Future self · older face · later you
They saw their future self. Later stopped feeling like a stranger.
You pin a later life to the fridge and write the dated letter. You look at next year and see a stranger.
Name the face in the morning glass. Picture that same face twenty years out. You lose the sense that it is you.
That gap is why you leave the later plans unused. You need later you to remain you.
Keep the board and the letter. Add one look at an older version of your own face.
They put an older face in the glass
In 2011 Hershfield's group printed this in the Journal of Marketing Research. The paper is called Increasing saving behavior through age-progressed renderings of the future self, so you can find the same file.
They sat people down, put a headset on them, and showed some of them an older version of their own face in a virtual mirror. Other people saw the face they have now.
They saw their own face in the glass, only older, with the same eyes and more lines. After that look, later felt closer. Mood did not get worse.
Read the paper at doi.org/10.1509/jmkr.48.SPL.S23 and at pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24634544.
Later you is supposed to feel like you
People call that feeling future-self continuity. It means later you still feels like you.
When that feeling is thin, the later plans stay on the fridge and you keep living for this week, the same week you already know. You already keep the board anyway.
After they saw the older face, later felt closer. They felt less like a stranger. The face is the move.
Keep the board and the letter
A vision board is a picture of a later life people already keep on a fridge or a wall. Keep it. Looking at an older face is one extra look, and the board can stay where it is.
If you want a page about vision boards, open the vision-board page.
A dated letter is a letter people already write from a life that already went well. Keep the letter. Open the letter page for a twenty-minute letter from a life that already happened.
An awe walk is looking for vastness on a walk you already take. Keep the walk. The awe walk has its own page.
Questions that come up when later feels far
Do I drop the vision board?
Keep the board and keep the letter. The extra move is still looking at an older version of your own face.
Do I need a headset?
The lab used a headset and a virtual mirror. You can use any picture that shows you an older version of your own face.
What if the older face shakes me?
If the older face shakes you, talk to a clinician. The people in the lab did not feel worse after they saw it.
Look at the older face this week
You already have the board. You already have the letter.
This week, look at an older version of your own face, or write the dated letter if you want a second move, then leave the rest of the week alone.
You came because later you felt like a stranger. Look at the face. That is the move that made later feel closer.
Sources
Hershfield et al. “Increasing saving behavior through age-progressed renderings of the future self.” Journal of Marketing Research 2011;48(SPL):S23-S37. DOI 10.1509/jmkr.48.SPL.S23. PMID 24634544. Study 1 n=50, Year 70 / age-progressed later face $172 (SD 214) vs current face $80 (SD 130), t(48)=1.83, p=.035 one-tailed, d=0.519. Negative mood did not rise. Study 2 n=21, p=.056. Study 3a 6.76% vs 5.20%. Study 3b 6.17% vs 4.41%, continuity 4.39 vs 3.25. doi.org/10.1509/jmkr.48.SPL.S23 · pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24634544
Ersner-Hershfield 2009. Came first. n=18. rACC.
Pataranutaporn 2024. Came after. N=344.