Time+Paradox



**__ Time Paradox __** toc

In 2008 Dr. Philip Zimbardo released a book on his latest study called “The Time Paradox”. The Time Paradox is the study of how individuals divide the flow of human experience into different time frames or time zones – Automatically or non-consciously.

= Different Orientations = The Time Paradox is structured by three different orientations; 1. Past 2. Present 3. Future People who are past orientated make their decisions based on their memories, people who are present orientated make decision based on immediate situations or stimulations and people who are future orientated make their decisions on anticipated consequences. Each of the different orientations have two different branch perspectives; 1. Past:- Focus on the positive 2. Past:- Focus on the negative 3. Present:- Focus on the hedonism 4. Present:- Focus on the Fatalism 5. Future:- Focus on the Life-goal 6. Future:- Focus on the transcendental

__Marshmallow Study__
In 1983, Walter Mischel of Stanford University performed a study on 94 four year old children to inspect their willpower. Mischel gave the children a test which they always past and rewarded them with a marshmallow. The children were told that if they waited they would receive a second marshmallow. When Mischel left the room and returned to the room, two thirds of the children had given into the temptation of the marshmallow. Mischel visited the children 14 years later, when the participants were 18 years old, after the study and discovered that the children who had resisted temptation were scoring 250 points higher on their Scholastic Assessment Test (S.A.T). Mischel found that the students who resisted temptation showed that they were self-confident, didn’t get in trouble, co-operative, better students. Whilst the students who resisted showed all these personality traits, those who gave into temptation were indecisive, dramatize to frustration and gave into jealousy.

__Society and Time Perspective__
The time perspective differs from society to society and generation to generation to generation. For example, in Italy there is a political argument, called the La Lega, over the behaviour of the people from both North and South Italy. The people from North Italy argue that they do all the work and that the people in South Italy are lazy who wish to sit down and eat long dinners and lunches. Whilst the people in the South say that people in the North Italy are not actually Italians, that they are like the Germans in their behaviour. Another example of different time perspectives in societies and the generations can be seen in Japan. In Japan, men are the hardest workers in the world who take the shortest holidays of all people in the world. Whilst at home their wives spend two hours to brew the tea through the same style and technique that was passed down to them from their great-grandmother. But in comparison to this generation, who are both future life-goal and past positive, their children (who were being groomed to be like their parents) are beginning to drop out of schools, staying out late at night, shopping and wearing the latest in fashion. These teenagers are all, unlike their parents, present hedonists who wish to indulge and please whichever urge has come over them. In America, by the age of 21, boys have spent 10000 hours playing video games alone. This leads to the ill-development of their social skills and also is a form of re-wiring of the brain. Students, who have spent such a long time playing video games and behind computers, struggle when they return to classrooms that are analogue, without the digital interaction that students are accustomed to in their leisure and study times they will find it more difficult when working the classroom and will become passive. In America, Zimbardo performed a study with “USA Today” where he asked “How busy are Americans?” Out of the participants that took part in the study, 50% said that they are busy this than they were the year before and busier the year before than they were the year before that. The 50% participants then said that they sacrificed family, friends and sleep for their success and when asked if they had an eight day in the week “what would they do with it?” They all said that they would work harder to succeed in their career. 20 years ago, 60% of American families had dinners together on a regular basis but 19 years later when the same study was performed only 20% of families were found to have dinners together on a regular basis. American society speaks highly of family values, but a family cannot develop family values when they do not have dinners together on a regular basis.

__Different ways of Time Perspective__
Dr. Zimbardo has studied the different impacts that the time perspectives have on people, both the positive and negative impacts that the three different orientations can have on a person.

Positive: __Past__: People are nostalgic, stable, have a self-esteem and a sense of gratitude. __Present__: People are energetic, pleasurable, active and live in a life of excitement. __Future__: People focus on their achievements, health, plans and expectations.

Negative: __Past__: This is where people develop trauma, guilt and revenge __Present__: People give into addictions, become violent or take chances. __Future__: People become socially isolated, competitive and anxious.

Once Dr. Zimbardo finished his studies and had categorized the different orientations into being either positiv

e or negative he began to look for what was the most favourable time perspective profile a person should have. This is the result that he received: Past-Positive - High Future - Moderate-High Present-Hedonism - Moderate (Selected, self-rewarding and not impulsive hedonism) Past-Negative - Low Present-Fatalism - Low media type="youtube" key="eJybVxUiy2U" height="301" width="485"

__Time Therapy__
Dr. Richard Sword has begun to use Dr. Zimbardo’s theory of time perspective to treat people who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder through a new form of therapy called Time Therapy. Dr. Sword believes that all different types of therapy are time based. · Freud – Past orientated · Skinner/ Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy – Present orientated · Humanistic – Future orientated · Time Therapy – Creating a balance in all three orientations Time Therapy looks at: Past: Replaying of Past Negative incident through flashback or nightmares Present: Hedonism or Fatalism Future: The evading and fear of the future These all lead to people struggling with their careers and social life, they have no sense of supportability. People who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder tend to past or present orientated and are more inclined to avoid future orientation. People who suffer from post-traumatic stress, anxiety or depression all share a similarity when it is their Time Perspective. They all show a high past negative and low past positive, high or low present hedonism and a high present fatalism. While they all have no predisposition to future time perspective, which is feared and avoided by people who suffer from each of these illnesses. Dr. Zimbardo and Dr. Sword performed a study with 27 participants who were veterans from wars and were suffering from post-traumatic stress, anxiety or depression. After 8 treatments of Time Therapy: 24 patients (89%) had considerably less depression, 19 patients (70%) had significantly less anxiety and 14 (52%) lesser symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.