time passing

Last year, two researchers from the Paris School of Economics, writing in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, promoted a new theory about how we perceive time. “Instead of considering an ‘internal timer’ that gives rise to differences in time perception,” they wrote, “we adopt the idea that individuals ‘experience’ time.” A big part of that experience is emotions, and the researchers theorize that the more positive an anticipated emotion, the slower that time will pass. If a person is waiting for something pleasant to occur, say, opening presents on Christmas morning or entering a warm Metro station after a long, chilly walk, she will experience positive emotions like joy that will improve the situation. Time will seem to expand, and she will experience impatience. But if a person is awaiting a negative experience, like a trip to the dentist or having to make that chilly walk, she will experience experience negative emotions such as grief or frustration. Time will seem to pass more quickly, but she will undergo anxiety. “Time is not absolute,” the researchers write, “but can rather have a certain ‘elasticity’ or the person, which will depend on the kind of emotions she experiences.”