Abstract
<p>How do people perceive their selves across time? To shed light on the question of how continuity and growth relate to each other, we extend the inductive reasoning model (IRM; Krueger et al., 2024-a, 2024-b) from social perception to temporal self-perception. Based on the robust empirical patterns showing that people perceive their present selves to be (a) positive and (b) more similar to their future than to their past selves, the IRM makes precise predictions about how much the positivity of the future self will exceed the positivity of the past self (i.e., subjective growth). We find support for the IRM in (re-)analyses of six datasets from Western samples (total N = 8,679). Moreover, we find evidence for additional self-enhancement in that subjective growth is greater than predicted; people enhance their future self, but do not diminish the positivity of their past self. Lastly, we discuss opportunities for future research, such as the use of individual differences in model parameters as correlates of mental health, aging, or culture.</p>