Time passes the same for everyone. But you don't experience it the same way.
Some people are trapped in the past, others live intensely in the present, and others are projected toward the future. Your temporal profile predicts everything from performance to health.
Decades of research — from Lewin and Nuttin to Zimbardo, Carstensen and Stolarski — have shown that time perspective is not a mood: it is a stable pattern of individual differences that predicts academic performance, physical health, addictions and life satisfaction. AI that doesn't know this gives you advice in the wrong time horizon.
What do the 6 dimensions measure?
The ATP (Afini Temporal Profile, Bilbao AI 2026) captures how you experience psychological time. It's not a measure of productivity or intelligence — it's your natural orientation toward past, present, and future, with nuances a clock can't measure.
Building on the Lewin–Nuttin–Zimbardo–Carstensen–Stolarski theoretical lineage, the ATP explicitly separates past, present and future into their positive and negative facets. The "ideal" profile for AI interaction isn't a universal pattern — it's your real one, so AI speaks in your temporal language.
Negative Past (PN)
Rumination, regret, pessimistic view of the past. "Things could have been different if..." AI will avoid reactivating that rumination.
Positive Past (PP)
Warm nostalgia, sentimentality, value of memories. AI can naturally appeal to traditions and continuity.
Hedonic Present (PH)
Orientation to immediate pleasure, spontaneity, "life is now." AI offers experiential options, not 5-year plans.
Fatalistic Present (PF)
Sense of lack of control, resignation. AI reinforces personal agency without confirming the resignation.
Positive Future (FP)
Planning, goals, delayed gratification with hope. AI can be demanding, results-oriented, with deadlines and metrics.
Negative Future (FN)
Anticipatory anxiety, worry, anticipation of losses. AI shortens the horizon, offers small steps and reduces catastrophizing.
Scientific foundation
The ATP integrates five decades of time-perspective research: the past-positive / past-negative split formulated by Zimbardo and Boyd (1999), the future-positive / future-negative bifurcation (Carelli, Wiberg & Wiberg, 2011), the framing of the Fatalistic Present as lack of control (Husman & Shell) and the integrative ATI index built on the optimal profile proposed by Jankowski, Zajenkowski & Stolarski (2020).
The ATP v1.0 is intellectual property of Bilbao AI S.L., with 48 core items + 2 attention checks. It is linguistically closed in Spanish; EN/FR/DE/IT/PT versions will enter production after professional TRAPD piloting (Phase B, weeks 21-24). It is NOT derived from the ZTPI: it is a new instrument that reorganises the temporal construct over six core dimensions.
Key references
Jankowski, K. S., Zajenkowski, M., & Stolarski, M. (2020). What are the optimal levels of time perspectives? Personality and Individual Differences, 159. · Carelli, M. G., Wiberg, B., & Wiberg, M. (2011). Development and construct validation of the Swedish ZTPI. EJPA, 27(4). · Sircova, A. et al. (2014). A global look at time: A 24-country study.
How does AI use it?
Time perspective determines the horizon of recommendations. It's not just about "thinking long-term" or "living in the moment" — it's about AI speaking in your temporal language.
"To improve your financial situation, you should create a monthly budget, establish a 6-month emergency fund, and consider long-term investments like index funds."
"I know you're not a 5-year plan person — and you don't need to be. How about this: this week, set up an automatic transfer of $50 to an account you don't check. Just that. The trick isn't the perfect plan — it's doing something concrete now that your future self will thank you for."
For someone with high present-orientation, the first response is a plan they'll never execute. The second is an action they can take today.
Discover your time horizon
48 items + 2 attention checks. 10 minutes. And AI will stop giving you five-year plans when what you need is an action for this afternoon.