Time Orientation and Perceptual and Cognitive Organization

Abstract

It was hypothesized that time orientation in children ( N = 44) would be related to degrees of perceptual and cognitive organization. Two measures of time orientation were used, (a) time perception (judgment of intervals) and (b) time span (future time perspective). Perceptual organization was a measure of Ss' responses to Rorschach cards representing increasing degrees of organization. Cognitive organization represented increasing degrees of organization of Ss' responses to a word association test given under non-pressure conditions. Time orientation was significantly related to cognitive organization and to a lesser degree to perceptual organization. On the measure of time perception, overestimation was associated with low organization and underestimation with high organization. On the measure of time span, projecting into the future was related to high organization. The measures of time were related to each other but no positive relationship was obtained between the measures of organization.