Predicting Future Emotions from Different Points of View: The Influence of Imagery Perspective on Affective Forecasting Accuracy
Year: 2010
Type: article
Abstract: Humans have the ability to imagine future points in time, and one way they use this ability is to make predictions about how they will feel in response to potential future outcomes.The current research examined whether the accuracy of these affective forecasts differed as a result of the visual perspective (own first-person versus observer's third-person) that individuals took to imagine future events.When people use a firstperson perspective, they make meaning of events in terms of their gut reactions to the events.In contrast, when they use a third-person perspective, they incorporate their broader knowledge and self-theories into their interpretations of the event.There is evidence that most individuals are unable to interpret online experiences without evaluating the events in terms of their self-theories.Therefore, their interpretations of events are more similar to online experiences when they picture events from a thirdperson perspective as opposed to a first-person perspective.We propose that individuals make more accurate forecasts when they use a third-person perspective instead of a firstperson perspective because when using a third-person perspective they make meaning of imagined events in a similar manner to that which they use to make meaning of online experiences.In the current study, we manipulated the visual perspective that participants used to picture receiving a good and a bad grade on an upcoming midterm, and asked them to predict how they would feel in these scenarios.Participants later reported their iii actual grades and how they actually felt.We found support for our hypothesis: comparing forecasted and actual feelings, participants made more accurate affective forecasts when they pictured the scenarios from a third-person perspective rather than a first-person perspective.
Author: Karen Anne Hines
Institution: The Ohio State University
Language: English
Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: University of Missouri
OpenAlex ID: W2243368968