Does time extend asymmetrically into the past and the future? A multitask crosscultural study
Callizo-Romero, Carmen; Tutnjević, Slavica; Pandza, Maja; Ouellet, Marc; Kranjec, Alexander; Ilić, Sladjana; Gu, Yan; Göksun, Tilbe; Chahboun, Sobn; Casasanto, Daniel; Santiago, Julio
Peer reviewed, Journal article
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Date
2022Metadata
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Abstract
Does temporal thought extend asymmetrically into the past and the future? Do asymmetries depend on cultural differences in temporal focus? Some studies suggest that people in Western (arguably future-focused) cultures perceive the future as being closer, more valued, and deeper than the past (a future asymmetry), while the opposite is shown in East Asian (arguably past-focused) cultures. The proposed explanations of these findings predict a negative relationship between past and future: the more we delve into the future, the less we delve into the past. Here, we report findings that pose a significant challenge to this view. We presented several tasks previously used to measure temporal asymmetry (self-continuity, time discounting, temporal distance, and temporal depth) and two measures of temporal focus to American, Spanish, Serbian, Bosniak, Croatian, Moroccan, Turkish, and Chinese participants (total N = 1,075). There was an overall future asymmetry in all tasks except for temporal distance, but the asymmetry only varied with cultural temporal focus in time discounting. Past and future held a positive (instead of negative) relation in the mind: the more we delve into the future, the more we delve into the past. Finally, the findings suggest that temporal thought has a complex underlying structure. Does time extend asymmetrically into the past and the future? A multitask crosscultural study