Rethinking rose-tinted glasses: A cognitive-ecological explanation of prospective self-comparisons

We examined prospective (i.e., future-oriented) self-comparisons in an ecology with three empirically validated principles of impression formation. First, people can have more negative than positive attributes (diversity). But second, individuals do have more positive than negative attributes (frequency). Third, over time people generally improve by losing negative attributes and gaining positive attributes (growth). Three studies found that present-future similarities were positive. The present self’s unique attributes were most negative, and the future self’s unique attributes were in between. In Study 1, this pattern emerged for both self-comparisons and acquaintance-comparisons. In Study 2, it emerged for both prospective and retrospective (i.e., past-oriented) self-comparisons. In Study 3, the pattern vanished when middle-aged people compared their present self to their old age self. Taken together, these findings largely support a realistic view of one’s own future. The findings also lend some support for a self-enhancing view of what the future holds.