Discussing normative features of Future Time Perspective construct: Renewing with the Lewinian approach from a sociocognitive perspective

Overview & Synopsis

Since the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI), an important body of research emerges on the Time Perspective (TP) construct and more specifically on the Future Time Perspective (FTP) dimension. However, a gap is growing between the psychosocial Lewi-nian approach to TP and the dispositional way it is operationalized in many studies nowadays. One way of underlining the psychosocial roots of TP and to show the problematic use of FTP in a personalistic manner is to highlight normative aspects of FTP. From a sociocognitive perspective, present research aims to examine the social valorization of FTP and to determine the type of social value associated with it in a French context. Results reveal the social valorization of FTP-ZTPI dimension and permit to discuss the normativity of this construct. We suggest that FTP might be normative because it refers to certain social expectations and ideologies in the context of contemporary Western societies.