Concept
Future self
Overview
In the psychology of self, the future self concerns the processes and consequences associated with thinking about oneself in the future. People think about their future selves similarly to how they think about other people. The extent to which people feel psychologically connected (e.g., similarity, closeness) to their future self influences how well they treat their future self. When people feel connected to their future self, they are more likely to save for retirement, make healthy decisions, and avoid ethical transgressions. Interventions that increase feelings of connectedness with future selves can improve future-oriented decision making across these domains.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
Found by search and not yet checked by a person; they may only mention the idea in passing.
It is the essential logical function of the consciousness of self to stimulate the valuation processes which take their rise in the stage of reflective thought thus attained. The consciousness of self is a peculiarly baffling theme for discussion from whatever point of view, because one finds its meaning shifting constantly between the two extremes of a subjectivity to which "all objects of…
John Dewey, Studies in Logical Theory
Close in meaning to Future self; the term itself is not named.
To sum up now this long chapter. The consciousness of Self involves a stream of thought, each part of which as 'I' can 1) remember those which went before, and know the things they knew; and 2) emphasize and care paramountly for certain ones among them as 'me,' and _appropriate to these_ the rest. The nucleus of the '_me_' is always the bodily existence felt to be present at the time. Whatever…
William James, The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1
Close in meaning to Future self; the term itself is not named.
If such feelings become particularly strong, they very likely exert a reactive influence upon the assimilation process, and thus cause the new experience to appear as the repetition of a previous one. It may be that the so-called "second sight," which some people imagine they possess, depends upon very strong individual affective reactions of this kind and their assimilative influences.
Wilhelm Max Wundt, An Introduction to Psychology Translated from the Second German Edition
Close in meaning to Future self; the term itself is not named.
Related ideas
- Future
- Anattā
- Drama
- Netherlands
- Open individualism
- Virtual reality
- Buddhist philosophy
- Cognitive psychology
- Derek Parfit
- Self
- Daniel Kolak
Place in the tradition
Part of Ethical egoism.