Philip Zimbardo, the man behind the Stanford Prison Experiments, has been dabbling in positive psychology. He argues that we can use framing effects, which can distort our recollection of our emotional states and by extension our ability to predict what will make us happy, to our advantage. The method, Time Perspective Therapy (TPT), involves determining our attitudes towards the past, present and future (using the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory) and, in some cases, adjusting these attitudes (you can check out the inventory and identify your 'time profile' here). So far, TPT has helped improve the lives of those with post traumatic stress disorder, but as Zimbardo points out in this quick TED talk, this research might be used to help us all get along better in one way or another. Naturally, part of this project involves identifying the ideal attitudes. I imagine which attitudes are 'ideal' depends, at least in part, on what we want and our environment. In any case, take a look at this compelling video in which he discusses his research as well as the fascinating work of social psychologist Robert Levine on time perception and it's relationship to culture, age and gender.
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