Back to the future: The effect of daily practice of mental time travel into the future on happiness and anxiety

Journal of Positive Psychology

Volumn 4, Issue 5, 2009, Pages 349-355

  Quoidbach, Jordi ^a   Wood, Alex M ^b   Hansenne, Michel ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF LIÈGE   (Belgium)

^b UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Anxiety; Episodic future thinking; Happiness; Mental time travel

Indexed keywords

EID: 70349637271     PISSN: 17439760     EISSN: 17439779     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/17439760902992365     Document Type: Article

References (38)

1. Andersson, G., Kyrre Svalastog, O., Kaldo, V., & Sarkohi, A. (2007). Future thinking in tinnitus patients. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 63, 191-194.
2. Arntz, A., Van Eck, M., & de Jong, P. (1992). Unpredictable sudden increases in intensity of pain and acquired fear. Journal of Psychophysiology, 6, 54-64.
3. Atance, C.M., & O'Neill, D.K. (2001). Episodic future thinking. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 5, 533-539.
4. Boyer, P. (2008). Evolutionary economics of mental time travel? Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 12, 219-224.
5. Buckner, R.L., & Carroll, D.C. (2007). Self-projection and the brain. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 11, 49-57.
6. D'Argembeau, A., & van der Linden, M. (2006). Individual differences in the phenomenology of mental time travel: The effect of vivid visual imagery and emotion regulation strategies. Consciousness and Cognition, 15, 342-350.
7. Emmons, R.A., & McCullough, M.E. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 377-389.
8. Gilbert, D. (2006). Stumbling on happiness. New York: Knopf.
9. Gilbert, D.T., & Wilson, T.D. (2007). Prospection: Experiencing the future. Science, 317, 1351-1354.
10. Greitemeyer, T., & Ẅrz, D. (2006). Mental simulation and the achievement of health goals: The role of goal difficulty. Imagination, Cognition, and Personality, 25, 239-251.
11. Hassabis, D., Kumaran, D., Vann, S.D., & Maguire, E.A. (2007). Patients with hippocampal amnesia cannot imagine new experiences. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 104, 1726-1731.
12. King, L.A. (2001). The health benefits of writing about life goals. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27, 798-807.
13. Klinger, E., & Cox, W.M. (1987). Dimensions of thought flow in everyday life. Imagination, Cognition, and Personality, 7, 105-128.
14. Lyubomirsky, S. (2008). The how of happiness: A scientific approach to getting the life you want. New York: Penguin Press.
15. Lyubomirsky, S., & Lepper, H.S. (1999). A measure of subjective happiness: Preliminary reliability and construct validation. Social Indicators Research, 46, 137-155.
16. MacLeod, A.K., & Byrne, A. (1996). Anxiety, depression, and the anticipation of future positive and negative experiences. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 105, 286-289.
17. MacLeod, A.K., Coates, E., & Hetherton, J. (2008). Increasing well-being through teaching goal-setting and planning skills: Results of a brief intervention. Journal of Happiness Studies, 9, 185-196.
18. MacLeod, A.K., & Conway, C. (2005). Well-being and the anticipation of future positive experiences: The role of income, social networks, and planning ability. Cognition & Emotion, 19, 357-373.
19. MacLeod, A.K., Pankhania, B., Lee, M., & Mitchell, D. (1997). Parasuicide, depression and the anticipation of positive and negative future experiences. Psychological Medicine, 27, 973-977.
20. MacLeod, A.K., & Salaminiou, E. (2001). Reduced positive future-thinking in depression: Cognitive and affective factors. Cognition & Emotion, 15, 99-107.
21. MacLeod, A.K., Tata, P., Kentish, J., & Jacobsen, H. (1997). Retrospective and prospective cognitions in anxiety and depression. Cognition & Emotion, 11, 467-479.
22. Norem, J.K., & Chang, E.C. (2002). The positive psychology of negative thinking. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 58, 993-1001.
23. Okuda, J., Fujii, T., Ohtake, H., Tsukiura, T., Tanji, K., Suzuki, K., et al. (2003). Thinking of the future and past: The roles of the frontal pole and the medial temporal lobes. Neuroimage, 19, 1369-1380.
24. Pham, L.B., & Taylor, S.E. (1999). From thought to action: Effects of process-versus outcome-based mental simulations on performance. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 25, 250-260.
25. Quoidbach, J., Hansenne, M., & Mottet, C. (2008). Personality and mental time travel: A differential approach to autonoetic consciousness. Consciousness and Cognition, 17, 1082-1092.
26. Schweitzer, M.B., & Paulhan, I. (1990). Manuel pour l'inventaire d'anxiété trait-état (Forme Y). Université de Bordeaux II: Laboratoire de Psychologie de la Santé.
27. Sheldon, K.M., & Elliot, A.J. (1999). Goal striving, need satisfaction, and longitudinal well-being: The self-concordance model. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 546-557.
28. Spielberger, C.D. (1983). Manual for the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologist Press.
29. Suddendorf, T., & Corballis, M.C. (1997). Mental time travel and the evolution of the human mind. Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs, 123, 133-167.
30. Suddendorf, T., & Corballis, M.C. (2007). The evolution of foresight: What is mental time travel and is it unique to humans? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 30, 299-313.
31. Taylor, S.E., Pham, L.B., Rivkin, I., & Armor, D.A. (1998). Harnessing the imagination: Mental simulation and selfregulation of behavior. American Psychologist, 53, 429-439.
32. Ten Eyck, L.L., Labansat, H.A., Lord, C.G., & Dansereau, D.F. (2006). Effects of directed thinking on intentions to engage in beneficial activities: Idea generation or mental simulation?. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 36, 1234-1262.
33. Tulving, E. (1985). Memory and consciousness. Canadian Psychology, 26, 1-12.
34. Tulving, E. (2002). Episodic memory: From mind to brain. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 1-25.
35. Tulving, E. (2005). Episodic memory and autonoesis: Uniquely human? In H.S. Terrace, & J. Metcalfe (Eds.), The missing link in cognition: Origins of self-reflective consciousness (pp. 3-56). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
36. Vasquez, N.A., & Buehler, R. (2007). Seeing future success: Does imagery perspective influence achievement motivation? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 33, 1392-1405.
37. Wheeler, M.A., Stuss, D.T., & Tulving, E. (1997). Toward a theory of episodic memory: The frontal lobes and autonoetic consciousness. Psychological Bulletin, 121, 331-354.
38. Wilson, T.D., & Gilbert, D.T. (2005). Affective forecasting. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 14, 131-134.