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Time Perspective and Transcendental Future Thinking

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Time Perspective Theory; Review, Research and Application

Abstract

Time perspective theory states that human behavior is motivated by one’s ideas about the past, the present, and the future. But what about the extended future, life after death, separately discussed by John Boyd and Philip Zimbardo? In our chapter, we relate transcendental future thinking to the ideas about life after death in five major religions. We discuss terror management theory as a possible way to further understand and investigate the role of transcendental future thinking. We suggest a more elaborate view on transcendental future thinking and introduce an additional aspect on the other end of time’s continuum: prenatal past. Our major conclusion is that more research from a broader perspective is needed.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. GGZ Veenendaal, Veenendaal, The Netherlands

    Wessel van Beek

  2. Department of General Psychology, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania

    Antanas Kairys

Authors
  1. Wessel van Beek
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  2. Antanas Kairys
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Correspondence to Wessel van Beek .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland

    Maciej Stolarski

  2. Groupe de Recherche en Psychologie Sociale, Institut de Psychologie, University of Lyon, Lyon-Bron, France

    Nicolas Fieulaine

  3. GGZ Veenendaal, Veenendaal, The Netherlands

    Wessel van Beek

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van Beek, W., Kairys, A. (2015). Time Perspective and Transcendental Future Thinking. In: Stolarski, M., Fieulaine, N., van Beek, W. (eds) Time Perspective Theory; Review, Research and Application. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07368-2_4

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