Socioemotional Selectivity Theory/Future Time Perspective

Socioemotional selectivity theory is a lifespan theory that describes how a person's temporal perspective guides his or her motivational goals. These goals, in turn, influence daily thoughts, behaviors, and emotional experiences. According to the theory, when people perceive an expansive time horizon, they prioritize information‐ and knowledge‐related goals. When temporal horizons decrease, the importance of emotion‐related goals increases and assumes priority. Because age is often integrally linked to time perspective, socioemotional selectivity theory posits that emotion‐related goals grow in importance with age. As a result, older adults attend to more positive information and less negative information and remember events more positively than younger adults, a phenomenon referred to as the positivity effect. Socioemotional selectivity theory has been supported by a large number of studies and has been the basis for additional theory and models in the field of emotion and aging.