ABSTRACT

In the preceding chapters, a theory of time perspective and a method for measuring its extension have been introduced. The present Manual is intended as a practical guide for localizing the subjects' “motivational objects” — collected by the MIM — in the time periods in which they are expected to happen or to be realized. These time periods, it will be recalled, are the temporal elements that constitute a subject's future time perspective. The principles of our temporal coding system and the temporal scale to be used have been described in Chapters I and III, respectively. The reader is to keep them in mind before using this Manual in which the concrete rules for localizing the objects are presented. It is on the basis of these temporally located objects that the extension measures of the subjects' Future Time Perspective (F.T.P.) are obtained, as described in Chapter IV. The Manual for the motivational content analysis of the MIM responses is given in the next chapter. This content analysis, however, is not necessary for measuring the subjects' F.T.P.