Examining the Influence of Temporal Focus on Life Satisfaction and Decision Making Across Pakistani and Canadian Adults

Research shows that Asian look back further into the past than North Americans in perception and representation of past information (Ji et al., 2009). In contrast, North Americans tend to be more future-focused compared to Asian participants (Nisbett, 2010). However, there is a dearth of research investigating how much attention Canadian and Pakistani adults invest in thinking about the past, present, and future (i.e., temporal focus) in their daily lives. Moreover, although recent research has shown that being focused on the present moment is positively associated with well-being in North America (Rush & Drouzet, 2012), this finding has yet to be examined across different cultures and within the context of overall life satisfaction. In study 1, we examined how much attention Canadian and Pakistani adults invest in the past, present, and future, and how these differences impact well-being. Results indicated that Canadian and Pakistani individuals had distinct temporal foci, and these differences uniquely influenced life satisfaction. In study 2, we took an applied approach and examined whether persuasive advertisements presented with a past or future temporal focus were preferred and chosen to varying degrees by Canadian and Pakistani participants. Results indicated that participants across the two cultures had unique preferences and behavioural choices for marketing material presented with differing temporal foci. This research contributes to our understanding of how temporal focus influences daily experiences and life satisfaction across distinct cultures. Furthermore, this research may have practical implications across numerous domains including counseling (i.e., whether to focus on the past, present, or future when conducting psychotherapy with participants from varying backgrounds), consumer behaviour (i.e., whether to market products with a past or future focus), and wellness (i.e., targeting individuals from varying cultures with different health promotion messages focusing on different temporal foci).