Picturing your future self worked no better than a short meditation
Who it’s about: Students
- No difference
Students who pictured their future self twice a week put things off no less than those who meditated.
Randomised trial of 193 university students in Canada · vs students who listened to a calming meditation · they rated themselves · ⚠ student thesis, not checked by other scientists; numbers unreliable
The study
Who took part
193 students at one university in Ottawa, Canada, about 21 years old on average and 7 in 10 of them women. 159 answered the questions at the end, four weeks later.
What they did
For four weeks, one group listened twice a week to a 9-minute recording. It guided them to picture their future self at the end of term. The other group heard a 5-minute calm meditation on the same days, and both groups planned when and where to listen.
What happened
After four weeks, both groups said they put things off about the same amount. Both groups put things off a little less over time. This was an unpublished student thesis, and some of its numbers don't add up.
Source
Nurturing the Temporally Extended Self: Mental Imagery as an Intervention to Increase Future Self-Continuity and Reduce Academic Procrastination (2015)
DOI: 10.22215/etd/2015-11035 (opens in a new tab)
