Moral Future-Thinking: Does the Moral Circle Stand the Test of Time?

The long-term collective welfare of humanity may lie in the hands of those who are presently living. But do people normatively feel concern for and include future generations in their moral circles? Five studies conducted on Prolific Academic (NTotal=1,652) find evidence for a progressive decline in the subjective moral standing of future generations, demonstrating decreasing perceived moral obligation, moral concern, and prosocial intentions towards other people with increasing temporal distance. While participants generally tend to display present-oriented moral preferences, we also reveal individual differences that mitigate this tendency and predict pro-future outcomes, including individual variation in longtermism beliefs and the vividness of one’s imagination. Our studies reconcile conflicting evidence in the extant literature on moral judgment and future-thinking, shed light on the role of temporal distance in moral circle expansion, and offer practical implications for better valuing and safeguarding the shared future of humanity.