Abstract

Time is a social and subjective construct that establishes qualitative differences in the flow of events, that is associated with an individual’s sociodemographic and cultural background, and that affects their attitudes and behavior. The relevance of the past, present, or future as well as the particular meaning of these temporal frames varies depending on each individual’s life experiences and social status. These qualitative and differentiated meanings of time have been studied in many countries through the concept of “time perspectives.” This paper presents the findings of the first application of Zimbardo’s Time Perspective Inventory in Chile and establishes correlations between its factors and sociodemographic and cultural variables. This paper aims to present comparable data for the study of time perspectives, provide theoretical and empirical evidence to progress in the study of the multidimensional nature of time in Chile, and discuss the possibilities and challenges posed by Zimbardo’s Time Perspective Inventory as an instrument for the empirical study of time.