Preschoolers' Future-Oriented Cognition: Developing the Ability to Save

考虑一个人未来需求和愿望的能力（即，面向未来的思维）是一项重要的认知技能：没有提前思考往往会产生负面后果。研究人员调查了许多面向未来的认知的发展，包括从当前消费中预留有限资源以供未来消费的能力（储蓄；Metcalf & Atance, 2011），在未来执行预期行动的能力（前瞻性记忆；Mahy等人，2016），以及在解决问题时考虑未来步骤的能力（计划；Atance & Meltzoff, 2006）。我们看到了这些技能在整个生命周期中的价值，从童年开始，因为人们经常经历不考虑未来的自己导致失望或痛苦的情况（例如，没有为第二天留下一些巧克力，没有节省足够的时间来完成任务）。在以后的生活中，没有提前考虑的影响往往更大，比如当没有为退休储蓄足够的资金时。我们从最近的报道中得知，许多加拿大人没有充分考虑他们未来的自己。例如，加拿大的成年人储蓄率正在下降（Pasquali & Aridas, 2013），在50岁及以上的加拿大成年人中，近一半的人报告说，他们的储蓄不到退休所需的四分之一（Chevreau, 2016）。我们从Ashby等人（2011）那里了解到，青春期的储蓄可以预测成年期的储蓄，因此我们越了解并支持早期储蓄能力，加拿大儿童在成为青少年和成年后的准备就越充分。研究人员直到最近才将注意力转向开发衡量幼儿储蓄能力的指标。因此，我们对这项重要技能的早期发展知之甚少。我的长期目标是在面向未来的思维的大背景下，建立一种儿童储蓄能力的模式。在开发这个模型的过程中，我的短期目标是：(1)扩大我们对幼儿新兴的储蓄能力的认识，并确定有助于其发展的认知技能；(2)研究提高幼儿储蓄能力的方法；(3)确定幼儿储蓄与其他面向未来的技能（特别是前瞻性记忆和计划）发展之间的相互关系。总之，所提出的实验将使我在开发儿童新兴储蓄能力模型方面取得重大进展，并将对如何最好地支持其发展产生影响。

The ability to consider one's future needs and wants (i.e., future-oriented thinking) is an important cognitive skill: failing to think ahead often has negative consequences. Researchers have investigated the development of a number of future-oriented cognitions, including the ability to set aside a limited resource from current consumption for future consumption (saving; Metcalf & Atance, 2011), to perform an intended action in the future (prospective memory; Mahy et al., 2016), and to consider future steps when problem solving (planning; Atance & Meltzoff, 2006). We see evidence for the value of these skills across the lifespan, beginning in childhood, as people regularly experience situations in which not thinking about their future selves leads to disappointment or distress (e.g., not saving some chocolate for the next day, not saving enough time to complete an assignment). Later in life, the impact of failing to think ahead is often much more significant, such as when sufficient funds are not saved for retirement.    We know from recent reports that many Canadians have not sufficiently considered their future selves. For example, adult saving rates in Canada are declining (Pasquali & Aridas, 2013), and among Canadian adults aged 50 and older, nearly half report having saved less than a quarter of what is needed to retire (Chevreau, 2016). We know from Ashby et al. (2011) that saving in adolescence is predictive of saving in adulthood, so the better we understand and can support early saving ability, the better prepared Canadian children will be as they become adolescents, and then adults.    Researchers have only very recently turned their attention to developing measures that index young children's ability to save. Thus, we know quite little about the early development of this important skill. My long-term goal is to develop a model of children's ability to save, situated within the broader context of future-oriented thinking. In developing this model, my short-term goals are to: (1) expand our knowledge of young children's emerging ability to save and determine cognitive skills which contribute to its development; (2) examine ways in which to improve young children's ability to save; and (3) determine the interrelations between the development of saving and other future oriented skills (specifically, prospective memory and planning) in young children. Together, the proposed experiments will enable me to make significant advancement in the development of a model of children's emerging savings ability, and will have implications for how to best support its development.