Does Perceived Similarity Between Present and Future Self Predict Well-Being? A Reanalysis and Replication of Reiff et al. (2020)

Abstract

Reiff and colleagues found that perceived similarity between one’s present and future self is positively associated with life satisfaction 10 years later, using a difference-score approach to operationalize similarity. This study further evaluated the similarity effect by reproducing the original longitudinal association with a difference-score method, by using more sophisticated analyses (i.e., polynomial regression and response surface analyses), and by replicating the association in a newly collected sample. We were able to reproduce and replicate the findings based on a difference-score approach. However, we did not find a similarity effect in either sample using more sophisticated approaches. The current results show that previously reported support for the association between perceived similarity and well-being is driven by the statistical main effects of personality reports.

Keywords

replication subjective well-being personality similarity response surface analysis

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Anglim

Horwood

Smillie

L. D.

Marrero

R. J.

Wood

J. K.

(2020). Predicting psychological and subjective well-being from personality: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 146(4), 279–323. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000226

Aust

Diedenhofen

Ullrich

Musch

(2013). Seriousness checks are useful to improve data validity in online research. Behavior Research Methods, 45, 527–535. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-012-0265-2

Bartels

D. M.

Rips

L. J.

(2010). Psychological connectedness and intertemporal choice. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 139, 49–69. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018062

Brim

Ryff

Kessler

(2004). How healthy are we? A national study of well-being at midlife. University of Chicago Press.

Chu

Lowery

B. S.

(2023). Perceiving a stable self-concept enables the experience of meaning in life. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 50, 780–792. https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672221150234

Edwards

J. R.

(1994). Regression analysis as an alternative to difference scores. Journal of Management, 20(3), 683–689. https://doi.org/10.1177/014920639402000311

Edwards

J. R.

(2001). Ten difference score myths. Organizational Research Methods, 4, 265–287. https://doi.org/10.1177/109442810143005

Edwards

J. R.

(2002). Alternatives to difference scores: Polynomial regression analysis and response surface methodology. In Drasgow

Schmitt

(Eds.), Measuring and analyzing behavior in organizations: Advances in measurement and data analysis (pp. 350–400). Jossey-Bass/Wiley.

Edwards

J. R.

Parry

M. E.

(1993). On the use of polynomial regression equations as an alternative to difference scores in organizational research. Academy of Management Journal, 36, 1577–1613. https://doi.org/10.2307/256822

10.

Ersner-Hershfield

Garton

M. T.

Ballard

Samanez-Larkin

G. R.

Knutson

(2009). Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow: Individual differences in future self-continuity account for saving. Judgment and Decision Making, 4, 280–286. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1930297500003855

11.

Fox

(2016). Applied regression analysis and generalized linear models. Sage.

12.

Griffin

Murray

Gonzalez

(1999). Difference score correlations in relationship research: A conceptual primer. Personal Relationships, 6(4), 505–518. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6811.1999.tb00206.x

13.

Hershfield

H. E.

Cohen

T. R.

Thompson

(2012). Short horizons and tempting situations: Lack of continuity to our future selves leads to unethical decision making and behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 117, 298–310. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2011.11.002

14.

Hong

E. K.

Zhang

Sedikides

(2024). Future self-continuity promotes meaning in life through authenticity. Journal of Research in Personality, 109, 104463. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2024.104463

15.

Humberg

Nestler

Back

M. D.

(2019). Response surface analysis in personality and social psychology: Checklist and clarifications for the case of congruence hypotheses. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 10, 409–419. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550618757600

16.

James

Witten

Hastie

Tibshirani

(2013). An introduction to statistical learning (Vol. 112). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7138-7

17.

Prenda

K. M.

Lachman

M. E.

(2001). Planning for the future: A life management strategy for increasing control and life satisfaction in adulthood. Psychology and Aging, 16, 206–2016. https://doi.org/10.1037//0882-7974.16.2.206

18.

Reiff

J. S.

Hershfield

H. E.

Quoidbach

(2020). Identity over time: Perceived similarity between selves predicts well-being 10 years later. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 11, 160–167. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550619843931

19.

Rutt

J. L.

Löckenhoff

C. E.

(2016). From past to future: Temporal self-continuity across the life span. Psychology and Aging, 31(6), 631–639. https://doi.org/10.1037/pag0000090

20.

Sedikides

Hong

E. K.

Wildschut

(2023). Self-continuity. Annual Review of Psychology, 74, 333–361. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-032420-032236

21.

Sedikides

Wildschut

Routledge

Arndt

(2015). Nostalgia counteracts self-discontinuity and restores self-continuity. European Journal of Social Psychology, 45(1), 52–61. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2073

22.

Shanock

L. R.

Baran

B. E.

Gentry

W. A.

Pattison

S. C.

Heggestad

E. D.

(2010). Polynomial regression with response surface analysis: A powerful approach for examining moderation and overcoming limitations of difference scores. Journal of Business and Psychology, 25, 543–554. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-010-9183-4

23.

Sirois

Pychyl

(2013). Procrastination and the priority of short-term mood regulation: Consequences for future self. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 7(2), 115–127. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12011

24.

Sokol

Serper

(2019). Development and validation of a future self-continuity questionnaire: A preliminary report. Journal of Personality Assessment, 102(5), 677–688. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223891.2019.1611588

25.

Urminsky

(2017). The role of psychological connectedness to the future self in decisions over time. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 26, 34–39. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721416668810

26.

Ward

M. K.

Meade

A. W.

(2023). Dealing with careless responding in survey data: Prevention, identification, and recommended best practices. Annual Review of Psychology, 74, 577–596. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-040422-045007

27.

Zhang

Chen

(2018). Character strengths, strengths use, future self-continuity and subjective well-being among Chinese university students. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, Article 316048. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01040

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

4.80 MB