Time after time: A short-term longitudinal examination of the ego- and time-moving representations

When asked to move next Wednesday’s meeting two days forward, English speakers tend to disagree on whether it will move to Friday or Monday depending on their use of ego-moving or time-moving representations of time. We examined the stability of answers over a five-month interval in a sample of 345 undergraduates (78.6% female) from New Zealand. Most participants answered Monday but there was no group consensus, confirming the ambiguity of the question. Results showed overall stability in answers, with observed over-time change due to female participants shifting their answers from Friday to Monday. Associations between time representations and time orientations were not statistically significant, but the findings suggest time-moving and ego-moving representations to be more associated with future and present orientations, respectively.