ABSTRACT
Across the life span, individuals naturally view their futures in through different perspectives; with age, we often see our futures as more limited in nature. However, chronological age provides only an incomplete story of how people view their futures, and research shows that future time perspectives may change for several reasons beyond simply the aging process. This chapter addresses changes in perceived future time, and how this construct provides value beyond simply looking at how old one is. Future time perceptions are first discussed from the perspective of developmental change and aging as relatively stable tendencies to perceive the future as either open or limited. Future time perceptions are then discussed from a daily life perspective as tendencies to experience fluctuations and variability in the perceptions of the future within and across days. This chapter will also address how time perceptions and their changes may serve important functions for well-being, health, motivation, and social behavior in everyday lives across the life span. This chapter concludes with an outline for how research into future time perspective would benefit from further attention to state-level variability in time perceptions.
