A Journey Through Time
Time is often conceptualized in terms of space, and in Western societies, this tends to occur either on a front-back axis (past behind, future in front) or a left-right axis (past to the left, future to the right). Are different types of events represented in space in different ways?
Time: Between Metaphysics and Psychology
What is the relationship between our everyday understanding of time, and time as typically understood within modern science? Philosophers often claim that there is a deep gulf between common sense and science when it comes to how each of them understands what time is. Can research on the psychology of time bear this out, and are there ways of bridging this perceived gulf?
Thinking about the past and the future
For adults, how much we value an event and how we feel about it varies depending on whether the event is in the past or the future. For instance, we feel closer to future events than to past events, value them more, and feel stronger emotions about them. Do children display the same effects?
We are interested in exploring how people think about time, and particularly children's thinking, with the goal of understanding the effects of this on real-world decisions.
Episodic future thinking
Vividly imaging the future may help people to make decisions that will benefit their future selves instead of acting in a way that is rewarding in the present moment. As children get better at imaging future events unfolding, does their ability to delay gratification also improve?
Counterfactual thinking about the past
Children's understanding of what caused an event to happen, and whether deliberate intention was involved, has an influence on their social and moral judgments. How do children's judgements about whether someone intended an action affect their counterfactual reasoning (what 'would have happened if...') about the past?
