When Time is the Enemy: An Initial Test of the Process Model of Patience

The process model of patience attempts to reconcile disparate approaches to understanding patience from psychology, philosophy, and religious studies. The current investigation provides an initial test of many of the tenets of this new theoretical model, which positions impatience as a discrete negative emotion and patience as a targeted form of emotion regulation. In three studies with diverse samples (total N = 1401; data collected in 2022 and 2023), participants responded to hypothetical scenarios designed to tap into familiar experiences of impatience. Overall, the findings supported many of the tenets of the model. Regarding impatience, the findings tentatively support our claim that impatience arises in response to the perception that a delay is unfair or unreasonable, and a number of situational and intrapersonal characteristics emerged as robust predictors of impatience. Regarding patience, the findings were consistent with the model’s conceptualization of patience as driven more by intrapersonal than situational factors and revealed a set of individual differences that robustly predicted patience. This investigation lends support to the process model of patience as a viable approach, highly generative of testable research questions, with implications for improving well-being.