Change of Mind Through Priming: An Empirical Study of How Future-Oriented Decision-Making is Influenced by Planning

People often make decisions based on both immediate needs and possible future consequences. This study investigates whether future-oriented priming can influence decision-making. Thinking about future consequences is essential because many everyday decisions can affect a person's future. Six participants aged 27–29 took part in the study. They completed 18 everyday decision-making situations before and after the intervention, encouraging the participants to think about their future selves and long-term consequences. Five participants were more future focused after the intervention. One participant showed a slight decrease. The amount of change differed among participants and decision-making domains. Some participants changed more in long term planning, emotion, spending, sleep or attention. These results suggest that priming for the future may influence decision-making. It may increase the salience of future consequences in decision making. However, the scenarios may not fully reflect real-life decisions either. Future research could use more participants and more realistic everyday scenarios. In general, the results support the idea that future-oriented priming can influence future-oriented decision making.