A Future Beyond Ourselves: Can Self-Oriented Prospection Motivate Intergenerational Beneficence?

Across ten high-powered studies (N = 11,261 US participants), we investigate, for the first time, the interplay between self-oriented prospection and responsibility for future generations, shedding light on theoretical and practical implications for future-thinking and ethical decision-making. In a reanalysis of existing data, four primary and six supplemental studies, and an internal meta-analysis, we consistently observe a connection between Future Self-Continuity (FSC, i.e., the amount of overlap people perceive between their present and future selves) and Consideration of Future Consequences (CFC, i.e., thinking about how present actions impact one’s own future) with increased feelings of responsibility for, perceived efficacy to impact, and identification with future generations. Drawing upon insights from behavioral economics and Construal Level Theory, our results begin to reconcile the disparate literatures on the adaptive functions of self-oriented personal future-thinking and other-oriented collective future-thinking and offer insights for efforts to improve long-term collective welfare.