APA Dictionary of Psychology

an individual’s cognitive orientation toward the past, present, and future, shaping how they plan, pursue future intentions, and anticipate or experience events. It encompasses the mental framework through which people organize temporal information and prioritize goals, influencing their decision‑making, motivation, and overall well‑being. This concept is central to P. Zimbardo’s Time Perspective Theory, which identifies distinct orientations, such as past‑positive, past‑negative, present‑hedonistic, present‑fatalistic, and future‑focused, that function as cognitive biases and affect both behavior and personality.