Impact of episodic future thinking on Chinese adolescents’ classroom behavioural willingness

Episodic future thinking (EFT) influences adults’ behavioural willingness. However, its efficacy among adolescents in educational settings remains unclear. We investigated EFT’s impact on classroom behavioural willingness, along with the mediating roles of psychological distance and anticipatory emotion. In Experiment 1, a 2 (EFT: individual vs. collective) × 2 (consequence framing: positive vs. negative) between-subjects design revealed that EFT reduced chatting willingness, with individual and collective EFT showing equivalent efficacy. Experiment 2, using a 2 (EFT: individual vs. collective) × 2 (phase: pre-test vs. post-test) mixed design, demonstrated that EFT increased answering willingness, regardless of the individual or collective framing. In Experiment 3, a one-way between-subjects design (academic achievement vs. social reward vs. active control) identified bivalent effects: Simulating academic achievement enhanced adaptive behavioural willingness, whereas simulating social reward diminished it. Mechanistically, psychological distance acted as a suppressor, while anticipatory emotion showed no mediating effect. These findings offer insights for educators.