I had first heard of his work a few months ago on a podcast, and for the life of me, I have no idea which podcast, but the main crux if the argument was essentially those who delayed satisfaction are said to be more successful, happier and more fulfilled.

In this particular Ted Talk, he fleshes out his theory by saying there are generally, 3 types of people:

1. Present Oriented: Individuals who are only concerned with the moment and answer the question “what can I experience now?”
2. Past Focused: Decisions are based on what they’ve experience prior to this moment – “based on past experiences, what will I choose now?”
3. Future Focused: Decisions are based on cost benefit analysis of the future – “If I choose X now, what will be the repercussions or consequences of my choice?”

And within these 3 types of people, each tends to focus on either extreme of this time continuum:

1. Past Positive
2. Past Negative
3. Present Hedonism
4. Present Fatalism
5. Future Life-Goal Oriented
6. Future Transcendental (Life After Death)

Optimally, he theorizes that your goal is to remain mentally flexible so that at any one time you can temporarily shift your time perspective to meet the demands of that moment. For example, if you’re about to eat a tuna fish sandwich in Spain, and from past experience living in the Midwest you remember that most tuna fish sandwiches have mayo in it. And because you’re allergic to eggs, you stop, open the sandwich and look. Odd, you don’t see mayo. Staying in the present moment, you ask the woman behind the counter if there are any eggs or mayo in the sandwich. She says no, and now your mind shifts to future thinking. If she’s wrong you could end up in the hospital, but as you remember that most sandwiches in Spain do not have a sauce other than olive oil and tomato, the chances of there being egg in the sandwich is slim. Therefore, your choice, assessing all three time perspectives, is to happily take a risk and eat the sandwich.

Philip believes that the ideal time perspective is:

• High Past Positive - provides you the roots to not only remain grounded, but to connect with your identity and family
• Moderately High Future – allows you to dream, imagine and aim for new challenges
• Moderate Present Hedonism - gives you the raw energy to explore what’s around you now

Where he emphasizes that you not go is into High Fatalism (believing that you have no control over your actions), Negative Past (where everything behind you is frightening and scary) or Transcendental Future (where you’re waiting for some reward at the end of your existence, making this life “less than” your next one). Personally, I think his framework for tackling the psychological issues as to how we relate to ourselves and others is not only fascinating but very poignant, but I’m curious what you think.

Other sites to check out include: the social implications of understanding time perspective (www.mappingthinking.com) and the other deals with the commercial implications (www.gpsforthemind.com)

Check out his video here:

Related articles by Zemanta

• Philip Zimbardo on Time and Temptation (brainandlearning.blogspot.com)