ABSTRACT
People often think to the past or to the future when considering issues pertinent to their current identity. It is difficult, if not impossible, to answer the question “Who am I?” without looking back over a lifetime of experiences and without thinking ahead to one's hopes and plans for the future. In describing the notion of “specious present,” William James (1890/1950) noted that “the knowledge of some other part of the stream, past or future, near or remote, is always mixed in with our knowledge of the present thing” (p. 606). A large part of individuals' conceptualization of their present self draws from their memories of the past and imaginations of the future. At the same time, their reconstructions of their past and predictions for their future are influenced by present beliefs, feelings, and self-views.
