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There
are a number of reasons for our difficulty with New Year's Resolutions and
other efforts to make positive changes in our lives. For example, our goals are
often unrealistic or vague, we give up too easily when we have setbacks, and we
have a tendency to "bask in projected glory"--research suggests that when we announce
lofty goals and envision ourselves accomplishing them, we become less motivated
to pursue these goals in reality because we feel, in some sense, that we're
already there.
In
addition to these obstacles, we may also be hindered by an inability to see
our future selves--the ones who will suffer the consequences of the
poor decisions we make today--as us. Rather, we tend to see them as different
people altogether, people whose happiness is less important than the
happiness of our present selves.
In
support of this idea, research suggests that people show the
same attentional biases when making judgments about their future selves as they
do about another person (e.g., more attention to stable traits, less to
situational factors), and that brain activation patterns during thoughts
about one's future self are similar to those corresponding to thoughts about
another person.
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How
can we learn to do right by our future selves? In one study, future self
connection was increased by having participants write about how they would
remain similar over time. Just taking a moment to consider what
"future you" will be like can help remind you that "future
you" will still be you.
In
another study, a social responsibility appeal (e.g., "...your 'future
self' is dependent on you...") led people who already felt connected to
their future selves to choose to save more money for retirement, whereas a
self-interest appeal (e.g., "...your long-term well-being is at
stake...") had no effect. These findings suggest that it may be useful to
think of your future self as someone you care about, rather than straining to
feel self-interested about a self who doesn't really feel like you.
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