Guardando al futuro: come la cultura e l'età plasmano il pensiero futuro

Future thinking, or prospection, is a flexible cognitive function that allows individuals to mentally project themselves through time. This ability is influenced by factors including self-projection, developmental stage, and cultural values. It becomes particularly relevant in older age, as time is increasingly perceived as limited, which can impact mental time travel. While prior research highlights the roles of culture and age in shaping future-thinking, the interaction between age and cultural values remains underexplored. Building upon Socioemotional Selectivity Theory and Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, this thesis investigates how future thinking constructs: future time orientation, intended future, functions of future thinking, future time perspective, and generativity vary across age groups and cultural contexts. It also explores the correlations between the different future thinking constructs and generativity across the various cultural age profiles. Our sample included a total of 269 participants from Belgium and Lebanon, each divided into three age groups (young, middle-aged, older adults). Age was associated with a reduction in future thinking functions such as goal setting and planning, and an increase in emotionally meaningful and socially oriented functions like emotion regulation and generativity. Lebanese participants reported stronger engagement with generativity, a more distanced future orientation, an increased awareness of the intended future and greater emotional and identity-related functions of future thinking. In contrast, Belgian participants showed a more pragmatic and temporally bounded future thinking shaped by a less distant future orientation and endorsement of future thinking functions like planning and decision-making. Generativity was highly positively correlated with future thinking across age groups and cultures. Overall, this study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of developmental and cultural influences on future thinking and generativity, offering implications for research and interventions that promote adaptive future thinking in culturally diverse and aging populations. Keywords: Future-Thinking, Generativity, Culture, Aging, Socioemotional Selectivity Theory.