Löckenhoff Corinna E, Rutt Joshua L
Department of Human Development, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.
Department of Psychology, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
Gerontologist. 2017 Jun 1;57(3):396-408. doi: 10.1093/geront/gnx010.
Life-span development is inherently linked to the perception of time and associated temporal construals. Such concepts are multi-faceted in nature and have important practical implications in areas such as time management, financial planning, or medical choices. A large body of research has documented age-related limitations in global time horizons, but age differences in other aspects of temporal construal are comparatively poorly understood. The present article draws attention to developmental trajectories of self-continuity, defined as perceived associations of one's present self with past and future selves. After considering historical roots and contemporary views on self-continuity, we turn to the life-span developmental literature and review several convergent streams of research that provide indirect evidence for age-related increases in self-continuity. We then consider a small body of recent studies which have directly assessed age differences in self-continuity and summarize our current understanding of this phenomenon including associations between explicit and implicit measures, symmetry between past and future self-continuity, and differentiation from other aspects of time perception. We conclude by highlighting open theoretical questions and considering the practical implications of an increased sense of self-continuity with advancing age.
毕生发展与时间感知及相关的时间建构有着内在联系。这些概念本质上是多方面的，并且在时间管理、财务规划或医疗选择等领域具有重要的实际意义。大量研究记录了在全球时间视野方面与年龄相关的局限性，但在时间建构的其他方面的年龄差异相对来说了解较少。本文提请关注自我连续性的发展轨迹，自我连续性被定义为一个人当前自我与过去和未来自我之间的感知关联。在考虑了自我连续性的历史根源和当代观点之后，我们转向毕生发展文献，并回顾了几股趋同的研究流，这些研究流为与年龄相关的自我连续性增加提供了间接证据。然后，我们考虑了一小部分最近直接评估自我连续性年龄差异的研究，并总结了我们目前对这一现象的理解，包括显性和隐性测量之间的关联、过去和未来自我连续性之间的对称性，以及与时间感知其他方面的差异。我们通过强调开放的理论问题并考虑随着年龄增长自我连续性增强的实际意义来得出结论。
