The Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory is the key tool used in Time Perspective Therapy. Developed by Philip Zimbardo, PhD, and his then graduate student assistant, John Boyd in 1999, the ZTPI consists of fifty-six simple statements that are a mixed blend of five time factors: future, past positive, past negative, present hedonism, and present fatalism. A separate scale was developed to measure transcendental future orientation, to keep the ZTPI to a manageable length.

ZTPI results indicate whether your time perspectives are weighed too heavily in any one or two time zones. This information gives you a good idea as to how to gain temporal balance. For instance, if past negative and present fatalism are the high scores, then boosting past positive, selected present hedonism and future time perspective orientations will help correct the imbalance.

More recently and independently, Ryan Howell, associate professor of psychology at San Francisco State University, and Nicholas Fieulaine, associate professor of social psychology at the University of Lyon, developed shortened versions of the ZTPI. These fifteen-statement ZTPI short-forms have proven successful in determining time perspectives and take a fraction of the time to compete.

Everyone can find themselves on the ZTPI.  You are encouraged to take the fifty-six statement ZTPI for free by clicking The Time Paradox. Your anonymous results will be included in Phil and John’s on-going temporal research.