A new experiment tested the effects of inducing a fatalistic time perspective on the self-esteem of introverts and extroverts. Results showed that self-esteem of introverts increased after fatalistic time perspective was induced i.e., after they were put in a situation in which they saw the future as beyond human control. The same procedure had no effect on extroverts. The study was published in the the Journal of General Psychology.
The perception of how much control one has over time and what is happening in his/her life is very important for psychological functioning of every individual. Studies have shown that this perspective on control over life influences a wide array of behaviors that includes how they choose to spend money, how much effort they put into achieving valuable goals, aggression, anxiety, value they assign to future consequences and others.
One often studied perspective on time is the fatalistic time perspective i.e., a feeling that life is controlled by forces the person has no influence on and that the future has been determined in advance. People with this perspective tend to believe that their life will run its course whatever they do. This view implies that it is better to count on luck for favorable outcomes than try to achieve something through hard work.
People with fatalistic time perspective tend to have a higher tendency to spend money on consumption rather than investment, to wait for issues in their lives to resolve themselves on their own (instead of acting to resolve them), to be more often depressed, and have higher aggression and anxiety.
High self-esteem, seeing oneself as a worthy human being, is, on the other hand, associated with various positive outcomes such as better adjustment, positive emotions, sense of happiness, and a better use of available opportunities to achieve positive outcomes.
Suspecting that there might be a link between self-esteem and time perspective that depends on personality characteristics, Małgorzata Sobol from the University of Lublin in Poland and her colleagues conducted an experiment on 104 Polish adults, whose average age was 47. Participants were selected based on the results of personality assessment (NEO-Five-Factor-Inventory), with those particularly low and particularly high on extroversion selected for participation (i.e. introverts and extroverts).
Extraversion is a personality trait that predisposes people to prefer socializing in larger groups of people and have many friends as opposed to spending time alone or with a smaller group of friends (introverts).
Based on the personality assessment, participants were divided into two groups – extraverts and introverts. In each group, participants were randomly assigned to the fatalistic time perspective induction condition or to the neutral condition. Participants assigned to the fatalistic perspective induction condition were given a description of a person with a pronouncedly fatalistic perspective and asked to try to put themselves in the situation of that person.
They were told that they will be asked questions about that person and that these will be easier to answer if the participant imagines him/herself in the situation of the person described. Participants in the neutral condition were given a similar description and instructions, but the person described did not have the fatalistic time perspective.
A manipulation check, after the procedure, showed that the fatalistic time perspective induction procedure had little effect on extroverts, but worked rather well on introverts. The fatalistic perspective of introverts who went through this procedure was visibly higher compared to introverts who went through the neutral conditions. There was no appreciable difference between extroverts who went through the two experimental conditions.
After the procedure, participants completed an assessment of self-esteem (Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, SES). Results showed that the self-esteem of introverts who went through the fatalistic time perspective induction condition was much higher than self-esteem of all other groups. It was higher than self-esteem of extroverts who went through the fatalistic time perspective induction condition, and of both extroverts and introverts who went through the neutral condition.
“It turned out that the induction of fatalistic perspective increased the level of self-esteem in introverts, whereas in extraverts it had no influence on self-esteem,” the researchers concluded. “A possible explanation for the lack of effect of the induction on extraverts’ self-esteem may be that extraverts had difficulties empathizing with the person depicted in the vignette, while introverts may not have had such difficulties. The lack of effect in extraverts can also be explained by the fact that extraverts have a strong sense of control over time and therefore a temporary feeling of not being in control of the future does not affect them.”
This study extends what is known about relationships between personality, self-esteem, and fatalistic time perspective. However, the size of the sample was rather small and all participants came from a single culture.
The study, “Destiny or control of one’s future? Fatalistic time perspective and self-esteem in extraverts and introverts”, was authored by Małgorzata Sobol, Aneta Przepiórka, Michał Meisner, and Peter Kuppens.
