Philip Zimbardo: The psychology of time

Translator: Morten Kelder Skouboe Reviewer: Mikael Fuhr

I want to share with you

Jeg vil dele med jer

some ideas about the secret power of time,

nogle idéer om tidens hemmelige magt

in a very short time.

på meget kort tid.

Video: All right, start the clock please. 30 seconds studio.

Video: OK, start uret, tak. 30 sekunder, studie.

Keep it quiet please. Settle down.

Vær stille, tak. Fald til ro.

It's about time. End sequence. Take one.

"It's about time." Sidste sekvens. Optagelse et.

15 seconds studio.

15 sekunder, studie.

10, nine, eight, seven,

10, ni, otte, syv,

six, five, four, three, two ...

seks, fem, fire, tre, to ...

Philip Zimbardo: Let's tune into the conversation

Philip Zimbardo: Lad os stille ind på samtalen

of the principals in Adam's temptation.

mellem hovedpersonerne i Adams fristelse.

"Come on Adam, don't be so wishy-washy. Take a bite." "I did."

"Kom nu Adam, vær nu ikke så pjattet. Tag en bid." "Det gjorde jeg."

"One bite, Adam. Don't abandon Eve."

"Én bid, Adam. Svigt ikke Eva."

"I don't know, guys.

"Jeg ved ikke, gutter.

I don't want to get in trouble."

Jeg vil ikke have problemer."

"Okay. One bite. What the hell?"

"Okay. Et bid. Hvad pokker?"

(Laughter)

(Latter)

Life is temptation. It's all about yielding, resisting,

Livet er fristelse. Det handler altid om at give efter, modstå,

yes, no, now, later, impulsive, reflective,

ja, nej, nu, senere, impulsiv, reflektiv,

present focus and future focus.

nutidsfokus og fremtidsfokus.

Promised virtues fall prey to the passions of the moment.

Lovede dyder bliver ofre for øjeblikkets lyster.

Of teenage girls who pledged sexual abstinence and virginity until marriage --

Af teenagepiger, der pålagde sig seksuel afholdelse og jomfruelighed før ægteskab --

thank you George Bush --

tak, George Bush --

the majority, 60 percent, yielded to sexual temptations within one year.

gav størstedelen, 60 procent, efter for seksuel fristelse inden for ét år.

And most of them did so without using birth control.

Og de fleste af dem gjorde det uden at bruge prævention.

So much for promises.

Så meget for løfter.

Now lets tempt four-year-olds, giving them a treat.

Lad os nu friste fireårige ved at give dem en godte.

They can have one marshmallow now. But if they wait

De må få én skumfidus nu. Men hvis de venter

until the experimenter comes back, they can have two.

til forsøgslederen kommer tilbage, får de to.

Of course it pays, if you like marshmallows, to wait.

Selvfølgelig betaler det sig, hvis man kan lide skumfiduser, at vente.

What happens is two-thirds of the kids give in to temptation.

Det der sker, er, at to tredjedele af børnene giver efter for fristelse.

They cannot wait. The others, of course, wait.

De kan ikke vente. De andre venter selvfølgelig.

They resist the temptation. They delay the now for later.

De modstår fristelse. De udsætter nuet til senere.

Walter Mischel, my colleague at Stanford,

Walter Mischell, min kollega på Stanford,

went back 14 years later,

tog tilbage 14 år senere

to try to discover what was different about those kids.

for at finde ud af, hvad der var forskelligt ved de børn.

There were enormous differences between kids who resisted

Der var enorme forskelle mellem børn, der modstod,

and kids who yielded, in many ways.

og børn, der gav efter, på mange måder.

The kids who resisted scored 250 points higher on the SAT.

Børnene, der modstod, scorede 250 point højere på SAT'en (skole-evalueringstest).

That's enormous. That's like a whole set of different IQ points.

Det er enormt. Det er som et helt andet sæt af IQ-point.

They didn't get in as much trouble. They were better students.

De fik ikke så mange problemer. De var bedre elever.

They were self-confident and determined. And the key for me today,

De var selvsikre og beslutsomme. Og nøglen for mig i dag,

the key for you,

nøglen for jer,

is, they were future-focused rather than present-focused.

er, at de var fremtidsfokuserede i stedet for nutidsfokuserede.

So what is time perspective? That's what I'm going to talk about today.

Så hvad er tidsperspektiv? Det er det, jeg vil tale om i dag.

Time perspective is the study of how individuals,

Tidsperspektiv er studiet af, hvordan individer,

all of us, divide the flow of your human experience

os alle, deler strømmen af deres menneskeerfaring

into time zones or time categories.

ind i tidszoner eller tidskategorier.

And you do it automatically and non-consciously.

Og man gør det automatisk og ubevidst.

They vary between cultures, between nations,

De varierer mellem kulturer, mellem nationer,

between individuals, between social classes,

mellem individer, mellem sociale klasser,

between education levels.

mellem uddannelsesniveauer.

And the problem is that they can become biased,

Og problemet er, at de kan blive forudindtagede,

because you learn to over-use some of them and under-use the others.

fordi man lærer at over-bruge nogle af dem og under-bruge de andre.

What determines any decision you make?

Hvad bestemmer enhver beslutning man tager?

You make a decision on which you're going to base an action.

Man tager en beslutning, på hvilken man vil basere en handling.

For some people it's only about what is in the immediate situation,

For nogle handler det kun om, hvad der sker i den umiddelbare situation,

what other people are doing and what you're feeling.

hvad andre folk laver, og hvad man føler.

And those people, when they make their decisions in that format --

Og de folk, når de foretager deres beslutninger i det format --

we're going to call them "present-oriented,"

vil vi kalde "nutidsorienterede,"

because their focus is what is now.

fordi deres fokus er det, der er nu.

For others, the present is irrelevant.

For andre er nutiden irrelevant.

It's always about "What is this situation like that I've experienced in the past?"

Det handler altid om "Hvad ligner denne situation, som jeg har oplevet tidligere?"

So that their decisions are based on past memories.

Så deres beslutninger bliver baseret på tidligere minder.

And we're going to call those people "past-oriented," because they focus on what was.

Og vi vil kalde de mennesker "fortidsorienterede," fordi de fokuserer på det der var.

For others it's not the past, it's not the present,

For andre er det ikke fortiden, det er ikke nutiden,

it's only about the future.

det handler kun om fremtiden.

Their focus is always about anticipated consequences.

Deres fokus er altid på forventede konsekvenser.

Cost-benefit analysis.

Nytteværdiberegning.

We're going to call them "future-oriented." Their focus is on what will be.

Vi vil kalde dem "fremtidsorienterede." Deres fokus er på det, der vil komme.

So, time paradox, I want to argue,

Så tidsparadoks, vil jeg argumentere for,

the paradox of time perspective,

tidsperspektivets paradoks,

is something that influences every decision you make,

er noget, der påvirker enhver beslutning, man tager,

you're totally unaware of.

som man er fuldstændig uvidende om.

Namely, the extent to which you have one of these

Nemlig i hvilket omfang man har et af disse

biased time perspectives.

forudindtagede tidsperspektiver.

Well there is actually six of them. There are two ways to be present-oriented.

Altså, der er faktisk seks af dem. Der er to måder at være nutidsorienterede.

There is two ways to be past-oriented, two ways to be future.

Der er to måder at være fortids-orienterede, to måder at være fremtid.

You can focus on past-positive, or past-negative.

Man kan fokusere på positiv fortid eller negativ fortid.

You can be present-hedonistic,

Man kan være nutidshedonistisk,

namely you focus on the joys of life, or present-fatalist --

nemlig at man fokuserer på lives glæder, eller nutidsfatalist --

it doesn't matter, your life is controlled.

det er lige meget, ens liv bliver styret.

You can be future-oriented, setting goals.

Man kan være fremtidsorienteret, sætte sig mål.

Or you can be transcendental future:

Eller man kan være transcendental fremtid:

namely, life begins after death.

nemlig at livet begynder efter døden.

Developing the mental flexibility to shift time perspectives fluidly

At udvikle den mentale fleksibilitet til at skifte tidsperspektiv flydende

depending on the demands of the situation,

afhænger af situationens krav,

that's what you've got to learn to do.

det er det, man må lære at gøre.

So, very quickly, what is the optimal time profile?

Så, meget hurtigt, hvad er den optimale tidsprofil?

High on past-positive. Moderately high on future.

Høj på positiv fortid. Moderat høj på fremtid.

And moderate on present-hedonism.

Og moderat på nutidshedonistisk.

And always low on past-negative

Og altid lav på negativ fortid

and present-fatalism.

og nutidsfatalisme.

So the optimal temporal mix is what you get from the past --

Så den optimale tidsmæssige blanding er det, man får fra fortiden --

past-positive gives you roots. You connect your family, identity and your self.

positiv fortid giver en rødder. Man forbinder sin familie, identitet og sig selv.

What you get from the future is wings

Det, man får fra fremtiden, er vinger

to soar to new destinations, new challenges.

til at svæve til nye destinationer, nye udfordringer.

What you get from the present hedonism

Det, man får fra nutidshedonisme,

is the energy, the energy to explore yourself,

er energien, energien til at udforske sig selv,

places, people, sensuality.

steder, folk, sensualitet.

Any time perspective in excess has more negatives than positives.

Ethvert tidsperspektiv, der bliver overdrevet, har flere negative end positive sider.

What do futures sacrifice for success?

Hvad ofrer fremtidsorienterede for succes?

They sacrifice family time. They sacrifice friend time.

De ofrer familietid. De ofrer tid med vennerne.

They sacrifice fun time. They sacrifice personal indulgence.

De ofrer tid til sjov. De ofrer personlig nydelse.

They sacrifice hobbies. And they sacrifice sleep. So it affects their health.

De ofrer hobbyer. Og de ofrer søvn. Så det påvirker deres helbred.

And they live for work, achievement and control.

Og de lever for arbejde, præstation og kontrol.

I'm sure that resonates with some of the TEDsters.

Jeg er sikker på, det vækker genklang hos nogle af TEDsterne.

(Laughter)

(Latter)

And it resonated for me. I grew up as a poor kid in the South Bronx ghetto,

Og det gjorde det for mig. Jeg voksede op som et fattigt barn i South Bronx' ghetto,

a Sicilian family -- everyone lived in the past and present.

en siciliansk familie -- alle levede i fortiden og nutiden.

I'm here as a future-oriented person

Jeg er her som fremtidsorienteret person,

who went over the top, who did all these sacrifices

der nåede toppen, der ofrede alle disse ting,

because teachers intervened, and made me future oriented.

fordi lærere blandede sig og gjorde mig fremtidsorienteret.

Told me don't eat that marshmallow,

Sagde at jeg ikke skulle spise den skumfidus,

because if you wait you're going to get two of them,

for hvis du venter, får du to af dem,

until I learned to balance out.

indtil jeg lærte at udligne.

I've added present-hedonism, I've added a focus on the past-positive,

Jeg har tilføjet nutidshedonisme, jeg har tilføjet et fokus på positiv fortid,

so, at 76 years old, I am more energetic than ever, more productive,

så som 76 år gammel er jeg mere energisk end nogensinde, mere produktiv,

and I'm happier than I have ever been.

og jeg er lykkeligere, end jeg nogensinde har været.

I just want to say that we are applying this to many world problems:

Jeg vil bare sige, at vi udnytter dette til mange verdensproblemer:

changing the drop-out rates of school kids,

ændre frafaldsprocenten for skolebørn,

combating addictions, enhancing teen health,

bekæmpe afhængighed, forbedre teenagesundhed,

curing vets' PTSD with time metaphors -- getting miracle cures --

kurere veteraners PTSD (posttraumatiske reaktioner) med tidsmetaforer -- få mirakelkure --

promoting sustainability and conservation,

fremme bæredygtighed og bevarelse,

reducing physical rehabilitation where there is a 50-percent drop out rate,

reducere fysisk genoptræning, hvor der er 50-procent frafald,

altering appeals to suicidal terrorists,

ændre appeller til selvmorderiske terrorister

and modifying family conflicts as time-zone clashes.

og ændre familiekonflikter som tidszone-sammenstød.

So I want to end by saying:

Så jeg vil slutte af med at sige:

many of life's puzzles can be solved

mange af livets gåder kan blive løst

by understanding your time perspective and that of others.

ved at forstå ens tidsperspektiv og andres.

And the idea is so simple, so obvious,

Så idéen er så simpel, så selvindlysende,

but I think the consequences are really profound.

men jeg tror, konsekvenserne virkelig er dybtgående.

Thank you so much.

Mange tak.

(Applause)

(Bifald)