese Canadians placed more monetary value to a past event than to an identical future event. The authors also showed that temporal focus-thinking about the past or future-explained cultural influences on the temporal value asymmetry effect. Specifically, when induced to think about and focus on the future, Chinese valued the future more than the past, just like Euro-Canadians; when induced to think about and focus on the past, Euro-Canadians valued the past more than the future, just like Chinese.

Publication types

  • Randomized Controlled Trial
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Anticipation, Psychological
  • Asian People / psychology*
  • Canada
  • China / ethnology
  • Cross-Cultural Comparison*
  • Culture*
  • Female
  • Forecasting*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Mental Recall*
  • Sex Factors
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Thinking*
  • Time Factors
  • White People / psychology*