THE IMPACT OF POSITIVE, NEGATIVE, AND CONTRASTING IMAGES OF THE FUTURES ON FORMULATION OF FUTURE PLANS

Abstract

: Individuals are often exposed to polarized representations (images) of collective futures, i.e. either predominantly positive or predominantly negative, by the media. This limited exposure is further exacerbated by news sources’ recommendation algorithms. Although contradictory evidence suggests that both positive and negative images of the futures may favorably affect cognition and behavior, drawing from social cognitive theory, possible selves, and mental contrasting, it is hypothesized that this limited exposure is less conducive to motivation to formulate future plans than an exposure to contrasting images of the futures, i.e. the juxtaposition of both positive and negative images of the futures. In a series of two studies, the current research conciliates previous research and tests this hypothesis by exploring the effect of different exposures to images of the futures – i.e., positive, negative, and contrasting – on individuals’ formulation of future plans, and explores the mediating and moderating mechanisms of this phenomenon. We find that all three kinds of exposure to images of the futures are positively associated with formulation of plans with no significant difference across conditions. We also find that the mediating and moderating mechanisms are statistically not significant. Implications of the findings and further research directions are discussed.