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HOW TIME FLIES:
Abstract
We formulate a comprehensive theory that accounts for variation in the perception of time. According to our theory, lived time is perceived to pass slowly (protracted duration) when conscious information processing is high; lived time is perceived to be synchronized with clock time (synchronicity) when conscious information processing is moderate; and lived time is perceived to have passed quickly (temporal compression) when conscious information processing is low. We examine that portion of the theory concerning temporal compression in light of empirical materials. Since episodic memory erodes as time passes, we hypothesize that this generates the experience of temporal compression by lowering the density of conscious information processing. Our data were drawn from three different age cohorts, and we find strong support for the hypothesis.
Sociologists have spent a great deal of time considering the cultural import of time schedules, the periodicity of interactions, life-course and age-related trajectories, the use of public and private spaces, and the traversal of space enabled by transportation technology and electronic media. What they have not done, however, is consider spatiotemporal perception, per se, and how this perception is influenced by social structure. Doing so is important because spatiotemporal perception implicates important aspects of behavior, such as impulse control. In this paper, I describe the neurophysiology of spatiotemporal perception, link it to behavioral regulation/impulse control, and derive 12 propositions admitting of 52 testable hypotheses which might plausibly extend or modify some of our most important sociological theories.
Despite early calls to pay attention to the role of emotions in crime and criminal justice, including in prison studies, empirical research focusing on emotions in the administration of criminal justice has been sporadic. With notable exceptions, little attention has been paid to the role of boredom, meaning, and the labour processes of criminal justice personnel more broadly, and correctional officers specifically. We fill the lacuna in knowledge by examining the relationship between boredom, temporality, the labour process of correctional officers, meaning making, and officer wellness. We first offer an overview of boredom as an emotion and its contribution to meaning making. We then outline the labour process of correctional officers, reviewing literature on the structure of their carceral work environments and their experiences of boredom. We draw on 651 interviews with correctional officer recruits (n = 375) and follow-up interviews with correctional officers (n = 276) within federal prisons across Canada to understand the emotional experiences of correctional work, specifically focusing on boredom as a dominant emotion and its effect on officer wellness. Our study uses a phenomenological approach to consider how boredom plays a role in the daily lives of those providing security within prison spaces, how prison officers make sense of their work in relation to temporality and boredom, and how boredom and havoc contributes to poor officer wellness.
We induce a first-person conceptualization of entrepreneurial resilience. Our seven-year, two-study ethnography shows that entrepreneurs enact resilience as a four-step process of managing vulnerability: they richly experience episodes of adversity, self-monitor across episodes, reassess personal thresholds and reconcile challenges with coping skills. Entrepreneurs manage vulnerability by (1) modifying ( stretching and shrinking) objective time and (2) changing their subjective experience of time as working with or against the clock through temporal resourcing or temporal resisting. We extend the theory and practice of entrepreneurial resilience by elaborating the interplay of objective and subjective time in managing vulnerability in recurrent and unprecedented crises.
Despite the prolific literature on the metaphorical representations of time, research on subjective time has been relatively scarce and limited. Interestingly, the linguistic expression of subjective time manifests an asymmetric pattern, systematically favoring the use of Time-moving, rather than Ego-moving, metaphors (cf. “Time passes quickly” vs ?“We pass (our) time quickly”). The present paper focuses specifically on compressed time (i.e., time as passing quickly) and suggests that the experience of subjective time resonates with a construal that lacks agency on the part of the experiencer. This association explains why the conceptualization of compressed time lends itself to the Time-moving perspective but can also account for expressions that override metaphor. The analysis is based on poetic discourse on the assumption that creativity attests to the affordances of our mental representations. This line of research has implications for possible constraints on metaphorical conceptualization at large.
The changes in the subjective passage of time at a later age is polyetiological and polymorphism. In this regard, the aim of this study is to investigate the nature of the impact of changes in geriatric status on the subjective speed of time flow at a old age. The study involved three groups of respondents: 55— 60 years — 120 people (17 men and 103 women, of 56.6±1.8 years); 61—74 years — 120 people (13 men and 107 women, 66,7±3.9 years) and 75—90 years — 50 (11 men and 39 women of 79.4±3.5 years). Research methods were divided into diagnostic units, focused on comprehensive geriatric assessment of the health status, as well as evaluating the specificity of the subjective speed of time in daily activities, past and present, and different ages of respondents. It is shown that in contrast to the chronological, subjective assessment of the age allows to detail the range of changes in the subjective passage of time at a old age. Older people who evaluated their subjective age, there has been rapid over time. When assessing subjective age chronological age is identical to the observed uncertainty in the rating of the subjective speed of time flow. Those respondents who evaluated their subjective age over chronological age noted the slow passage of time. It is shown that the level of education, status, social resources (work and family status), changes in geriatric status (polymorbidity, cognitive functioning, symptoms of depression and subjective feelings of loneliness), a subjective age are the predictors that determine the subjective speed of time flow at a old age.
In this essay, I propose an eventful way to approach corruption as socially constructed and historically situated. First, I describe how deep (socially constructed) and long (processual, historical) perspectives on corruption have been less examined. Then, I build an approach to understanding organizational corruption as a constructed event embedded in scenario, utilizing concepts from history, cultural studies, and the interactionist tradition in sociology. To offer scholars a way to articulate this eventful conception of organizational corruption and inform how it might be approached through interpretive textual reading and narrative, I draw in an example of a highly publicized accusation of corruption by the financial services firm Goldman Sachs. In closing, I present implications for theory building and research.
In this chapter I discuss so-called retrospective timing (what Ivry & Hazeltine, 1992, neatly label as “timing without a timer”) and passage of time judgements—judgements of how fast or slowly time seems to pass in some situations, as opposed to judgements of event duration.
Variation in the passage of time is perceived against the backdrop of standard temporal units. Under certain conditions, we perceive time to be passing slowly. In other settings, our subjective temporal experience is roughly synchronized with the objective time of clocks or calendars. And given different circumstances, we perceive time to have passed quickly. Drawing from 740 narratives that depict distortion in the perceived passage of time, I formulate a theory that accounts for the full range of variation in temporal experience. This theory can be represented by an S-shaped figure. According to this theory, variation in the perceived passage of time reflects variation in the density of experience per standard temporal unit. In turn, the density of experience per standard temporal unit is conditioned by the dynamics of social interaction. In its original form, however, this theory assumes that one’s circumstances shape one’s temporal experience in deterministic fashion. Consequently, based upon interviews with 406 disparate people, I conceptualize time work (or temporal agency) as one’s efforts to control, manipulate, or customize one’s own temporal experience or that of others. I conclude with some directions for future research.
A model aimed at explaining prospective duration judgments in real life settings (as well as in the laboratory) is presented. The model is based on the assumption that situational meaning is continuously being extracted by humans' perceptual and cognitive information processing systems. Time is one of the important dimensions of situational meaning. Based on the situational meaning, a value for Temporal Relevance is set. Temporal Relevance reflects the importance of temporal aspects for enabling adaptive behavior in a specific moment in time. When Temporal Relevance is above a certain threshold a prospective duration judgment process is evoked automatically. In addition, a search for relevant temporal information is taking place and its outcomes determine the level of Temporal Uncertainty which reflects the degree of knowledge one has regarding temporal aspects of the task to be performed. The levels of Temporal Relevance and Temporal Uncertainty determine the amount of attentional resources allocated for timing by the executive system. The merit of the model is in connecting timing processes with the ongoing general information processing stream. The model rests on findings in various domains which indicate that cognitive-relevance and self-relevance are powerful determinants of resource allocation policy. The feasibility of the model is demonstrated by analyzing various temporal phenomena. Suggestions for further empirical validation of the model are presented.
Sociologists generally study macrolevel institutions and social processes with little reference to the individual. Psychologists, on the other hand, tend to study individual-level processes with little reference to society. This volume, featuring contributions from influential scholars in US social psychology, brings the link between the individual and society into focus. The chapters in the volume are distinguished by their concentration on either cognitive, affective or behavioural processes. These analyses eschew the traditional psychological approach to individual-level processes and instead offer intriguing accounts of how thought, emotion and action are embedded in social context and are central to the dynamic between self and society. Together, the 14 chapters present a synthesis of theory and research that are a major force in stimulating and influencing investigations of the link between the individual and the larger society.
This paper is a sociological analysis of the most radical attempt in modern history to challenge the Western standard temporal reference framework, namely the French Republican calendrical reform of 1793. This reform obliterated the existing system of units of time and time-reckoning and dating frameworks by introducing a new annual cycle, new months, a new weekly cycle, a new subdivision of the daily cycle, and a new chronological dating framework. The paper first analyzes the symbolic function of the Revolutionary Calendar, namely, the representation of three main themes of the French Enlightenment: secularism, naturalism and rationalism. It then brings into focus three major factors which account for its failure: totality of the obliteration of the traditional sociotemporal order, overemphasis on secularization, and advocation of nationalistic particularism at the expense of a practical and cognitive disruption of temporal coordination on a global level.