Making Time Matter: A Review of Research on Time and Meaning

In this conceptual article, we review three decades of research on time and meaning in consumer research and psychology to identify key themes that have emerged, build frameworks that integrate past research, and reveal areas of potential for future empirical exploration. We begin by carving out a conceptual understanding of meaning in life and identifying time as a key lens through which the pursuit of meaning can be viewed. We then review extant research on how to spend and construe time in ways that enhance meaning, relying on two frameworks—one anchored in three dimensions of meaning (purpose, mattering, and comprehension) and the other in three levels of time (momentary, day‐to‐day, and lifetime). We conclude by outlining several directions for future research focused on deepening our understanding of how consumers can think about and use their time in ways that boost their sense of meaning in life.     

大学生对一般生活事件和意外事故的乐观和悲观偏差估计：直接和间接测量的比较

研究考查了大学生对一般生活事件和意外事故的乐观与悲观偏差,并检验不同测量方法是否会产生不同结果。通过对273名大学生进行问卷研究,结果发现：（1）在直接和间接测量时,被试对一般消极事件、意外事故存在乐观偏差,对幸免于意外事故存在悲观偏差;但对一般积极事件,被试在直接测量时出现乐观偏差,在间接测量时为悲观偏差。（2）在两种方法中,被试对意外事故的乐观偏差皆高于一般消极事件,但一般积极事件与幸免于意外事故的结果在直接测量时有显著差异,而在间接测量中差异不显著。（3）在直接测量时,消极事件的发生频率越低乐观偏差越严重,积极事件的发生频率越低则悲观偏差越严重;在间接测量中事件频率与偏差结果相关不显著。     

时间维度在记叙文理解中的作用

采用事件分割范式探讨了中文条件下时间维度在记叙文理解中的作用。实验1在中文条件下重复了Speer和Zacks(2005)年的研究,结果发现读者更多将时间短语所在位置作为分割边界,表明时间转换在情景模型更新中发挥了重要作用。实验2探讨了在没有时间短语条件下读者对文本分割的情况,结果发现读者主要是按照事件单元进行分割;实验3a和3b在文本的事件单元中插入时间短语,形成时间转换与事件转换分离的条件,探讨读者在这种时间转换与事件单元转换不一致的条件下所采用的分割策略,结果表明,读者更多仍然按照事件单元转换进行分割,而且对事件单元转换的依赖强于时间转换,但同时时间短语仍对文本的分割有一定影响。上述结果表明,事件单元作为建构记叙文心理表征的核心单元,时间维度作为事件单元转换的线索,只有在标识事件转换的情况下,才能引发读者情景模型的更新。     

时间分层加工研究述评

为了探讨数秒内不同层级时间加工的特性,研究者分别从“时间信息加工”和“信息加工的计时特性”角度开展了一系列研究。Münsterberg (1889)、Michon(1985) 、Lewis 和 Miall(2003) 及Vierodt(1868)从前一角度,分别指出1/3秒、1/2秒、1秒及3秒可能是数秒以内时距加工机制的分界点,分界点以下与以上的加工机制存在差异。P?ppel(1997, 2009)则从后一角度指出限制信息加工过程的两类时间窗,一类时间窗是以20-60毫秒振荡周期运行的高频系统,属于初级整合单元;另一类时间窗主要是处理2-3秒以内事件系列的低频系统,属于高级整合单元。前一类时间窗可以为信息加工整合基本的心理事件,后一类时间窗则是把2-3秒内的心理事件整合为基本知觉单元。基于以往研究的剖析,我们认为1/3秒、1/2秒及1秒等分界点的真伪性尚需进一步验证,并进一步假设40毫秒以内时间不能觉察为时距;40毫秒至3秒之间,随着长度增加,自动化加工减弱,控制性加工增强;3秒以上主要为控制性加工,涉及记忆过程。     

Sharing is (s)caring? Interactions between buses and bicyclists on bus lanes shared with bicyclists

This paper presents the results of an observation study of interactions between bicyclists and buses on shared bus lanes. The aim of the paper is to analyse bicyclists’ safety on bus lanes shared with bicyclists. Straight sections of two bus lanes shared with bicyclists in Belgium are observed. All interactions between bicyclists and buses over two full weeks are recorded and analysed. Additionally, the lateral position and riding speed of bicyclists that are in interaction with buses are compared with the behaviour of bicyclists that are not in interaction with buses. One of the observed bus lanes is in line with road design guidelines in a number of countries that state that a sufficiently narrow bus lane (<3.5 m) is hypothesised to be safer than a somewhat wider bus lane; the other observed bus lane is deemed too wide according to these guidelines and is hypothesised to lead to close overtaking manoeuvres.The results show that close interactions between bicyclists and buses are relatively frequent on both types of analysed bus lanes. Close overtaking manoeuvres (a bus overtakes a bicyclist with a lateral distance less than 1 m) as well as close bicycle-following situations (a bus drives behind a bicyclist with a time gap less than 2 s) are quite common on both analysed bus lanes. The analyses could not confirm the hypothesis that a sufficiently narrow bus lane is safer than a wider bus lane. On the contrary, close interactions seem even slightly more common on the narrower bus lane. Slightly more close overtaking manoeuvres take place on the narrower bus lane, but the difference is not statistically significant. Additionally, more bicycle-following situations take place on the narrower bus lane because overtaking is more difficult. The results show that buses often maintain a close time gap in these situations. The overtaking speed of the buses is, however, significantly higher on the wider bus lane compared to the narrower one.Moreover, the presence of a bus has an influence on the behaviour of bicyclists. Bicyclists who get overtaken by a bus ride more closely to the edge of the road than bicyclists who are not in interaction with a bus. While the road design guidelines assume that bicyclists take up a width of one meter from the edge on bus lanes shared with bicyclists, the observations show that bicyclists take up much less space while being overtaken. The presence of a bus does not have a significant influence on the standard deviation of the lateral position of the bicyclist. On the narrower bus lane, some findings suggest that bicyclists who are involved in an interaction with a bus ride faster than bicyclists who are not involved in an interaction with a bus.     

时间对犯罪隐藏信息记忆的影响

记录模拟犯罪者和阅读报纸后对案件知情的无辜者接受隐藏信息测试时的皮肤电活动,探讨时间对犯罪隐藏信息记忆的影响。结果发现：(1)延迟条件下,模拟犯罪组的再认率和皮肤电活动变化显著高于知情无辜组,但两组在立即条件下无差异;(2)知情无辜组在延迟条件下的甄别率显著低于立即条件下,而模拟犯罪者在两种条件下无差异。结果表明,延迟测试比立即测试更容易区分模拟犯罪组和知情无辜组;犯罪甄别率在延迟条件下减少,但也减少了知情无辜者被判断为犯罪者的风险。     

The effect of embodying the elderly on time perception

The present study investigated the perception of stimulus durations represented by elderly faces or by young faces. In a temporal bisection task, participants classified intermediate durations as more similar to a short or a long reference duration. The results showed that the durations represented by elderly faces were less often classified as “long” than the durations represented by young faces. According to internal clock models of time perception, this shortening effect is due to a slowing down of the speed of the internal clock during the perception of elderly faces. Analyses also revealed an interaction between sex of face and sex of participant such that this shortening effect occurred only when the participants share the same sex than the stimulus faces. As discussed, this finding is quite consistent with embodied cognition approaches to information processing, but alternatives accounts are also considered.     

Future anhedonia and time discounting

The temporal location of an event influences the way people mentally represent that event. We suggest (a) that such representational differences can produce an affective forecasting error that we call future anhedonia, which is the belief that hedonic states will be less intense in the future than in the present, and (b) that future anhedonia plays a role in time discounting (i.e., the tendency to place a smaller present value on present events than on future events). Experiments 1a and 1b demonstrated that people are prone to future anhedonia, Experiments 2a and 2b ruled out artifactual alternatives, and Experiments 3a and 3b demonstrated that future anhedonia plays a role in time discounting. These studies suggest that one reason why people prefer to enjoy benefits in the present and pay costs in the future is that they do not realize how they will feel when those costs and benefits are actually experienced.     

“How much do you like your name?” An implicit measure of global self-esteem

We introduce a single-item implicit measure of global self-esteem. The measure is based on the mere-ownership effect and asks participants to indicate how much they like their name. Six studies attested to the validity of this measure. In addition to showing high test-retest reliability (r = .85), the studies found that Name-Liking was (a) unrelated to impression management, (b) positively related to the Name-Letter-Task, the Self-Esteem IAT, explicit self-esteem measures, and self-reported subjective well-being, (c) more strongly related to explicit measures of global than domain-specific self-esteem, (d) more strongly related to self-esteem judgments made spontaneously as well as under cognitive load, and (e) predicted observer-reported anxiety during an anxiety-inducing interview whereas an explicit measure of self-esteem did not.     

Touched by Time: Some Critical Reflections on Derrida’s Engagement with Merleau-Ponty in Le Toucher

This essay raises some critical questions about the interpretation that Derrida offers of Merleau-Ponty in his recent book, On Touching: Jean-Luc Nancy, where Derrida implies that the latter’s work remains mired in theological prejudices. As well as defending Merleau-Ponty’s analyses of the senses and inter-subjectivity against such claims, this essay is also concerned to examine Derrida’s transcendental philosophy of time (or philosophy of the contretemps that breaks open time but nonetheless pertains to it) that undergirds and motivates his engagement with various philosophies of touch. In this latter respect, I will argue that Derrida’s philosophy is itself ‘touched’ by time, in the peculiar sense of ‘touched’ that connotes affected and wounded. His work instantiates an ethics of non-presentist time (which is also the transcendental condition for any event of touch) and I ask whether there is reason to look for a different understanding of both time and the transcendental to Derrida’s.