We all begin to live like Hedonists: psychologist Philip Zimbardo on time perception

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© Daniel Arsham

That's what we've found over the last thirty years of research: there are six main time zones in which people live. Two — concentrating on the past, two present, and two future. Among focused on the past there are those people who only remember the "good old days": the victory, good luck, birthdays. They liaise with relatives, assemble photo albums, stored family traditions. The other type of people only remembers the disappointments and setbacks — all the little things that went wrong. Therefore, we call such people focus on "past positive" and "negative past." There are two options of orientation to the present. The most obvious is to be a hedonist, living for pleasure and to avoid suffering, to hunt for new sensations and experiences. Another type of people will relate to present-oriented because they say, "making plans is a waste of time!" or "My life is predetermined! Religion, poverty, conditions in which I live." Most of us are here now because we orientirueshsya for the future. We learned to work, not to have fun, learned to resist temptation. But there is another option orientation toward the future — he laid religion, according to which real life begins only after death.

We all begin to live like a hedonist the present time. Since birth, we want to have fun and avoid suffering. And one of the functions to be performed by the family and especially the school is to take present-oriented little monsters and to make people more future-oriented. Looking to the future, it is necessary to believe that the decision in the moment, the solution will bear fruit. You don't put savings in the Bank during high inflation, because you don't trust the future. In a family where there is no stability, adults can not justify these hopes and promises. The closer you live to the equator, the more you are tied to the present: environment, where the climate does not change, gives a sense of imagined uniformity, but not of variability. In turn, the Protestants always have a higher rate of growth of gross national product than Catholic, in particular, because of the Protestant ethic and the notion that you should work hard to succeed, proving thus their chosenness by God.



Philip Zimbardo — the author of the famous prison experiment, during which group the subjects were divided into guards and prisoners.

In Italy there is a political movement called la Lega, it advocates for the separation of Northern regions from the South. Residents of the Northern part would say: "Yes, we are the ones that work in Italy!". And people from the South are lazy, they are like children, want to spend on a meal for three hours and having a big family. Southerners talk about northerners: "They're not Italian, they are German-Austrians! They are eating yogurt instead of pasta and have lunch in paper bags!" In the last national election, in la Lega got 14% of votes. It turns out that in their words there is much truth in that, because the result of our study, it was proven that people from the North are more likely to focus on the future, and southerners are passionate about the past or present hedonistic.

My family lives in Sicily, I went there, but every year go back. I founded a high school, we send high school students to colleges, will equip computer classrooms, and one day I tell about all this, as suddenly there is a man who says: "I am a poet! I live by the words! I listened to your report, and then it dawned on me that in the Sicilian dialect, there is no future tense verbs! Only "was", "is", but not "will". This is why nothing gets done!".

There's a great book called "time Geography", written by a close friend of mine Robert Levine, a social. He literally traveled the world, conducting amazing experiments. He explored what he called "pace of life". Time perspective, or a personal perception of time is how people divide past time periods, time zones. Another type of time orientation is your sense of duration. For example, how much time passed while you were in the dentist's chair? How much time passed while you stood in line? How much time passed while you were having fun? How quickly time passes when you're bored or having fun? His research, Robert Levine shows that in different cultures people have a different pace of life. It is easy to prove experimentally: need to measure 100 meters, to sit somewhere in a cafe, and as soon as someone will pass and start the timer. Thus it is possible to determine how fast people walk. Or send an email to find out how much time it will take to deliver it. There are a lot of similar things, which are measuring, come to the conclusion that different cultures have different paces of life. Now different the pace of life and the city. Robert Levin klassificeret 60 American cities from the high pace of life to low, and in those States that have the highest rate, the highest percentage of cardiovascular diseases.



We all begin to live like a hedonist the present time. Since birth, we want to have fun and avoid suffering. And one of the functions to be performed by the family and especially the school is to take present-oriented little monsters and to make people more future-oriented, or, as in some cultures of the past. In America, every 9 seconds a child kicked out of school. It's worse for teenagers who belong to social minorities, as well as worse for boys than girls. And that's not just bad behavior. One explanation lies in the fact that, studies show, for 21 years a child spends at least 10 000 hours playing video games probably more watching pornography. But it also means that these children live in an exciting world they create, playing Warcraft and other games. Manufacturers develop 3D games. Soon the world of computing will surround us in the literal sense of the word.

The consciousness of these children were technically reprogrammed, and they will never be able to adapt to the classical education process: someone tells something at the blackboard, not even showing the cute pictures is boring! Passive presence and no control over the situation. When you try to change the curriculum proponents of traditional education said: "We have to get back to reading, writing, arithmetic!" The result is a disaster. After all, these Teens will never be able to adapt to it, they have to be in a situation where you have the opportunity to have any influence, and the school is initially the institution where it is impossible to control anything, only passively obey. The school is literally created in order to avoid fun.

All addiction is addiction Hedonists, focused on the present: drugs, sex, gambling. While promoting a healthy lifestyle and education system designed for children with a focus on the future, which do not create problems. The messages warn about the negative consequences of various actions, but children with a focus on the future and already know all this. Present-oriented teenagers and also know about future impacts: the girls realize that unprotected sex can lead to unwanted pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases. However, this knowledge will not force them to change their behavior.

The closer you live to the equator, the more you are tied to the present: environment, where the climate does not change, gives a sense of imagined uniformity, but not of variability. In turn, the Protestants always have a higher rate of growth of gross national product than Catholic, in particular, because of the Protestant ethic and the notion that you should work hard to succeed, proving thus their chosenness by God. I think we underestimate the impact of technology on reprogramming the teenage consciousness. Children no longer wear a wrist watch because it is a single function device. Why waste time on him? Now they live in a world where the main measure is the second. After all, the only thing that worries and upsets the Americans, download speed computer, download speed, which is less than a minute, but still makes people mad! Waiting in the queue, waiting until you serve, the waiting is a waste of time! I think fundamental changes occur, we adults cannot even imagine how much different children than what we were. And it is thanks to the revolution in perception of time.

For the latest study, we asked Americans how busy they are. More than 50% of Americans responded that now they are busier than last year, last year was busier than the year before. They sacrifice friends, family, and sleep for success. And it is everywhere, not only among future-oriented. Then we asked what they would do if there were an eighth day of the week? They said they would have spent all this time working, achieving more — not to friends, family and even a dream. 20 years ago only 60% of Americans regularly had family dinners. Last year, we re-conducted this study. Only one in five Americans regularly eats lunch in the family circle. In America are always talking about family values. Family values do not exist, if there is no meals. I believe that many of life's problems can be solved by a simple understanding of one's own perception of time and perception of others. Many conflicts between people are basically the difference in the perception of time. Think about this before label: "stupid", "childish", "stubborn" or "despot".

Source: theoryandpractice.ru