Does self-projection have a dominant temporal direction? In nine countries, people feel more similar to their future than past selves

Do you project your current self—the person you are today—equally across time? Compared to the present, 12 studies (total N = 11,416) reveal that people feel more similar to their future selves than their equidistant past selves. This future-oriented asymmetry in self-projection is robust across nine countries and different time horizons, and extends to goals and preferences. Time-asymmetric self-projection covaries with higher levels of emotional connection between present and future selves and lower levels of perceived future self-change. We also provide causal evidence for perceived self-change as a process by experimentally manipulating future self-change beliefs. The future-oriented asymmetry appears to be self-focused, as it does not extend to others. Finally, we find that future-oriented self-projection can lead to miscalibrated expectations: People expect their future selves to be more satisfied with hypothetical decisions made in the present than they currently would be with the same decisions in the past.