Abstract
Imagining future events is a crucial cognitive process in adaptation, but impairments have been identified in a range of mental disorders. Taking a functional approach to future thinking, this paper reports on the development and deployment of a scale to assess the frequency of self-reported functions of future thinking: The Functions of Future Thinking Scale (FoFTS). In Study 1 (N = 565) items were developed and subjected to exploratory factor analysis. Ten factors were extracted representing distinct purposes of future thinking: Boredom Reduction, Death Preparation, Identity Contrasting, Negative Emotion Regulation, Social Bonding, Goal Setting, Planning, Problem-Solving, Decision-Making, and Positive Emotion Regulation. Construct, convergent and divergent validity were established. The FoFTS predicted unique variance in transdiagnostic variables even after accounting for frequency, attitudes, and clarity of future thought. In Study 2 (N = 467), confirmatory factor analysis showed the 10-factor FoFTS model was an excellent fit to the data. In Study 3 (N = 106) it was shown that participants with probable major depression, relative to non-depressed participants, reported a significantly different profile of future thinking for different purposes. In conclusion, the FoFTS can be used to examine future thinking from a functional perspective and may help enrich models of psychopathology.
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Appendix 1
Appendix 1
The following statements refer to why you think about your own future. When answering these questions, please try to answer them in relation to events or situations that might personally happen to you in your future. They might relate to things you will experience very soon, or very far into the future.
Please answer using this 5-point scale:
1 = Never, 2 = Rarely, 3 = Sometimes, 4 = Often, 5 = Very Often.
*Why you think about your personal future…
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1.
Just to keep my mind active, when I have nothing else to do.
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2.
To pass time when I’m bored.
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3.
To reduce boredom.
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4.
When I want to think about my death.
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5.
When I want to imagine the events leading up to my dying.
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6.
To prepare myself for my death.
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7.
To imagine I’ll become the type of person I’d like to be.
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8.
When I want to imagine myself developing in a positive way as a person.
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9.
To imagine my personal identity improving over time.
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10.
So I can get used to the idea of experiencing something bad.
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11.
To steel myself before a negative experience.
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12.
To come to an acceptance of how an upcoming event might cause me distress.
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13.
When I want to maintain a friendship by discussing our personal futures together.
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14.
To describe my future to others to make conversation interesting.
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15.
To bond with others.
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16.
To help me understand my personal goals.
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17.
To establish what I’m trying to accomplish in my life.
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18.
When I want to define what my ambitions in my life are.
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19.
To plan out my actions in advance.
-
20.
To clarify a plan of action.
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21.
To decide on a sequence in which to do things.
-
22.
To imagine myself solving problems that arise.
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23.
To think about how I’ll overcome problems that are upcoming.
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24.
When I want to think about future problems that might occur, and how they will be solved.
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25.
To anticipate the best outcome from a range of decisions.
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26.
When I want to think about what a personal decision will lead to.
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27.
When I want to anticipate what will happen depending on decisions.
-
28.
To feel more positive emotions.
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29.
To feel good about positive things that might happen to me.
-
30.
When I want to improve my mood.
*this instruction can be used each time participants need to move to a new page of a survey, or otherwise intermittently.
Item subscales have three items each, and are summed to produce a subscale score. Subscales are presented above in this order: Boredom Reduction, Death preparation, Identity contrast, Negative emotion regulation, Social bonding, Goal Setting, Planning, Problem-solving, Decision-making, Positive emotion regulation.
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Hallford, D.J., D’Argembeau, A. Why We Imagine Our Future: Introducing the Functions of Future Thinking Scale (FoFTS). J Psychopathol Behav Assess 44, 376–395 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-021-09910-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-021-09910-2