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Using foresight to prioritise the present

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2017

Adam Bulley ,
Gillian Pepper  and
Thomas Suddendorf
Adam Bulley
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4067, [email protected]@psy.uq.edu.auhttps://www.psy.uq.edu.au/directory/index.html?id=2472https://www.psy.uq.edu.au/directory/index.html?id=39
Gillian Pepper
Affiliation:
Centre for Behaviour and Evolution at Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, United Kingdom. [email protected]://gillianpepper.com/
Thomas Suddendorf
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4067, [email protected]@psy.uq.edu.auhttps://www.psy.uq.edu.au/directory/index.html?id=2472https://www.psy.uq.edu.au/directory/index.html?id=39
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Abstract

Planning for the future may encourage apparently “impulsive” behaviour when the future is anticipated to be bleak. Thus, a seeming failure of self-control in reactive violence could be caused not by a disinclination to plan ahead, but by virtue of this ability. Furthermore, we point to empirical and theoretical shortcomings in the authors' case, such as a failure to distinguish proximate and ultimate explanations.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 40 , 2017 , e79
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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