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Bauckham, Grace, Lambert, Rachel, Atance, Cristina M., Davidson, Patrick, Taler, Vanessa and Renoult, Louis 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7861-0552
(2019)
Predicting our own and others’ future preferences: The role of social distance.
Quarterly Journal of Experimental Physiology, 72 (3).
pp. 634-642.
ISSN 0144-8757
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Abstract
People underestimate how much their preferences will change in the future, a phenomenon sometimes referred to as a “presentism bias.” Recently, we found that this presentism bias is attenuated when thinking about the preferences of other people. The aim of this study was to investigate whether predicting future preferences also differs depending on the level of social distance between self and other. A total of 67 participants completed a perspective-taking task in which they were required to think about their own preferences, those of a generic peer, and those of a close other both now and in the future. They were also asked to consider the preferences of an older adult now. Participants predicted less change between their current and future preferences than between the current and future preferences of a generic peer. Predicted change in preferences for a close other were similar, but not identical, to those made for the self. When considering relevant future preferences, participants predicted less change for themselves than for their close others and less change for close others than for generic peers. In other words, as social distance increases, the presentism bias decreases. Interestingly, participants estimated that both they and their peers would not change so much that they become similar to current older adults. Simulating the future perspectives of a generic peer or, even better, the current perspectives of an older adult may thus result in improved long-term decision-making, as it may enable a more realistic estimation of the magnitude of likely changes in the future.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | ageing,close other,future thinking,presentism bias,projection bias,self,physiology,neuropsychology and physiological psychology,experimental and cognitive psychology,psychology(all),physiology (medical) ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1300/1314 |
| Faculty \ School: | Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Psychology |
| UEA Research Groups: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Cognition, Action and Perception Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > UEA Experimental Philosophy Group |
| Related URLs: | |
| Depositing User: | Pure Connector |
| Date Deposited: | 23 Feb 2018 17:30 |
| Last Modified: | 19 Jun 2023 10:31 |
| URI: | https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/66351 |
| DOI: | 10.1177/1747021818763573 |
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