The influence of considering the past, present, and future on college satisfaction

Although we all live in the present and often hear about the importance of living ‘‘here and now’’, every moment of our lives is highly influenced by explicit and implicit thoughts about our past and potential future. The present study investigated the relation between individuals’ tendencies to either drift towards the past by, e.g. constantly re-evaluating and regretting past choices, towards the future by, e.g. basing present actions on anticipated future consequences, and their inclination to deal with the present by either committing to chosen alternatives or procrastinating on their implementation. Finally, the influence of these factors on participants’ satisfaction with their chosen college major was also explored. The obtained results indicate a close relationship between the assessed considerations of different temporal directions. Furthermore, regret, procrastination, commitment (choice closure), and consideration of future consequences (future focus) were revealed as statistically significant predictors of students’ satisfaction with their college major. These findings indicate that individuals’ considerations of various temporal directions influence their valuation of own choices and life outcomes and open new questions regarding the general relevance and effects of mental time travel.