Is Seeing Believing? A Longitudinal Study of Vividness of the Future and Its Effects on Academic Self-Efficacy and Success in College

Abstract

This research followed students over their first 2 years of college. During this time, many students lose sight of their goals, leading to poor academic performance and leaving STEM and business majors. This research was the first to examine longitudinal changes in future vividness, how those changes impact academic success, and identify sex differences in those relationships. Students who started college with clear pictures of graduation and life after graduation, and those who gained clarity, were more likely to believe in their academic abilities, and, in turn, earn a higher cumulative GPA, and persist in STEM and business. Compared to men, women reported greater initial vividness in both domains. In vividness of graduation, women maintained their advantage with no sex differences in how vividness changed. However, men grew in vividness of life after graduation while women remained stagnant. These findings have implications for interventions to increase academic performance and persistence.

A systematic review of the impact of future-oriented thinking on academic outcomes

“…Most of the research that have taken place over the last twenty years in this field have explored the utility of futureoriented thinking with an emphasis on goal-directed behaviors, investigating contexts in which future-oriented thinking can enhance self-efficacy (McMichael et al, 2022), increase individual engagement (Gupta and Bakker, 2020), as well as establish goal self-congruence (Henry, 2020). The literature suggests that up until this point, "Possible Selves" or "Best Possible Selves" is the most widely researched future-oriented cognitive phenomena within an academic context.…”

The Effects of Using Virtual Reality on Thai Word Order Learning

“…Self-efficacy is a critical affective construct that has a significant influence on the success and retention of students’ learning [ 83 ]. Students with higher academic self-efficacy tend to set higher academic goals, and academic self-efficacy may be the most powerful predictor of students’ academic achievement and retention [ 84 ].…”

Stimulating a future-oriented mindset and goal attainment through a smartphone-based intervention: Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

“… • People's willingness to change on personality traits in socially desirable ways increases after feedback on their current trait levels ( Thielmann and De Vries, 2021 ). • Complete personal profile of the future self (e.g., work experience, skills, accomplishments) • Current scores on personality traits with an indication of norm scores • Psychoeducation that personality can change over time • Set scores of personality traits of future self 2 Future self perspective Practice with distanced perspective taking on problems to make future-oriented choices and increase self-insight with the potential to adjust attitudes and behaviors in favor of the future self • People make more future-oriented choices: 1) for others (i.e., Solomon's paradox; Grossmann and Kross, 2014 ) 2) when they have a vivid perception of the future self ( McMichael et al, 2021 ) 3) when they can psychologically or temporally distance themselves from the situation (i.e., Construal level theory; Trope and Liberman, 2003 ). • Wise reasoning is enhanced with third-person self-reflection ( Grossmann et al, 2021 ) • Psychoeducation that people make more future-oriented choices when they distance themselves from the situation, and when they think about the long-term consequences • Time travel portal to take future self perspective for giving compliment, advice, and motivation • Participants address themselves in the third-person • Spoken interaction with playback of the recorded messages 3 Goal setting and achievement Educate about a growth mindset to stimulate goal setting and practice Mental Contrasting and Implementation Intentions to foster goal achievement • Growth mindset: The belief that people's abilities can develop over time.…”