Future Orientation as a Universal Feature of Wellbeing: Leveraging Big Data for Cross-cultural Research
Future Orientation as a Universal Feature of Wellbeing: Leveraging Big Data for Cross-cultural Research
Jason Shepard1 and Tyra Turner2
ABSTRACT
Future-oriented thought has been found to be positively related to health and well-being. However, this research has primarily been conducted in WEIRD populations, leaving open the question whether this relation holds for non-WEIRD populations. We conducted three studies using big data methods to test whether the relation between future-oriented thought and well-being generalizes to non-WEIRD cultures. We found evidence that the relation between future-oriented thought and well-being was robust across cultures, including when analyzing a general trend across 64 countries (Study 1) and when examining specific cultural contrasts (Study 2 and Study 3). Taken together these three studies provide evidence that the relation between future-oriented thought and well-being is robust across cultures. This research also provides an example of how big data can be leveraged for cross-cultural research.
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