The Positive Effects of Multidimensional Psychological Time Perspectives on Intergroup Helping Behaviors: Feasibility, Variability, and Contextual Adaptability
CHEN Lanshuang, WANG Zhen, GUAN Jian
Department of Social Psychology, School of Sociology, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China

Abstract: In the current context of increasingly prominent global intergroup conflicts, psychological time frameworks represent a novel pathway for facilitating intergroup helping behavior, effectively mitigating social conflicts and promoting resource redistribution. Compared to conventional approaches focusing on a single time point, expanding across multiple time points and constructing a multidimensional model from cognitive and emotional perspectives may more effectively promote intergroup helping behavior. Specifically, this model first elucidates the feasibility of facilitating intergroup helping behavior through dual systems at both individual and collective levels, drawing upon four perspectives: time orientation, mental time travel, temporal comparison processes, and time attitude. Second, based on relevant theories (continuity motive theory, meaning maintenance model, temporal comparison theory, and broaden-and-build theory), it clarifies the differential effects of multidimensional psychological time perspectives on intergroup helping behavior through intrinsic mechanisms such as self-continuity, meaning in life, self-esteem, and gratitude. Third, it reveals the contextual adaptability of factors including age, psychological distance from events, regional tight-loose culture, and objective socioeconomic status. Finally, it points out that future research should, while focusing on emotional valence, intergenerational descendant perspectives, and cultural differences, differentiate types of intergroup helping behaviors and construct a multidimensional adaptation model specifically aimed at promoting intergroup helping behaviors.

Keywords: intergroup helping behavior, multidimensional psychological time perspectives, time orientation, mental time travel, temporal comparison processes, time attitude

Time is not merely an objective physical measurement but a psychological force that shapes individual behavior, group interactions, and social cognition. In recent years, with the development of time psychology, researchers have gradually recognized that human behavioral decision-making is influenced not only by immediate situations or static cognition but also intimately connected to individuals' perceptions, preferences, and attitudes toward past, present, and future time (毕翠华, 齐怀远, 2022; 李爱梅 et al., 2025). For instance, in the context of intergroup helping behavior decision-making, research has found that Chinese people's unique temporal perception, which emphasizes both the past and future orientation, can significantly predict their willingness to provide monetary and temporal assistance to outgroups (管健, 周梦菲, 2024). Intergroup helping behavior refers to altruistic actions where a helper, as a member of a certain group, actively provides material or non-material assistance to members of outgroups, involving various forms such as time, effort, sympathy, or money (Wright & Richard, 2010). Intergroup helping behavior represents an important manifestation of prosocial behavior: while the latter broadly refers to a series of helping, cooperative, and sharing behaviors beneficial to others or society (Eisenberg et al., 2016), the former specifically denotes prosocial behavior directed toward outgroups (Wright & Richard, 2010)1. In the current era of accelerated globalization and frequent intergroup conflicts, intergroup helping behavior has become a central issue at the intersection of social psychology and positive psychology as a crucial prosocial decision-making behavior for alleviating social problems and promoting resource redistribution. Previous research has predominantly approached this topic from theoretical perspectives such as intergroup contact theory, social identity theory, and the empathic altruism hypothesis, exploring ways to increase individuals' willingness to engage in intergroup helping behavior by reducing intergroup prejudice and enhancing emotional connections (Destro et al., 2024; Rambaud et al., 2021), while seldom attending to the positive role of psychological time frameworks. Moreover, existing studies and theories have largely explained how to influence individuals' intergroup helping behavior from static and singular perspectives (Destro et al., 2024; Rambaud et al., 2021), with very few examining the impact of psychological time on intergroup helping behavior from a dynamic viewpoint. Psychological time frameworks not only integrate previously studied single time orientations (such as historical memory and future imagination) but also dynamically combine past, present, and future according to temporal continuity (郝海平 et al., 2023), systematically constructing a practical model of how multidimensional psychological time perspectives influence intergroup helping behavior from cognitive and emotional angles, thereby providing references for resource allocation and intervention strategies. Therefore, exploring the impact of psychological time perspectives on intergroup helping behavior holds significant importance, as it can not only enrich the application scenarios of psychological time frameworks but also expand new pathways for promoting intergroup helping behavior.

However, current research on psychological time perspectives and intergroup helping behavior still suffers from three main limitations. First, most studies have focused on a single psychological time perspective (such as emphasizing time orientation or time attitude) (Juhl & Biskas, 2023; Juhl et al., 2020), lacking systematic integration of multidimensional psychological time perspectives. Researchers cannot flexibly adopt psychological time frameworks according to research purposes and needs, nor can they explore optimal psychological time perspectives. Compared to single-dimensional psychological time, integrating multiple perspectives—including time orientation, mental time travel, temporal comparison processes, and time attitude—from cognitive and emotional dimensions can not only systematically clarify the focus of each dimension but also organize combinations of past, present, and future time points, thereby expanding the application modes of psychological time frameworks (Baldwin & Lammers, 2016; Mello et al., 2013; Stephan & Sedikides, 2024). More importantly, integrating multidimensional psychological time perspectives helps clarify the intrinsic mechanisms through which each psychological time framework influences intergroup helping behavior, which is crucial for researchers to flexibly select psychological time frameworks, thoroughly compare the advantages and limitations of different psychological time perspectives in affecting intergroup helping behavior, and enrich pathways for facilitating intergroup helping behavior. Second, previous research has overemphasized individual-level psychological time frameworks while neglecting the unique role of collective time perspectives. Collective past (memory) and collective future are inherently independent and separate from individual-level self-past and self-future (郭琪琪, 吕厚超, 2021; 彭继裕, 王超, 2023), meaning that previous research based on individual-level psychological time frameworks cannot be directly extended to collective time perspectives, necessitating in-depth investigation. Moreover, collective time perspectives constitute indispensable temporal representations in daily life; for example, collective memory plays a positive role in promoting national identity and forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation (管健, 郭倩琳, 2020; 彭继裕, 王超, 2023), which to some extent indicates its positive impact on intergroup helping behavior. Therefore, combining collective psychological time frameworks while exploring individual time perspectives will contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the differential effects of multidimensional psychological time perspectives on intergroup helping behavior. Third, the intrinsic mechanisms and contextual conditions through which psychological time perspectives influence intergroup helping behavior have not been thoroughly explored, resulting in a lack of practical application guidance and an urgent need for targeted strategic proposals.

Based on these considerations, this paper attempts to construct a comprehensive conceptual model of multidimensional psychological time perspectives, encompassing four perspectives: time orientation, mental time travel, temporal comparison processes, and time attitude, to jointly explore how intergroup helping behavior is shaped from cognitive and emotional dimensions. This model examines the feasibility of individual and collective psychological time perspectives influencing intergroup helping behavior from the vantage points of past, present, and future time nodes, and reveals the differential mechanisms and contextual conditions through which multidimensional psychological time perspectives affect intergroup helping behavior based on relevant theoretical foundations. In summary, this paper aims to explore the positive effects of the multidimensional psychological time model on intergroup helping behavior from the perspectives of feasibility, variability, and contextual adaptability, hoping to overcome the limitations of traditional single-dimensional psychological time approaches and form a multidimensional adaptation model that promotes intergroup helping behavior (Figure 1 [FIGURE:1]).

1.1 Time Orientation

Time orientation refers to the manifestation of individuals' thought and behavioral preferences along the temporal dimension, specifically indicating the allocation of attention and relative importance attached to each time period (past, present, or future) (Mello et al., 2013; Shipp et al., 2009). Since time orientation can be divided into past orientation, present orientation, and future orientation, from an individual perspective, it can be categorized as self-past, self-present, and self-future, corresponding to individuals' preferences for their own past, present, and future time periods, respectively (郝海平 et al., 2023; Mello et al., 2022). Beyond the individual perspective, time orientation can also be examined at the collective level, divided into collective past, collective present, and collective future, which specifically refer to individuals' relative preferences for the past, present, and future time periods of their collective groups (Peetz & Wohl, 2019). At the collective level, researchers have focused more on collective past and collective future. Collective past, or collective memory, represents the shared memories of collective members, specifically referring to the collective's past history, customs, and behavioral norms (管健, 郭倩琳, 2020; 彭继裕, 王超, 2023). Collective future directs the temporal perspective toward events that have not yet occurred, specifically referring to future collective development and group events (郭琪琪, 吕厚超, 2021). Both individual and collective time orientations are closely related to individuals' psychology and behavior (管健, 周梦菲, 2024; 郭琪琪, 吕厚超, 2021).

Time orientation holds significant importance for individuals' intergroup helping behavior. At the individual level, self-past orientation is typically activated through manipulations such as nostalgia or recall, generally showing that the stronger an individual's past orientation, the more positive their prosocial behavior (方建东, 常保瑞, 2019; Juhl & Biskas, 2023; Juhl et al., 2020). A recent study also found that activating individuals' past orientation, particularly the self-past orientation of ethnic minority groups, can significantly enhance their willingness to provide monetary and temporal assistance to other ethnic groups (管健, 周梦菲, 2024). Self-future orientation is generally activated through methods such as imagining the future lives of one's descendants (Engle-Friedman et al., 2022), writing letters to the future (Vlasceanu et al., 2024), or presenting textual materials, typically manifesting as the stronger an individual's future orientation, the more willing they are to invest time and money in supporting environmental policies (李爱梅 et al., 2018). At the collective level, Behler et al. (2021) found that collective nostalgia can activate individuals' outgroup attitudes, thereby influencing their prosocial behavior toward outgroups. Additionally, research from the national collective level has found that collective future is closely related to individuals' concern about climate change and support for environmental policies (Zhu et al., 2020). Based on these findings, it can be inferred that both past and future orientations may promote intergroup helping behavior to varying degrees.

1.2 Mental Time Travel

Mental time travel refers to the ability of individuals to project their psychological states into the past or future based on subjective temporal perception through the synergistic interaction of self-awareness and episodic memory (Corballis, 2013; Stephan & Sedikides, 2024). This capacity enables humans to actively recall past events or simulate future scenarios. At the physiological level, mental time travel is closely related to the hippocampus within the default mode network (Corballis, 2013). Mental time travel emphasizes psychological travel between two time points, possessing directionality with clear departure and destination points, specifically referring to the process of projecting from one time point to another. 白文 et al. (2009), when examining mental time travel from present to past and from present to future, revealed that mental time travel exists between present and past as well as between present and future. Specifically, it can be divided into four modes: self-present to self-past, self-past to self-present, self-present to self-future, and self-future to self-present. Current research has primarily focused on mental time travel between present and future. For example, Christensen et al. (2024) found that mental time travel from future to present can increase individuals' saving intentions and behaviors by reducing uncertainty about the destination, whereas mental time travel from present to future does not exhibit this positive effect. Mental time travel involves not only the individual level but also collective perspectives such as collective memory and collective future (郭琪琪, 吕厚超, 2021). Michaelian and Sutton (2019) proposed that individual mental time travel and collective mental time travel are relatively independent, with collective mental time travel referring to individuals' psychological travel from their collective's (a certain group or nation's) present back to collective past or toward collective future. Corresponding to individual mental time travel patterns, the directionality of collective mental time travel can be further subdivided into four types: "collective present to collective future," "collective future to collective present," "collective past to collective present," and "collective present to collective past." These classifications help researchers more deeply understand the potentially differential impacts of mental time travel in different directions on intergroup helping behavior.

Overall, mental time travel demonstrates positive effects on individuals' intergroup helping behavior. On one hand, mental time travel from present to future can promote self-affirmation, guide individuals to focus on valuable life goals, and thereby stimulate meaningful prosocial behavior (Stephan & Sedikides, 2024). Cernadas Curotto et al. (2022) found that mental time travel from present to future is closely related to individuals' prosocial behavior, with individuals who have experienced mental time travel being more likely to implement helping behaviors and participate in prosocial behavior more actively. On the other hand, mental time travel from present to past can not only directly improve intergroup contact intentions and reduce intergroup prejudice (Turner & Stathi, 2023) but also promote prosocial behavior by enhancing individuals' self-esteem, sense of meaning, and sense of control (Stephan & Sedikides, 2024). It is evident that current research has primarily revealed the positive contributions of some modes of individual mental time travel to intergroup helping behavior, with very few studies exploring the relationship between collective mental time travel and intergroup helping behavior. Collective-level mental time travel can not only promote individuals' collective identity (Michaelian & Sutton, 2019) but also make individuals more likely to engage in behaviors with positive significance for others and society (郭琪琪, 吕厚超, 2021). Therefore, future research should not only integrate dual perspectives of individual and collective mental time travel but also deeply explore the relationships between the four travel modes and intergroup helping behavior and their underlying mechanisms.

1.3 Temporal Comparison Processes

Temporal comparison process refers to the psychological process through which individuals compare present time with future or past time, emphasizing the direct comparison of environments or event outcomes between two time points (Baldwin & Lammers, 2016; Stanley et al., 2021). Unlike the static presentation of a single time orientation or the need for psychological travel between two time points, temporal comparison process involves directly comparing situations or event outcomes at two psychological time points, using images and other forms to present dynamic contrasts between present and future or present and past, allowing individuals to more intuitively and vividly perceive changes and differences in things across time points. Collective temporal comparison process focuses on comparisons between two time points at the collective level, whereas individual temporal comparison process concerns comparisons of the individual self between two time points, with the main difference being whether collective situations or individual circumstances are being compared (Baldwin & Lammers, 2016; Wolff & Möller, 2022). In their research on how temporal narrative frameworks influence individuals' attitudes toward climate change, Baldwin and Lammers (2016) first introduced the narrative strategy of collective temporal comparison process, with results showing that only when presenting a narrative strategy comparing collective present with collective past (e.g., "Looking back at our nation's past... there were fewer vehicles on the roads") did conservatives demonstrate more positive environmental attitudes and greater willingness to take practical measures to address climate change. Temporal comparison processes have predominantly focused on temporal contrasts at the collective level, such as collective present versus collective past and collective present versus collective future (Baldwin & Lammers, 2016; Stanley et al., 2021), exploring their impact on individuals' pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors by manipulating comparisons of national traffic conditions and overall environment across different time points. Temporal comparison processes should not only focus on collective time perspectives but also consider individual temporal comparison processes, paying attention to the important role of comparing self-present with self-future or self-past in shaping behavior and attitudes. According to temporal comparison theory, individuals compare their present with their past or future, thereby adjusting their feelings and behaviors (Wolff & Möller, 2022). Thus, both individual and collective temporal comparison processes, as important temporal framework strategies, exert positive influences on individuals' behavioral decision-making and attitudinal intentions.

In current research, the temporal framework of temporal comparison process has been primarily applied in the pro-environmental policy domain, with an emphasis on collective temporal comparison processes (Ferres et al., 2025; Herberz et al., 2023). Although research directly linking temporal comparison processes with intergroup helping behavior is scarce, existing studies have shown that collective temporal comparison processes positively influence individuals' pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors (Baldwin & Lammers, 2016; Stanley et al., 2021). For instance, Herberz et al. (2023) found that conservative groups are more willing to support environmental protection policies under the activation framework of collective past, which to some extent provides a reference basis for collective temporal comparison processes to promote intergroup helping behavior. At the individual level, existing research has concentrated on exploring the impact of temporal comparison processes on individuals' self-concept construction and consumption decision-making (Taylor & Carlson, 2025; Wolff & Möller, 2022), rarely applying it to intergroup helping behavior. Exploring the relationship between temporal comparison processes and intergroup helping behavior can not only enrich the application domain of individual temporal comparison processes but also broaden pathways for facilitating intergroup helping behavior. Therefore, future research should deeply investigate the relationship between these two constructs.

1.4 Time Attitude

Time attitude refers to individuals' emotional experiences and attitudinal feelings toward the past, present, and future, encompassing six dimensions: past-positive, past-negative, present-positive, present-negative, future-positive, and future-negative (李小保, 吕厚超, 2022; 李小保 et al., 2021; Worrell et al., 2013). The influence of time attitude on individual psychology and behavior is primarily divided into positive and negative dimensions. Positive time attitudes, such as positive feelings toward past, present, or future time, often predict higher well-being, lower psychological distress (Tejada‐Gallardo et al., 2021), less procrastination (李小保, 吕厚超, 2022), and better academic performance (Fang et al., 2024). Conversely, negative time attitudes are negatively correlated with individuals' mental health levels (Tejada‐Gallardo et al., 2021) and positively correlated with academic procrastination (李小保, 吕厚超, 2022). Existing research has primarily focused on individual time attitude, concerning individuals' emotional experiences regarding their own past, present, and future, while paying less attention to collective time attitude, namely individuals' emotional experiences and attitudes toward the collective past, present, and future (Ionescu et al., 2024; Reyna et al., 2022). Moreover, current research on collective time attitude has mainly concentrated on policy support willingness (Reyna et al., 2022) and national future attitudes (Ionescu et al., 2024), rarely exploring its relationship with intergroup helping behavior. Therefore, future research should not only continue to explore individuals' emotional attitudes toward collective past, collective present, and collective future to enrich the application domain of collective time attitude but also cover groups across more age ranges to comprehensively explore the impact of individual and collective time attitudes on intergroup helping behavior across full-age samples.

Individuals' positive or negative attitudes toward their self-past, self-present, and self-future can influence their intergroup helping behavior to varying degrees. Specifically, negative attitudes toward self-past can trigger differentiated prosocial behavioral tendencies: individuals holding negative attitudes toward self-past due to traumatic experiences may have their resource-sharing willingness hindered, thereby reducing prosocial behavior (Nowakowska et al., 2024), whereas individuals' negative attitudes toward self-past arising from regret can promote altruism (Lu et al., 2022). Notably, most current research has found facilitating effects of positive time attitudes on individual behavior. For instance, positive time attitudes toward self-past facilitate individuals' pro-environmental behaviors such as choosing green hotels (Zeng et al., 2024); positive attitudes toward self-present can to some extent stimulate individuals to engage in generous donation and helping behaviors (Nowakowska, 2023); and positive imagination of self-future scenarios also promotes individuals' prosocial behavior (卢蕾安 et al., 2021; Gaesser et al., 2017). In other words, positive individual time attitudes generally facilitate intergroup helping behavior, while negative time attitudes exert differentiated effects. Whether individuals' positive and negative attitudes toward the collective similarly influence intergroup helping behavior warrants in-depth exploration in future research to further reveal the positive role of collective time attitude.

1.5 Summary

In summary, the four psychological time perspectives, based on cognitive and emotional dimensions, extend from single time points (e.g., time orientation) to multiple time points (e.g., mental time travel, temporal comparison processes, and time attitude), demonstrating their feasibility in promoting intergroup helping behavior. Each psychological time perspective has its own emphasis, collectively constructing a multidimensional psychological time perspective model that facilitates intergroup helping behavior. Specifically, time orientation emphasizes individuals' attentional preferences for certain time nodes (Mello et al., 2013); mental time travel involves directed spatiotemporal projection between two time points based on self-awareness and emotional memory (白文 et al., 2009; Stephan & Sedikides, 2024); temporal comparison process focuses on dynamic contrasts of situations and event outcomes between two time points, emphasizing the comparison process itself (Baldwin & Lammers, 2016; Stanley et al., 2021); and time attitude highlights individuals' positive or negative emotions toward time nodes (李小保, 吕厚超, 2022; Worrell et al., 2013). Notably, existing research has only preliminarily explored the relationship between multidimensional psychological time perspectives and intergroup helping behavior (see Table 1 [TABLE:1]), with several shortcomings remaining. For example, research on time orientation, mental time travel, and time attitude has mostly adopted an individual perspective (Christensen et al., 2024; Juhl et al., 2020), whereas studies on temporal comparison processes have primarily conducted differential comparisons from a collective perspective (Baldwin & Lammers, 2016; Stanley et al., 2021). Additionally, few studies have systematically analyzed the differential effects of the six dimensions of time attitude on intergroup helping behavior (Zeng et al., 2024). Therefore, future research should adopt empirical studies from dual perspectives of individual and collective psychological time to explore their relationships with intergroup helping behavior, differential effects, and underlying mechanisms.

Table 1 心理时间多维视角影响群际帮助行为的相关研究
时间知觉取向和群际帮助行为
个体层面 李爱梅 等，2018
个体层面 方建东，常保瑞，2019
个体层面 Juhl et al.，2020
个体层面 管健，周梦菲，2024
个体层面 Juhl & Biskas，2023
集体层面 Zhu et al.，2020
集体层面 Behler et al.，2021

心理时间旅行和群际帮助行为
个体层面 Cernadas Curott et al.，2022
个体层面 Christensen et al.，2024
个体层面 Turner & Stathi，2023
个体层面 Stephan & Sedikides，2024

时间比较过程和群际帮助行为
集体层面 Baldwin & Lammers，2016

时间态度和群际帮助行为
集体层面 Stanley et al.，2021
集体层面 Herberz et al.，2023
集体层面 Ferres et al.，2025
个体层面 Gaesser et al.，2017
个体层面 Lu et al.，2022
个体层面 Nowakowska，2023
个体层面 Nowakowska et al.，2024
个体层面 Zeng et al.，2024
个体层面 卢蕾安 等，2021

d = 0.50 β = 0.41 β = 0.43 η2 = 0.083 β = 0.29 β = 0.28 d = 0.82 d = 0.13 B = 0.19 β = 0.344 B = 0.16 B = 0.54 η2 = 0.230 Z = 3.651 B = 0.90 β = −0.12 β = 0.154

2.1 Common Characteristics of Multidimensional Psychological Time Perspectives' Influence on Intergroup Helping Behavior

The influence of multidimensional psychological time perspectives on intergroup helping behavior exhibits similar characteristics, mainly manifested in three aspects. First, there is cross-perspective consistency in the temporal framework across the four psychological time perspectives' influence on intergroup helping behavior, as all revolve around the temporal dimension of "past, present, and future" (李小保, 吕厚超, 2022; Christensen et al., 2024; Mello et al., 2013), emphasizing the impact of time points on individuals' intergroup helping behavior. Second, all four psychological time perspectives involve both individual and collective angles, possessing dualism at the analytical level. For example, time orientation includes both individual temporal extension of "self-past—self-future" and group historical connection of "collective past—collective future" (郭琪琪, 吕厚超, 2021; 彭继裕, 王超, 2023); mental time travel includes both individuals' spatiotemporal projection of their own life course and extends to historical reconstruction and future imagination at the collective level (Michaelian & Sutton, 2019). The dualism at the analytical level can not only enrich the influence of psychological time frameworks on intergroup helping behavior but also enable comparisons of differential effects between individual and collective psychological time on intergroup helping behavior. Third, multidimensional psychological time perspectives can positively influence individuals' intergroup helping behavior under certain conditions, showing convergence in behavioral promotion. For instance, preferences for future orientation, mental time travel from present to future, temporal comparison processes between present and future, and positive attitudes toward self-future can all promote individuals' willingness to engage in intergroup helping behavior to varying degrees (管健, 周梦菲, 2024; Cernadas Curotto et al., 2022; Stanley et al., 2021).

2.2 Differential Mechanisms of Multidimensional Psychological Time Perspectives' Influence on Intergroup Helping Behavior

Beyond the connections in cross-perspective consistency of temporal frameworks, dualism at the analytical level, and convergence in behavioral promotion, multidimensional psychological time perspectives also exhibit differences in their influence on intergroup helping behavior, with these differences primarily manifested in the underlying mechanisms affecting intergroup helping behavior.

2.2.1 Time Orientation and Self-Continuity

Time orientation emphasizes individuals' tendencies and preferences for specific time points at the cognitive level, and its underlying mechanism influencing individuals' intergroup helping behavior is closely related to self-continuity. Continuity motive theory emphasizes the degree of self-consistency and continuity across different times, representing the psychological need and intrinsic motivation for the self to connect past, present, and future, which can influence individuals' identity and behavioral decision-making (包寒吴霜 et al., 2019; 管健, 杭宁, 2021). According to this theory, both individual self-continuity and collective self-continuity represent individuals' intrinsic drives to obtain consistency and continuity, with time orientation helping individuals achieve self-continuity by presenting specific time points, thereby promoting their intergroup helping behavior. In other words, self-continuity may mediate the relationship between time orientation and intergroup helping behavior.

At the individual level, self-continuity is divided into past self-continuity and future self-continuity, with the former referring to the sense of connection between self-past and self-present, and the latter referring to the sense of connection between self-present and self-future (Sedikides et al., 2023). Activating self-past often generates past self-continuity (Sedikides & Wildschut, 2022), while activating self-future promotes future self-continuity (Engle-Friedman et al., 2022). Although the causes and directions of these two types of continuity differ, both exert positive influences on intergroup helping behavior (刘云芝 et al., 2018; Engle-Friedman et al., 2022). For example, manipulating nostalgia to activate individuals' self-past enhances their past self-continuity (Sedikides & Wildschut, 2022), which in turn strengthens donation behavior and willingness to use environmentally friendly products (Wang et al., 2020); imagining the future and manipulating legacy motivation can activate individuals' self-future and self-descendant representations and enhance their future self-continuity (王琳 et al., 2020; Engle-Friedman et al., 2022), while future self-continuity can promote individuals to adopt more positive prosocial behaviors such as environmental protection and donation (刘云芝 et al., 2018). Accordingly, individual time orientation may promote intergroup helping behavior by influencing individual self-continuity. Similarly, at the collective level, collective self-continuity may serve as a potential mediating mechanism between collective time orientation and intergroup helping behavior. Collective self-continuity refers to the cultural and historical continuity of the group to which individuals belong, representing the cognition of consistency and connection between collective past, collective present, and collective future (Sedikides et al., 2023). Current research has primarily focused on collective past time orientation, suggesting that collective past (collective memory) can influence individuals' collective self-continuity (Maoulida et al., 2021). Collective self-continuity is closely related to individuals' behavioral decisions toward outgroups (Maoulida et al., 2021), particularly, future collective self-continuity can increase individuals' prosocial willingness and behavior toward outgroups by reducing anxiety and outgroup prejudice (Simić et al., 2025). In summary, existing research provides preliminary evidence for the mediating role of self-continuity, and future research should systematically employ more diverse research designs (such as activation manipulations and longitudinal tracking) to explore the mediating roles of individual self-continuity and collective self-continuity from individual and collective time orientations, especially examining the relationships between collective present, collective future, and collective self-continuity to deeply understand the complex role of self-continuity in this context.

2.2.2 Mental Time Travel and Meaning in Life

Mental time travel emphasizes individuals' directed psychological travel between two time points, and meaning in life may mediate the relationship between mental time travel and intergroup helping behavior. The meaning maintenance model proposes that humans possess a meta-motivation to maintain cognitive coherence and repair the sense of meaning, reconstructing meaning systems through symbolic connections within spatiotemporal frameworks (Heine et al., 2006; King & Hicks, 2021). According to this theory, mental time travel involves dual relational connections of time and place. When individuals recall the past from the present or imagine the future, they may experience positive or negative emotions, triggering individuals' meaning construction processes. Based on the intrinsic motivation to compensate for or maintain meaning in life, this strengthens social connections and increases altruistic behavior. In other words, mental time travel may promote individuals' intergroup helping behavior by enhancing their meaning in life.

The mediating effect of meaning in life has been validated through two empirical pathways. On one hand, mental time travel significantly positively predicts individuals' meaning in life (King & Hicks, 2021). For example, in questionnaire survey research, Yuan et al. (2024) analyzed 1,543 adolescents and found that mental time travel from present to past significantly negatively predicted meaning in life, whereas mental time travel from present to future significantly positively influenced adolescents' meaning in life. In cognitive neuroscience research, Chen et al. (2023) used functional magnetic resonance imaging technology to reveal that mental time travel paradigms can trigger individuals' meaning-making processes, promoting their search for meaning in life. Similar conclusions have been drawn in big data research, where mental time travel recalling the past or envisioning the future from the present triggers individuals' meaning construction, thereby enhancing meaning in life and positive emotions (Chen et al., 2025). On the other hand, meaning in life also holds positive significance for individuals' intergroup helping behavior (常保瑞 et al., 2024; 张璐 et al., 2024). For instance, 李露 et al. (2020) surveyed 961 university students and found that meaning in life significantly positively predicted prosocial behavior: university students with higher meaning in life were more willing to participate in volunteer activities such as donating money and goods. Based on the above discussion, existing research suggests the potential mediating mechanism of meaning in life between individual mental time travel and intergroup helping behavior, though future research still needs to provide direct empirical evidence for verification. Notably, the relationship between collective mental time travel and intergroup helping behavior and its underlying mechanisms have not yet been explored in research. Future research should also adopt a collective perspective to explore whether the mediating role of meaning in life similarly applies to collective mental time travel, achieving a comprehensive understanding of the intrinsic mechanisms through which individual and collective mental time travel influence intergroup helping behavior.

2.2.3 Temporal Comparison Processes and Self-Esteem

Temporal comparison process emphasizes individuals' dynamic comparison processes between two different psychological time points, and self-esteem may be the intrinsic mechanism through which temporal comparison processes influence intergroup helping behavior. Temporal comparison theory emphasizes that when individuals compare their self-present with self-past or self-future, it triggers their self-improvement motivation, expecting continuous progress and growth over time, thereby forming positive evaluations and higher self-esteem levels (Taylor & Carlson, 2025). According to this theory, temporal comparison processes trigger individuals' self-esteem levels by comparing future or past with present, and stimulate their intrinsic drives for self-development and collective development, expecting improvement and enhancement, thereby promoting individuals' intergroup helping behavior. Accordingly, it can be inferred that temporal comparison processes may influence individuals' intergroup helping behavior by affecting self-esteem.

The mediating role of self-esteem can be specifically divided into individual self-esteem and collective self-esteem. At the individual level, research by Brunot and Juhel (2012) revealed that temporal comparison processes between self-present and self-future positively predict individuals' self-esteem levels. Moreover, individual self-esteem significantly positively predicts prosocial behavior (杨继 et al., 2025; Pandey et al., 2025; Sung & Lee, 2021). At the collective level, researchers comparing collective past (5 years ago) and collective future (5 years later) with collective present found that temporal comparison processes between collective future and collective present are positively correlated with collective self-esteem (de la Sablonnière et al., 2009), and collective self-esteem significantly positively predicts individuals' altruistic behavior (Zhou et al., 2023), volunteer activities, donations, blood donation, and other prosocial behaviors (Gong et al., 2021). Current research has respectively provided empirical evidence for temporal comparison processes influencing self-esteem and self-esteem influencing prosocial behavior, which to some extent indicates that temporal comparison processes may influence individuals' intergroup helping behavior through self-esteem. Given that intergroup helping behavior is not only a type of prosocial behavior but also an important positive behavior that promotes friendship and increases cooperation between groups (Eisenberg et al., 2016), future research urgently needs to explore the mediating mechanisms of individual self-esteem and collective self-esteem between temporal comparison processes and intergroup helping behavior to deeply understand the intrinsic mechanisms through which temporal comparison processes exert their effects.

2.2.4 Time Attitude and Gratitude

Time attitude emphasizes individuals' emotional experiences toward the past, present, and future, focusing on positive and negative attitudes toward the temporal dimension. Time attitude may influence individuals' intergroup helping behavior through gratitude. The broaden-and-build theory emphasizes the importance of positive emotions for individual behavior, proposing that after experiencing positive emotions, individuals can expand their cognitive flexibility, accumulate supportive resources, and give back to society, thereby promoting individuals' long-term stable development and a virtuous cycle of prosocial behavior (Fredrickson, 2001). According to this theory, positive time attitudes, such as past-positive, present-positive, and future-positive, can stimulate individuals' gratitude experiences, thereby motivating them to engage in intergroup helping behavior; conversely, negative time attitudes, such as past-negative, present-negative, and future-negative, may reduce or hinder individuals' gratitude tendencies, subsequently affecting intergroup helping behavior. Thus, individuals' emotional attitudes toward the past, present, and future may trigger their gratitude toward life time, thereby motivating them to actively participate in intergroup helping behavior.

Individuals' time attitudes are closely related to gratitude (Burzynska-Tatjewska, Stolarski, et al., 2022; Mróz & Lasota, 2024). A cross-sectional study found that negative attitudes toward the past significantly negatively predicted gratitude, while positive attitudes toward the past and future significantly positively predicted gratitude (Przepiorka & Sobol-Kwapinska, 2021). Another longitudinal study using cross-lagged analysis found that past-positive significantly positively predicted gratitude, while gratitude did not influence past-positive, revealing that positive attitudes toward the past are antecedent variables of individuals' gratitude (Burzynska-Tatjewska, Matthews, et al., 2022). Additionally, gratitude significantly predicts prosocial behavior; Rambaud (2021) found that gratitude can not only reduce individuals' prejudice against outgroups but also increase their behavioral willingness to help outgroups. In situation simulations with higher ecological validity, Oguni and Ishii (2024) found that individuals' gratitude traits can stably promote prosocial behavior even in uncertain environments. Based on longitudinal tracking data, research has found that individuals' gratitude can positively predict their prosocial behavior six months or even one year later (Yang et al., 2021; Zhu et al., 2024). Based on the above discussion, individual time attitude promotes intergroup helping behavior by influencing gratitude. Existing research has primarily focused on individual time attitude, with less exploration of the intrinsic mechanisms through which collective time attitude influences intergroup helping behavior, and very few empirical studies have systematically explored the mediating role of gratitude across the six time dimensions. Future research should not only verify the mediating role of gratitude in individual and collective time attitudes and intergroup helping behavior but also verify the facilitating effect of positive time attitudes proposed by the broaden-and-build theory, clarifying the mediating mechanisms through which the six time dimensions affect intergroup helping behavior.

2.2.5 Theoretical Integration and Comparison

Although multidimensional psychological time perspectives share commonalities in their influence on intergroup helping behavior, each psychological time perspective concept has its own emphasis. More importantly, according to different theories, the intrinsic mechanisms through which different psychological time perspectives affect intergroup helping behavior exhibit differences (see Table 2 [TABLE:2]). Specifically, first, the essence of time orientation is to activate individuals' preferences for time nodes, satisfying their psychological needs to connect past, present, and future and obtaining the intrinsic drive for consistency and continuity (Engle-Friedman et al., 2022; Sedikides & Wildschut, 2022), while continuity motive theory emphasizes individuals' fundamental motivation to maintain self-consistency across "past-present-future," especially forming past self-continuity and future self-continuity when evoking individuals' past memories and future imaginations, thereby influencing behavioral choices, providing theoretical support for the mediating mechanism of self-continuity (包寒吴霜 et al., 2019; 管健, 杭宁, 2021). Second, the essence of mental time travel is directed spatiotemporal projection, thereby stimulating individuals to compensate for or maintain meaning in life (King & Hicks, 2021), while the meaning maintenance model focuses on individuals' motivation and intrinsic needs to repair meaning in life within spatiotemporal relationships (Heine et al., 2006), supporting the mediating role of meaning in life. Third, temporal comparison process involves dynamic contrasts of situations and outcomes between two time nodes, further triggering individuals' self-esteem and self-development drives (Brunot & Juhel, 2012), while temporal comparison theory precisely focuses on dynamic comparisons between time nodes, which may trigger self-improvement motivation and self-esteem levels (Taylor & Carlson, 2025), further supporting the mediating role of self-esteem. Fourth, time attitude represents the emotional dimension of psychological time perspectives, with positive time attitudes being able to expand individuals' cognitive flexibility and gratitude experiences (Burzynska-Tatjewska, Stolarski, et al., 2022; Mróz & Lasota, 2024), while the broaden-and-build theory emphasizes the facilitating effect of positive emotions on individuals' stable development and prosocial behavior (Fredrickson, 2001), providing theoretical basis for the mediating mechanism of gratitude.

Notably, although this paper proposes that the influence of multidimensional psychological time perspectives on intergroup helping behavior may involve different intrinsic core mechanisms, this does not imply that the corresponding core mechanisms are exclusive. The above mediating mechanisms may also exhibit cross-cutting situations; for example, besides time orientation, mental time travel may also influence intergroup helping behavior through self-continuity (Yuan et al., 2024). Furthermore, other explanatory variables and theoretical bases may exist in the relationship between multidimensional psychological time perspectives and intergroup helping behavior. For instance, mental time travel may also intervene in individuals' behavior through self-uncertainty (Christensen et al., 2024). According to social comparison theory and temporal comparison theory, temporal comparison processes also involve downward and upward self-comparisons, with downward comparisons promoting self-enhancement and upward comparisons potentially leading to self-deprecation (Taylor & Carlson, 2025), which may to some extent affect individuals' intergroup helping behavior. Additionally, negative time attitudes (such as past regret) may also influence intergroup helping behavior by stimulating individuals' fairness and social norm tendencies (Lu et al., 2022). Therefore, future research needs to continuously explore other potential mechanisms and theoretical bases to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of the relationship between psychological time perspectives and intergroup helping behavior. Meanwhile, it is also necessary to explore mediating variables through experimental manipulations and longitudinal tracking to verify the explanatory weight of each mechanism and clarify the optimal mechanism.

Table 2 心理时间多维视角影响群际帮助行为的区别与联系
时间知觉取向 心理时间旅行 时间框架的跨视角一致性 强调个体在认知层面对特定时 （均涉及过去、现在和未来）； 间点的倾向和偏好

分析层面的双重性（个体

强调个体在两个时间点之间进 层面和集体层面）； 行有方向性的心理旅行 行为促进的趋近性（心理时间 强调个体直接对两个不同心理 连续动机理论 自我连续性 意义维持模型 生命意义感 时间比较过程 视角对群际帮助行为的促进作 时间点呈现的内容进行动态对 时间比较理论 强调个体对过去、现在和未来 的积极或消极感受 扩展-建构理论

3 Contextual Adaptability of Multidimensional Psychological Time Perspectives' Influence on Intergroup Helping Behavior

Although the four psychological time perspectives all have facilitating effects on intergroup helping behavior, this does not mean that such positive effects can be generated to the same degree under any conditions. On the contrary, only by flexibly adopting corresponding feasible practical strategies according to different situational conditions and individual characteristics can the maximum effect of multidimensional time perspectives on intergroup helping behavior be achieved. According to ecological systems theory, individuals are nested within a series of mutually influential environmental systems and interact with the environment during development to achieve better growth and development (Bronfenbrenner, 1999; Mizokawa & Komiya, 2014). The influence of multidimensional psychological time perspectives on intergroup helping behavior may also be affected by multiple factors including temporal systems (e.g., age), microsystems or mesosystems (e.g., psychological distance from events), macrosystems (e.g., regional tight-loose culture), and exosystems (e.g., objective socioeconomic status). For example, age reflects the development of individuals' life course and is a representative variable of temporal systems, closely related to time orientation (Mello et al., 2022); psychological distance from events involves individuals' internal perceptions of social environments such as temporal, spatial, and social distances (Trope & Liberman, 2010), with its distance potentially involving microsystems or mesosystems and influencing the relationship between mental time travel and prosocial motivation (Colás-Blanco et al., 2022); regional tight-loose culture is a core element of macrosystems, where group behaviors may differ under various tight-loose cultural atmospheres (Gelfand et al., 2011); objective socioeconomic status determines the external resources individuals can access and is an important representation of exosystems, with its level being closely related to time attitude and prosocial behavior (Andreoni et al., 2021; Xiao et al., 2023). Thus, age, psychological distance from events, regional tight-loose culture, and objective socioeconomic status may moderate the relationship between multidimensional psychological time perspectives and intergroup helping behavior.

3.1 Age and Time Orientation

The facilitating effect of time orientation on intergroup helping behavior exhibits significant intergenerational differences. Socioemotional selectivity theory posits that individuals' openness to future time perception declines with age, with younger people tending to choose future-oriented goals (such as intergenerational altruism) due to their perception of unlimited future time, while middle-aged and older adults, with enhanced perception of limited future time, attach greater importance to present-oriented goals (such as immediate emotional experiences and social legacy shaping) (Carstensen, 2006). According to this theory, different age groups form characteristic time orientation tendencies due to differences in life stages, social roles, and psychological needs, requiring targeted activation of time orientation to maximize the promotion of individuals' intergroup helping behavior. Currently, numerous studies have found complex connections between time orientation and age. For example, Mello et al. (2022) surveyed and analyzed 1,659 participants across age groups and found that adolescents and young adults prefer self-future, while middle-aged and older adults prefer self-present. Additionally, Anderson et al. (2022), by surveying Japanese citizens' perceptions of Japanese society's past, present, and future, also revealed intergenerational differences in collective past, collective present, and collective future: young people believe collective future (such as future technological innovation and convenience facilities) will be better than the present, whereas older adults believe that collective present's material standards and public safety are superior to collective future. It is evident that both individual and collective time orientations are closely related to age and exhibit relatively consistent intergenerational difference patterns—younger individuals tend to prefer self-future and collective future, while older adults prefer self-present and collective present.

Individuals' focus in time perception gradually shifts from future orientation to present orientation with increasing age (Carstensen, 2006; Mello et al., 2022). To promote individuals' active participation in intergroup helping behavior, future research needs to adopt specific intervention measures for different age groups. For example, for adolescents and young adults, researchers can activate individuals' self-future and self-descendants through virtual reality technology simulating future scenarios, writing letters to future selves, or leaving letters for their descendants (Vlasceanu et al., 2024); and activate individuals' collective future and collective descendants by imagining life scenes of the collective 10 or 100 years later or performing future fluency tasks (郭琪琪, 吕厚超, 2021), thereby enhancing individuals' self-continuity, stimulating legacy motivation, and promoting their intergroup helping behavior. For middle-aged and older adults, researchers can help individuals focus on self-present and collective present by presenting the "immediately visible impact" of current behaviors to satisfy immediate emotional needs (Anderson et al., 2022), thereby facilitating their active participation in intergroup helping behavior.

3.2 Psychological Distance and Mental Time Travel

The influence of mental time travel on intergroup helping behavior may vary due to differences in psychological distance. Psychological distance refers to individuals' subjective perception of the "nearness" or "farness" of an event, object, or person based on cognitive, social, and emotional dimensions, involving temporal distance, spatial distance, and social distance, among others (Trope & Liberman, 2010). Construal level theory posits that the perceived distance of psychological distance directly influences individuals' information representation styles; when psychological distance is more distant, individuals' construal level is higher, focusing more on the abstract essence, purpose, and meaning of events or people; when psychological distance is closer, individuals' construal level is lower, focusing more on specific details of events (Trope & Liberman, 2010). According to this theory, under different psychological distances, individuals exhibit different attentional tendencies and cognitive processing styles when engaging in mental time travel, thereby resulting in varying degrees of intergroup helping behavior. Among the various dimensions of psychological distance, research on the moderating role of temporal distance is most extensive. For example, Vazeou-Nieuwenhuis (2018), when exploring the role of temporal distance between mental time travel and meaning in life, manipulated individuals to engage in high psychological time travel (from present to one year later) and low psychological time travel (from present to one week later) and found that individuals engaging in mental time travel with more distant temporal distance increased their meaning in life. Similar results have been found in cognitive neuroscience research, where mental time travel with distant temporal distance enhances the vividness and emotional involvement of mental simulation by activating brain regions related to episodic simulation and self-referential processing, thereby strengthening individuals' prosocial motivation (Colás-Blanco et al., 2022). Additionally, research indicates that the interaction between temporal distance and social distance significantly predicts individuals' implementation of health-related prosocial behavior (Hu et al., 2023). In summary, current research has mostly focused on the moderating role of distant temporal distance between individual mental time travel and intergroup helping behavior. Future research should further investigate the moderating effects of single or interactive psychological distances such as temporal distance, spatial distance, and social distance on individual and collective mental time travel and intergroup helping behavior.

Based on the above theoretical foundations and empirical research, future advocacy for public services such as intergroup helping behavior can establish multi-level psychological distance strategies. At the information content level, emphasizing long-term social benefits rather than immediate returns (e.g., "protecting the ecological environment and social resources for future generations") (管健, 陈姝羽, 2024); in presentation methods, adopting mental time travel with longer temporal distance to enhance meaning in life (Vazeou-Nieuwenhuis, 2018); in situation construction, using timeline extension technologies (such as augmented reality technology) to help individuals immerse themselves in experiencing mental time travel from present to future (Zlomuzica et al., 2018). The synergistic application of these strategies is expected to systematically promote the occurrence and maintenance of intergroup helping behavior by enhancing individuals' meaning in life.

3.3 Regional Tight-Loose Culture and Temporal Comparison Processes

The effect of temporal comparison processes on intergroup helping behavior may be moderated by regional tight-loose culture. Regional tight-loose culture refers to the strength of social norms and the degree of punishment for deviant behaviors in a certain region (such as states or provinces), reflecting the cultural atmosphere within a country's internal regions (卢俊 et al., 2017; Gelfand et al., 2011). Compared to other cultural dimensions (such as individualism-collectivism), regional tight-loose culture primarily focuses on internal cultural differences within the same country (Harrington & Gelfand, 2014), can be predicted through social behavior, and obtains regional divisions of internal differences within a country (卢俊 et al., 2017; Gelfand et al., 2011). Tight-loose culture theory posits that tight-loose cultural atmospheres created by different social norm strengths affect individuals' group behavior, providing theoretical support for the moderating role of regional tight-loose culture (Gelfand et al., 2011). Although current research rarely examines the moderating role of regional tight-loose culture, values closely related to it (卢俊 et al., 2017; Waytz et al., 2019) have been found to moderate the relationship between temporal comparison processes and pro-environmental behavior. For example, Baldwin and Lammers (2016) found that for conservatives who tend to comply with norms and emphasize order, obedience, and collective goals, temporal comparisons between present and past better promote individuals' pro-environmental behavior. From this, it can be inferred that regional tight-loose culture may moderate the relationship between temporal comparison processes and intergroup helping behavior. Under tight culture that emphasizes strict norms, collective order, and traditional authority, individuals often comply with collective arrangements and gradually shape a more conservative ideology, making temporal comparison processes between present and past more likely to trigger individuals' intergroup helping behavior (Baldwin & Lammers, 2016). Under loose culture that emphasizes freedom, criticism, and pluralistic innovation, individuals' threat perception is weaker, forming a more open and free value orientation, making temporal comparison processes between present and future more likely to promote their intergroup helping behavior (Gelfand et al., 2011).

Different regions exhibit varying norm enforcement strengths; for example, significant regional tight-loose cultural differences exist among the 50 states in the United States (Harrington & Gelfand, 2014) and among the 31 provinces and municipalities in China (Chua et al., 2019). Future practical applications can consider adopting targeted and refined measures according to the specific tight-loose cultural atmosphere of a region. Tight culture regions use traditional authority and collective order as bonds, shaping group behavior through dense normative networks (Dimant et al., 2025; Smith, 2017). Accordingly, it can be inferred that in tight culture regions, the effectiveness of temporal comparison processes may depend on the symbolic awakening of traditional values. Adopting temporal comparison processes between present and past can activate individuals' identification with clan mutual aid memories and local cultural symbols, transforming intergroup helping behavior into a moral practice for maintaining cultural continuity. Loose culture regions, characterized by pluralistic inclusiveness and open freedom (卢俊 et al., 2017; Gelfand et al., 2011), can stimulate individual or collective self-esteem levels through temporal comparison processes between present and future, thereby facilitating individuals' implementation of intergroup helping behavior.

3.4 Time Attitude and Objective Socioeconomic Status

Objective socioeconomic status, as an important social stratification variable, may influence the relationship between time attitude and intergroup helping behavior. Objective socioeconomic status (measured by indicators such as income, education level, wealth, and occupational prestige) not only reflects individuals' material resources and capital reserves but is also closely related to their ability to cope with negative emotions and unexpected risks (王淑燕 et al., 2023). Time attitude is generally divided into positive and negative attitudes toward the past, present, and future. Positive time attitude can to some extent transcend objective socioeconomic status to promote individuals' intergroup helping behavior. According to the broaden-and-build theory, positive time attitudes allow individuals to experience positive emotions, which helps accumulate resources to give back to society (Fredrickson, 2001). When individuals possess positive time attitudes, they may actively participate in intergroup helping behavior regardless of their objective socioeconomic status level. Conversely, the influence of negative time attitudes on intergroup helping behavior may be affected by objective socioeconomic status. Specifically, for individuals with high socioeconomic status, even if they have negative evaluations and feelings toward self or collective time attitudes (such as regret about the past or pessimism about the future), their resource redundancy (such as financial security and social support networks) can buffer the inhibiting effect of negative time attitudes on intergroup helping behavior, and they may even be willing to invest more time and energy in prosocial behavior (Andreoni et al., 2021; Wang et al., 2021). However, for individuals with low socioeconomic status, resource scarcity exacerbates survival pressure, potentially solidifying negative time attitudes into a cognitive framework of "inability to change," further inhibiting their willingness to share resources across groups (He et al., 2023; Xiao et al., 2023). Thus, the level of objective socioeconomic status affects the degree to which time attitude facilitates intergroup helping behavior.

Future practical applications can construct stratified strategies. First, actively promote intergroup helping activities to groups with higher objective socioeconomic status, transforming individuals' negative time attitudes into social responsibility motivation, stimulating reputation motivation and altruistic motivation in individuals with positive time attitudes, and promoting intergroup helping behavior (Liebe et al., 2022; Suss, 2023). Second, for groups with lower objective socioeconomic status, ensure they receive structural support (such as educational opportunities and social security), provide space for growth and development for individuals who uphold positive time attitudes, and enhance their probability of providing genuine help (He et al., 2023; Xiao et al., 2023). Meanwhile, combine individual psychological construction with social resource provision to intervene in individuals' negative time attitudes, gradually cultivating their positive attitudes toward the past, present, and future to promote intergroup helping behavior.

4.1 Attending to Emotional Valence of Psychological Time Perspectives

The multidimensional psychological time perspectives discussed in this paper all emphasize the influence of time nodes on intergroup helping behavior while generally neglecting the emotional valence contained within time nodes, that is, the positive or negative emotions contained in time nodes (Ionescu et al., 2024; Ozdes, 2021). Ozdes (2021) found that time nodes often contain positive or negative events experienced by individuals, thereby inducing positive or negative emotions. In recent years, Ionescu et al. (2024) have gradually attended to the emotional valence of psychological time, manipulating positive and negative emotions of collective past to explore its influence on future thinking. Clarifying the relationship between psychological time frameworks and emotional valence will help to understand in detail which psychological time framework activation can maximally promote individuals' intergroup helping behavior. However, current research on the emotional valence of psychological time is still scarce. Specifically, time orientation represents preferences for certain time points without distinguishing whether such preferences are for identifying with positive matters or avoiding negative events (管健, 周梦菲, 2024; Mello et al., 2013); mental time travel focuses on psychological projection between two time points without clarifying differences in emotional states at departure and destination points (Christensen et al., 2024); temporal comparison processes emphasize dynamic contrasts between two time points but do not define whether the comparison content is positive or negative situations (Baldwin & Lammers, 2016; Stanley et al., 2021); although time attitude encompasses individuals' emotional attitudes toward the past, present, and future (李小保, 吕厚超, 2022; Worrell et al., 2013), it neglects the coexistence phenomenon of negative evaluations and positive events within the same time dimension (for example, whether individuals holding negative attitudes toward self-past would be promoted to engage in intergroup helping behavior due to positive events in self-past). Therefore, future research needs to consider emotional valence on the basis of existing psychological time frameworks and comprehensively explore the interactive effects of psychological time perspectives and emotional valence on intergroup helping behavior.

4.2 Exploring the Intergenerational Power of "Descendants"

"Descendants" represent a symbol of special significance to individuals within future time, a future representation closely connected to individuals; whether self-descendants or collective descendants, they both represent intergenerational legacy in a certain sense. Compared to vague future time categories, "descendants" may more easily affect individuals' self-continuity and legacy motivation, influencing their intergroup helping behavior and prosocial attitudes (Engle-Friedman et al., 2022; 王琳 et al., 2020). This paper only generalizes "descendants" as a vague future time category within multidimensional psychological time perspectives, failing to highlight the important role of "descendants." Incorporating "descendants" as a special time node and symbolic symbol into psychological time frameworks can not only construct a more complete psychological time model but also deeply explore the influence of "descendants" on intergroup helping behavior. Existing research has activated individuals' self-descendant time orientation by imagining descendants' lives or writing letters to future descendants (李爱梅 et al., 2025; Shrum, 2021). Future research can expand "descendant" psychological time perspectives such as intergenerational mental time travel from self-present to self-descendant, intergenerational temporal comparison between self-past childhood and self-descendant childhood, and individuals' positive and negative time attitudes toward self-descendants, and explore their relationships with intergroup helping behavior. For instance, some current research has already discovered the positive power of "descendants": responsibility toward descendants is closely related to individuals' prosocial behavior (Nestik et al., 2019); writing letters to future descendants can enhance their pro-environmental behavior (Vlasceanu et al., 2024); imagining descendants can reduce intergenerational conflicts and promote rational allocation of sustainable resources (Hara et al., 2019). These positive results suggest that future research urgently needs to deeply explore the effect and boundary conditions of "descendants" on intergroup helping behavior.

4.3 Examining Cross-Cultural Influences on the Relationship Between Multidimensional Psychological Time Perspectives and Intergroup Helping Behavior

Cultures of different countries (e.g., Eastern and Western countries) may influence the relationship between multidimensional psychological time perspectives and intergroup helping behavior. Taking individual time orientation as an example, research shows that individuals in collectivistic cultural contexts prefer past orientation, value past experiences, and often use history as a mirror; whereas individuals in individualistic cultural contexts prefer present and future orientations more strongly (郝海平 et al., 2023). Additionally, individualistic culture emphasizes individuals' independence and autonomy, with individuals in such cultures tending toward linear, unidirectional time perspectives, focusing on efficiency and future planning; while collectivistic culture emphasizes collective harmony and wholeness, with individuals in such cultures tending toward cyclical, multidirectional time perspectives, focusing on connections between past, present, and future (纪丽君 et al., 2023; Ji et al., 2001). In other words, culture is closely related to psychological time perspectives (郝海平 et al., 2023; 纪丽君 et al., 2023) and may even produce interactive effects that influence intergroup helping behavior (Juhl & Biskas, 2023; Juhl et al., 2020). Future research can explore this by organizing or revising measurement methods of psychological time under different national cultures, further comparing how individual and collective multidimensional psychological time perspectives influence intergroup helping behavior under different national cultural backgrounds, helping researchers more comprehensively understand the influence of culture on the relationship between multidimensional psychological time perspectives and intergroup helping behavior, and enriching research in this field from a cross-cultural perspective.

4.4 Considering Types of Intergroup Helping Behavior

This paper has primarily organized the potential influences of various sub-dimensions of psychological time perspectives on intergroup helping behavior without differentiating categories of intergroup helping behavior. Based on helping methods, Nadler and Halabi (2006) divided intergroup helping behavior into autonomy-oriented helping and dependency-oriented helping, with the former emphasizing that individuals provide problem-solving tools to help-seekers, enabling them to solve problems independently, i.e., "teaching them to fish"; the latter emphasizing that individuals provide complete solutions to help-seekers, directly helping them solve problems, i.e., "giving them a fish" (Nadler & Halabi, 2006). Additionally, based on motivational perspectives, Van Leeuwen (2017) divided intergroup helping behavior into strategically motivated helping and prosocially motivated helping, with the former focusing on the needs and interests of the ingroup, representing help driven by "self-interest" motivation; the latter emphasizing the actual needs of outgroups, representing helping behavior driven by "altruistic" motivation. Since multiple types of intergroup helping behavior exist, do psychological time perspectives also have differential effects on them? Research has found that although future time orientation can significantly predict autonomy-oriented helping behavior, it has no effect on dependency-oriented helping behavior (Chernyak‐Hai & Halabi, 2018). This means that when exploring the positive effects of psychological time perspectives, generally considering a single type of intergroup helping behavior may reduce the accuracy of relevant conclusions. Given that current research rarely examines the relationship between psychological time perspectives and types of intergroup helping behavior, future research can deeply explore the influence of multidimensional psychological time perspectives on different types of intergroup helping behavior and their intrinsic mechanisms based on decision-making contexts of "giving a fish VS teaching to fish" or motivational perspectives of "self-interest VS altruism," helping to clarify differences in individuals' motivations and methods for implementing intergroup helping behavior. Additionally, considering that the costs of intergroup helping behavior can influence individuals' willingness to engage in intergroup helping behavior (Sierksma, 2018), future research can also categorize intergroup helping behavior into monetary help and temporal help based on cost types, exploring the relationship between multidimensional psychological time perspectives and these types, further enriching relevant research on both and revealing the importance of intergroup helping behavior types.

4.5 Constructing a Multidimensional Adaptation Model for Promoting Intergroup Helping Behavior

In the optimal adaptation conditions for time orientation, mental time travel, temporal comparison processes, and time attitude influencing intergroup helping behavior, it can be observed that these influences are often limited to specific situations or groups (Baldwin & Lammers, 2016; Mello et al., 2022; Vazeou-Nieuwenhuis, 2018; Xiao et al., 2023). In view of this, in practical applications, psychological time frameworks should be flexibly and targeted applied to adapt to the needs of different populations and diverse situations (Anderson et al., 2022; Wang et al., 2021). Future research can integrate these factors to form a multidimensional adaptation model, covering the influences and differential comparisons of each psychological time perspective on intergroup helping behavior across different groups and situations. For example, to enhance a certain group's intergroup helping behavior, researchers can theoretically identify their belonging age, objective socioeconomic status, and regional tight-loose culture based on this multidimensional adaptation model, and then, based on the psychological distance of events, potentially determine the optimal psychological time framework through precise comparative analysis, thereby directionally promoting their intergroup helping behavior. "A single flower does not make spring, while a hundred flowers in full bloom bring spring to the garden." Only by exploring the influence of psychological time perspectives on intergroup helping behavior from multiple dimensions can truly meaningful promotion be achieved.

References

白文, 王美芳, 闫秀梅. (2009). 儿童心理时间之旅的发展. 心理科学进展, 17(5), 983–989.

包寒吴霜, 蔡华俭, 罗宇. (2019). 身份认同动机：概念、测量与心理效应. 心理科学, 42(4), 971–977.

毕翠华, 齐怀远. (2022). 时间感知在跨期决策中的作用——时间决策模型的新探索. 心理科学进展, 30(5), 1106–1118.

常保瑞, 黄江喜, 林培钿, 方建东. (2024). 关爱自己，更关爱他人：自我同情的"利他"机制. 心理发展与教育, 40(3),

方建东, 常保瑞. (2019). 怀旧与亲社会行为的关系: 一个有中介的调节模型. 心理发展与教育, 35(3), 303–311.

管健, 郭倩琳. (2020). 共享、重塑与认同: 集体记忆传递的社会心理逻辑. 南京师大学报(社会科学版), (5), 69–79.

管健, 杭宁. (2021). 知情意行：四维一体铸牢中华民族共同体意识. 南开学报(哲学社会科学版), (6), 53–67.

管健, 周梦菲. (2024). 取向与广度：时间知觉对于铸牢中华民族共同体意识的意义. 西北师大学报(社会科学版), 61(5),

管健，陈姝羽. (2024). 框架效应助推铸牢中华民族共同体意识——基于解释水平与心理距离视角. 民族学刊, 15(4), 1–11

郭琪琪, 吕厚超. (2021). 未来心理时间的新取向：集体未来思考. 心理科学, 44(1), 184–190.

郝海平, 吕厚超, 黄希庭. (2023). 中国人的过去、现在和未来: 基于时间心理学的阐释. 心理研究, 16(4), 300–309.

纪丽君, 吴莹, 杨宜音. (2023). 中国人的时间知觉广度. 心理学报, 55(3), 421–434.

李爱梅, 柯正南, 姚心妍, 朱乔薇, 孙海龙. (2025). 代际合作的决策机制与助推策略：时间折扣和社会折扣整合的理论视角. 心理科学进展, 33(1), 136–145.

李爱梅, 王海侠, 孙海龙, 熊冠星, 杨韶丽. (2018). "长计远虑"的助推效应: 怀孕与环境跨期决策. 心理学报, 50(8),

李露, 叶宝娟, 倪林英, 杨强. (2020). 家庭亲密度对大学生亲社会行为的影响：有调节的中介效应. 中国临床心理学杂志, 28(1), 178–180.

李小保, 吕厚超. (2022). 青少年时间态度与学业拖延的关系：成就动机的中介作用. 心理科学, 45(1), 47–53.

李小保, 毛忆晨, 吕厚超, 王艺琪. (2021). 中文版时间态度量表的信效度检验. 中国临床心理学杂志, 29(2), 375–379.

刘云芝, 杨紫嫣, 王娱琦, 陈鋆, 蔡华俭. (2018). 未来自我连续性及其对个体心理和行为的影响. 心理科学进展, 26(12),

卢俊, 陈浩, 乐国安. (2017). 松-紧文化: 跨文化心理学研究的新维度. 心理科学进展, 25(5), 887–902.

卢蕾安, 王春生, 任俊. (2021). 人们如何设想未来：未来情景思维对个体心理和行为的影响. 心理科学进展, 29(6),

彭继裕, 王超. (2023). 集体记忆：铸牢中华民族共同体意识的心理向度. 广西民族研究, (2), 71–83.

王琳, 陈增祥, 何云. (2020). 传承动机对金融冒险行为的影响：未来自我连续性的中介. 心理学报, 52(8), 1004–1016.

王淑燕, 刘启鹏, 江伟. (2023). 社会经济地位的测量与研究操纵：现状与问题——基于心理学领域的研究. 心理研究, 16(1), 12–20.

温芳芳, 佐斌. (2019). 社会分类的概念、线索及影响机制. 心理科学, 42(2), 395–401.

杨继, 李柯漾, 郑文浩, 郭斯萍. (2025). 人何以"泛爱众"？儒家伦理精神性对大学生亲社会行为的促进机制. 中国临床心 理学杂志, 1, 66–70.

张璐, 乌云特娜, 金童林. (2024). 主动性人格对大学生网络利他行为的影响：网络积极反馈和生命意义感的中介作用. 心 理科学, 47(5), 1246–1253.

祝婷, 李凌智, 温芳芳, 佐斌, 鞠一琰, 龙佳慧. (2024). 共同内群体认同的心理效应及其影响因素. 心理科学, 47(2),

Anderson, D., Shimizu, H., & Massam, W. (2022). Generational differences between younger and older Japanese adults in perceptions of society from retrospective, current, and future time perspectives. Psychologia, 64(1), 69–93.

Andreoni, J., Nikiforakis, N., & Stoop, J. (2021). Higher socioeconomic status does not predict decreased prosocial behavior in a field experiment. Nature Communications, 12(1), 4266.

Baldwin, M., & Lammers, J. (2016). Past-focused environmental comparisons promote proenvironmental outcomes for conservatives. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(52), 14953–14957.

Behler, A. M. C., Cairo, A., Green, J. D., & Hall, C. (2021). Making America great again? National nostalgia's effect on outgroup perceptions. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 555667.

Bronfenbrenner, U. 1999. Environments in developmental perspective: Theoretical and operational models. In S. L. Friedman & T. D. Wachs (Eds.), Measuring environment across the life span: Emerging methods and concepts (pp. 3–28). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association Press.

Brunot, S., & Juhel, J. (2012). Social and temporal comparisons, self-esteem, and job-search activity among long-term unemployed people. Annee Psychologique, 112(2), 197–226.

Burzynska-Tatjewska, B., Matthews, G., & Stolarski, M. (2022). Seeking causality in the links between time perspectives and gratitude, savoring the moment and prioritizing positivity: Initial empirical test of three conceptual models. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(8), 4776.

Burzynska-Tatjewska, B., Stolarski, M., & Matthews, G. (2022). Do time perspectives moderate the effects of gratitude, savoring and prioritizing positivity on well-being? A test of the temporal match-mismatch model. Personality and Individual Differences, 189, 111501.

Carstensen, L. L. (2006). The influence of a sense of time on human development. Science, 312(5782), 1913–1915.

Cernadas Curotto, P., Sander, D., d'Argembeau, A., & Klimecki, O. (2022). Back to the future: A way to increase prosocial behavior. PLOS ONE, 17(8), e0272340.

Chen, Y., Ma, J., Zhu, H., Peng, H., & Gan, Y. (2023). The mediating role of default mode network during meaning-making aroused by mental simulation between stressful events and stress-related growth: A task fMRI study. Behavioral and Brain Functions, 19(1), 12.

Chen, Y., Zheng, L., Ma, J., Zhu, H., & Gan, Y. (2025). The mediating role of meaning-making in the relationship between mental time travel and positive emotions in stress-related blogs: Big data text analysis research. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 27, e63407.

Chernyak-Hai, L., & Halabi, S. (2018). Future time perspective and interpersonal empathy: Implications for preferring autonomy- versus dependency-oriented helping. British Journal of Social Psychology, 57(4), 793–814.

Christensen, K. L., Hershfield, H. E., & Maglio, S. J. (2024). Back to the present: How direction of mental time travel affects similarity and saving. Journal of Consumer Research, 51(4), 761–774.

Chua, R. Y. J., Huang, K. G., & Jin, M. (2019). Mapping cultural tightness and its links to innovation, urbanization, and happiness across 31 provinces in China. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(14), 6720–6725.

Colás-Blanco, I., Mioche, J., La Corte, V., & Piolino, P. (2022). The role of temporal distance of the events on the spatiotemporal dynamics of mental time travel to one's personal past and future. Scientific Reports, 12(1), 2378.

Corballis, M. C. (2013). Mental time travel: A case for evolutionary continuity. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 17(1), 5–6.

de la Sablonnière, R., Tougas, F., & Perenlei, O. (2009). Beyond social and temporal comparisons: The role of temporal inter-group comparisons in the context of dramatic social change in Mongolia. The Journal of Social Psychology, 150(1),

Destro, C. L., Rullo, M., Telesca, G., & Visintin, E. P. (2024). Supporting Ukrainian refugees: Examining intergroup contact, empathy and European identity in promoting helping behaviours. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 34(5), e2869.

Dimant, E., Gelfand, M., Hochleitner, A., & Sonderegger, S. (2025). Strategic Behavior with Tight, Loose, and Polarized Norms. Management Science, 71(3), 2245–2263.

Eisenberg, N., VanSchyndel, S. K., & Spinrad, T. L. (2016). Prosocial Motivation: Inferences From an Opaque Body of Work. Child Development, 87(6), 1668–1678.

Engle-Friedman, M., Tipaldo, J., Piskorski, N., Young, S. G., & Rong, C. (2022). Enhancing environmental resource sustainability by imagining oneself in the future. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 79, 101746.

Fang, L., Liu, T., Zhang, T., & Liu, S. (2024). Effect of time attitude on academic performance of high school students: A moderated mediation model. Current Psychology, 43(42), 32961–32975.

Ferres, E. A. G., Van Berkel, L., Baldwin, M., & Lammers, J. (2025). Temporal comparisons shape system justification processes. Political Psychology, 46(3), 654–672.

Fredrickson, B. L. (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist, 56(3), 218–226.

Gaesser, B., DiBiase, H. D., & Kensinger, E. A. (2017). A role for affect in the link between episodic simulation and prosociality. Memory (Hove), 25(8), 1052–1062.

Gavreliuc, A., Gavreliuc, D., & Semenescu, A. (2021). Beyond the façade of generosity—Regional stereotypes within the same national culture influence prosocial behaviors. PLOS ONE, 16(5), e0250125.

Gelfand, M. J., Raver, J. L., Nishii, L., Leslie, L. M., Lun, J., Lim, B. C., ... Yamaguchi, S. (2011). Differences between tight and loose cultures: A 33-nation study. Science, 332(6033), 1100–1104.

Gong, X., Ye, Z., Liu, B., Yu, S., & Yan, Y. (2021). How does social currency influence prosocial behavior? The role of collective self-esteem and communication network heterogeneity. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 672505.

Harrington, J. R., & Gelfand, M. J. (2014). Tightness–looseness across the 50 united states. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS, 111(22), 7990–7995.

Hasan‐Aslih, S., Shuman, E., Pliskin, R., van Zomeren, M., Saguy, T., & Halperin, E. (2020). With or without you: The paradoxical role of identification in predicting joint and ingroup collective action in intergroup conflict. European Journal of Social Psychology, 50(6), 1334–1343.

He, L., Tan, C.-S., Pung, P.-W., Hu, J., Tang, H.-B., & Cheng, S.-M. (2023). The role of parental rejection and poverty in the development of prosocial behavior among left-behind adolescents in rural China. Children and Youth Services Review, 155,

Heine, S. J., Proulx, T., & Vohs, K. D. (2006). The meaning maintenance model: On the coherence of social motivations. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 10(2), 88–110.

Herberz, M., Brosch, T., & Hahnel, U. J. J. (2023). The impact of perceived partisanship on climate policy support: A conceptual replication and extension of the temporal framing effect. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 86, 101972.

Hu, S., Boman, C. D., & Warner, B. R. (2023). Waiting for a match: Mitigating reactance in prosocial health behavior using psychological distance. Health Communication, 38(4), 753–764.

Ionescu, O., Tavani, J. L., & Collange, J. (2024). A preliminary experimental test of the crossed influences between the valence of collective memory and collective future thinking. Memory, 32(2), 129–142

Ji, L. J., Nisbett, R. E., & Su. Y. (2001). Culture, change and prediction. Psychological Science, 12(6), 450–456.

Juhl, J., & Biskas, M. (2023). Nostalgia: An impactful social emotion. Current Opinion in Psychology, 49, 101545.

Juhl, J., Wildschut, T., Sedikides, C., Diebel, T., Cheung, W., & Vingerhoets, A. J. J. M. (2020). Nostalgia proneness and empathy: Generality, underlying mechanism, and implications for prosocial behavior. Journal of Personality, 88(3), 485–500.

King, L. A., & Hicks, J. A. (2021). The science of meaning in life. Annual Review of Psychology, 72(1), 561–584.

Liebe, U., Schwitter, N., & Tutić, A. (2022). Individuals of high socioeconomic status are altruistic in sharing money but egoistic in sharing time. Scientific Reports, 12(1), 10831.

Lu, T., Liang, D., Hong, M., & Sun, J. (2022). Regret now, compensate it later: The benefits of experienced regret on future altruism. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 840809.

Maoulida, H., Tavani, J. L., & Urdapilleta, I. (2021). When past group events and identities define the present: Effect of perceived collective continuity on defensive behaviors of the French in-group. Journal of Pacific Rim Psychology, 15, 1–14.

Mello, Z. R., Barber, S. J., Vasilenko, S. A., Chandler, J., & Howell, R. (2022). Thinking about the past, present, and future: Time perspective and self-esteem in adolescents, young adults, middle-aged adults, and older adults. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 40(1), 92–111.

Mello, Z. R., Finan, L. J., & Worrell, F. C. (2013). Introducing an instrument to assess time orientation and time relation in adolescents. Journal of Adolescence, 36(3), 551–563.

Michaelian, K., & Sutton, J. (2019). Collective mental time travel: Remembering the past and imagining the future together. Synthese, 196(12), 4933–4960.

Mizokawa, A., & Komiya, A. (2014). Social ecology and theory of mind. Psychologia, 57(2), 133–151.

Mróz, J., & Lasota, A. (2024). The relationship between meaning in life, forgiveness, and gratitude among Polish adults: The mediating role of time perspective. Journal of Beliefs & Values, 1–25.

Nadler, A., & Halabi, S. (2006). Intergroup helping as status relations: Effects of status stability, identification, and type of help on receptivity to high-status group's help. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91(1), 97–110.

Nestik, T. A., Dmitrieva, U. A., Kuznetsova, O. E., Larina, G. N., & Nikolaev, E. L. (2019). The responsibility of the individual to the previous and future generations: A theoretical and empirical study. Voprosy Psikhologii, (3), 29–33.

Nowakowska, I. (2023). Age, frequency of volunteering, and Present-Hedonistic time perspective predict donating items to people in need, but not money to combat COVID-19 during lock-down. Current Psychology, 42(20), 17329–17339.

Nowakowska, I., Rajchert, J., & Jasielska, D. (2024). Prosocial sharing with organizations after the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal test of the role of motives for helping and time perspectives. PLOS ONE, 19(9), e0310511.

Oguni, R., & Ishii, C. (2024). Gratitude promotes prosocial behavior even in uncertain situation. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 14379.

Olsson, M. I. T., Froehlich, L., Dorrough, A. R., & Martiny, S. E. (2021). The hers and his of prosociality across 10 countries. British Journal of Social Psychology, 60(4), 1330–1349.

Ozdes, A. (2021). How did I do it then? How will I do it later? A theoretical review of the impact of mental time travel on decision-making processes. New Ideas in Psychology, 62, 100869.

Pandey, M., Dwivedi, K., & Behera, N. (2025). Self-esteem mediates the effect of yoga-induced mindfulness on adolescents’ emotional and behavioral problems and pro-social behavior. Youth & Society, 1–27.

Peetz, J., & Wohl, M. J. A. (2019). Perceiving time through group-based glasses: Collective temporal orientation. British Journal of Social Psychology, 58(3), 609–629.

Przepiorka, A., & Sobol-Kwapinska, M. (2021). People with positive time perspective are more grateful and happier: Gratitude mediates the relationship between time perspective and life satisfaction. Journal of Happiness Studies, 22(1), 113–126.

Rambaud, S., Collange, J., Tavani, J. L., & Zenasni, F. (2021). Positive intergroup interdependence, prejudice, outgroup stereotype and helping behaviors: The role of group-based gratitude. International Review of Social Psychology, 34(1), 10.

Reyna, C., Harris, K., Bellovary, A., Armenta, A., & Zarate, M. (2022). The good ol’ days: White identity, racial nostalgia, and the perpetuation of racial extremism. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 25(3), 81–103.

Sedikides, C., & Wildschut, T. (2022). Nostalgia across cultures. Journal of Pacific Rim Psychology, 16, 1–16.

Sedikides, C., Hong, E. K., & Wildschut, T. (2023). Self-continuity. Annual Review of Psychology, 74, 333–361.

Shipp, A. J., Edwards, J. R., & Lambert, L. S. (2009). Conceptualization and measurement of temporal focus: The subjective experience of the past, present, and future. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 110(1), 1–22.

Shrum, T. R. (2021). The salience of future impacts and the willingness to pay for climate change mitigation: An experiment in intergenerational framing. Climatic Change, 165(1–2), 1–18.

Sierksma, J. (2018). Costs of helping only influence children’s intention to help ethnic out-group peers. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 173, 85–99.

Simić, A., Sacchi, S., & Perugini, M. (2025). Our ways will not change: Future collective continuity increases present prosocial considerations. British Journal of Social Psychology, 64(1), e12847.

Smith, P. B. (2017). Cultural Values Versus Cultural Norms as Predictors of Differences in Helping Behaviors and in Emotion Regulation: A Preliminary Nation-Level Test Related to the Leung-Morris Model. Management and Organization Review, 13(4), 739–766.

Stanley, S. K., Klas, A., Clarke, E. J. R., & Walker, I. (2021). The effects of a temporal framing manipulation on environmentalism: A replication and extension. PLOS ONE, 16(2), e0246058.

Stephan, E., & Sedikides, C. (2024). Mental time travel as self-affirmation. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 28(2),

Sung, H., & Lee, H. (2021). The effect of flight attendants’ self-leadership on pro-social service behavior: The mediating effect of self-esteem and the moderating effect of coaching. International Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Research, 35(11),

Suss, J. H. (2023). Higher income individuals are more generous when local economic inequality is high. PLOS ONE, 18(6), e0286273.

Taylor, A., & Carlson, J. (2025). Comparing who we are to who we could be: How future self-images influence consumer choices. Psychology & Marketing. 1–17.

Tejada-Gallardo, C., Blasco-Belled, A., & Alsinet, C. (2021). Feeling positive towards time: How time attitude profiles are related to mental health in adolescents. Journal of Adolescence, 89(1), 84–94.

Trope, Y., & Liberman, N. (2010). Construal-level theory of psychological distance. Psychological Review, 117(2), 440–463.

Turner, R. N., & Stathi, S. (2023). Nostalgic intergroup contact and intergroup relations: Theoretical, empirical, and applied dimensions. Current Opinion in Psychology, 51, 101585.

Vazeou-Nieuwenhuis, A. (2018). Connecting the dots from a distance: Does mentally traveling through space and time increase searching for life’s meaning? The Journal of Positive Psychology, 13(2), 165–173.

Vlasceanu, M., Doell, K. C., Bak-Coleman, J. B., Todorova, B., Berkebile-Weinberg, M. M., Grayson, S. J., Patel, Y., Goldwert, D., Pei, Y., Chakroff, A., Pronizius, E., van den Broek, K. L., Vlasceanu, D., Constantino, S., Morais, M. J., Schumann, P., Rathje, S., Fang, K., Aglioti, S. M., … Van Bavel, J. J. (2024). Addressing climate change with behavioral science: A global intervention tournament in 63 countries. Science Advances, 10(6), 5778.

Wang, Y., Tian, H., Sarigöllü, E., & Xu, W. (2020). Nostalgia prompts sustainable product disposal. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 19(6), 570–580.

Wang, Y., Yang, C., Zhang, Y., & Hu, X. (2021). Socioeconomic status and prosocial behavior: The mediating roles of community identity and perceived control. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(19),

Waytz, A., Iyer, R., Young, L., Haidt, J., & Graham, J. (2019). Ideological differences in the expanse of the moral circle. Nature Communications, 10(1), 4389.

Wolff, F., & Möller, J. (2022). An individual participant data meta-analysis of the joint effects of social, dimensional, and temporal comparisons on students’ academic self-concepts. Educational Psychology Review, 34(4), 2569–2608.

Worrell, F. C., Mello, Z. R., & Buhl, M. (2013). Introducing English and German versions of the Adolescent Time Attitude Scale. Assessment, 20(4), 496–510.

Wright, S. C., & Richard, N. T. (2010). Cross-group helping: Perspectives on why and why not. In S. Stürmer & M. Snyder (Eds.), The psychology of prosocial behavior: Group processes, intergroup relations, and helping (pp. 311–335). Blackwell.

Xiao, S. X., Korous, K. M., Hewitt, S. L., & Nguyen, D. (2023). Family economic pressure and early adolescents’ prosocial behavior: The importance of considering the types of prosocial behavior. Journal of Adolescence, 95(6), 1220–1231.

Yang, Y., Kong, X., Guo, Z., & Kou, Y. (2021). Can self-compassion promote gratitude and prosocial behavior in adolescents? A 3-year longitudinal study from China. Mindfulness, 12(6), 1377–1386.

Yuan, M., Yin, Y., Liu, J., & Sang, B. (2024). Adolescent mental time travel predicting meaning in life: The potential mediating role of self-continuity. Journal of Adolescence (London, England.), 97(3), 675–686.

Zeng, X., Kralj, A., Nimri, R., & Li, Y. (2024). Past reflection and future selection: A study of green hotel choices. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 122, 103880.

Zhou, Z., Wang, Y., Zheng, Y., & Liu, S. (2023). Effects of brand community social responsibility: Roles of collective self-esteem and altruism. Journal of Brand Management, 30(4), 347–366.

Zhu, J., Hu, S., Wang, J., & Zheng, X. (2020). Future orientation promotes climate concern and mitigation. Journal of Cleaner Production, 262, 121212.

Zhu, N., Li, C., Ye, Y., Zhang, L., & Kong, F. (2024). Longitudinal effect of gratitude on prosocial behavior among young adults: Evidence from the bi-factor model of gratitude. Journal of Happiness Studies, 25(1–2), 3.

Zlomuzica, A., Woud, M. L., Machulska, A., Kleimt, K., Dietrich, L., Wolf, O. T., Assion, H.-J., Huston, J. P., De Souza Silva, M. A., Dere, E., & Margraf, J. (2018). Deficits in episodic memory and mental time travel in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder. Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, 83, 42–54.