Remembering future life goals: Retrospective future thinking affects life goal qualities

Abstract

Personal goals are important for the construction and organization of episodic future thought. This study examines the impact of two future thinking perspectives on qualities of mental goal representations. Here, 142 participants (Mage = 21.9 years) reported on the content and characteristics of five life goals either retrospectively, imagining goals from the perspective of their 100-year-old self, or prospectively from the perspective of their current self. Results indicate that retrospectively reported life goals relied more on schematized knowledge, were dated to occur later in life, and were perceived as more self-concordant with increasing distance from the present. Independent of condition, more distant goals were rated as more difficult, less likely to occur, and were associated with lower self-efficacy. This study provides the first evidence that the point in life from which you consider your own future affects the qualities of mental goal representations, suggesting that retrospective future thinking serves as a form of psychological distancing.

Keywords

• Goals
• Episodic future thinking
• Retrospective future thinking
• Mental time travel
• Self-concordance
• Cultural life script