Take a moment to imagine a childhood memory, the first that comes to mind. How does it make you feel? Maybe you regard this memory with a sense of nostalgia, sadness, joy, or even bitterness. The way that you see your past, present, and future, is referred to in psychology as time perception. In talking to friends and family, discussing your future goals and sharing your memories – you have probably encountered a person with a different emotional connection to these periods of time than you. You also have very likely come across someone who prefers to ‘live in the moment’, or someone who imagines their next vacation in vivid and exhilarating detail. As a research group headed by Dr. Stolarski at the University of Warsaw put it: humans have a special talent for allocating mental resources to focus on different horizons in time and it is not at all unusual for people to favour some frames of time and neglect others. The current understanding of our emotions regarding time perception posits them as a purely sociocultural factor – a way of understanding and interacting with the world that is entirely shaped by our environment and the people around us. However, a recent study conducted by Dr. Stolarski and his team of researchers proposes another idea, a genetic, heritable component.
Conducting an extensive analysis of 393 pairs of twins, Dr. Stolarski’s team assessed the influence of environmental and genetic factors in time perception. Participants filled out questionnaires, each individual providing anonymous answers to thought-provoking inquiries about their attitudes towards time. Caution must, of course, be taken to not bias the answers. So, the booklets from each pair of twins were encoded to ensure their data could be matched despite the anonymous nature of the questionnaires. With data in hand, the researchers examine time perception in categories based on feelings ranging from pleasure and hope to pessimism and discomfort. The result? A remarkable correlation between genetics and the emotional processes that people use to navigate frames of time.
Understanding the origins of differing time perceptions could prove to be a very helpful key to communication. Consider the role of a life counsellor, providing guidance about a client’s future. For them to put themselves in their client’s shoes regarding their anxieties or worries, being able to take into account the concept of time perception for whom they are speaking to could prove a useful tool. Alternatively, think of that awkward Thanksgiving dinner, bickering with relatives who feel completely differently about how the future will turn out than you do. Maybe the means to comprehend how their personality affects their assumptions about the future will help you find a middle ground to meet them on. Now, the next time you are exchanging childhood memories, you have got a tool under your belt to understand the people around you a little bit better.
Finally, to all of the students who find it hard to feel excited about the future, who toss and turn with anxiety about what comes next, know that you are not alone. It may be your genetics at play. Grab a hot cup of tea, seek out some new perspectives from your friends and family, and try not to let DNA harsh your day!
To learn more, take a look at “Behavioral genetics of temporal framing: Heritability of
time perspective and its common genetic bases with major personality traits” by Stolarski
et al. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12870
