Research paper
Hershfield HE. Future self-continuity: how conceptions of the future self transform intertemporal choice. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 2011;1235:30-43. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.2011.06201.x. PMID: 22023566. PMCID: PMC3764505.
Why we cite it
Review paper synthesizing theoretical and empirical work on why people make poor long-term decisions — because they experience their future selves as strangers. Hershfield identifies three components that determine how connected someone feels to their future self: similarity (shared values), vividness (how real and detailed the future self feels), and positivity (whether the future self is seen favorably). When all three are high, people make dramatically better long-term choices. The paper includes fMRI evidence showing that the brain literally processes the future self using the same neural regions used for other people — the future self is neurologically a stranger. For the project, this provides the theoretical framework for why “future you” visualization works as a behavior change tool: eating decisions are intertemporal choices (present pleasure vs future health), and making the future self feel real shifts the balance toward long-term outcomes.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2011.06201.x · PubMed 22023566 · Publisher