Summary: A new study reveals that when individuals gain free time unexpectedly, their brains perceive that time as subjectively longer than expected, leading to behavioral delays and poor time management.
The research demonstrates across seven behavioral studies that an unexpected opening in a schedule triggers an expectancy-violation response. Compared to a baseline expectation of zero available minutes, any gained free time feels subjectively expanded.
This cognitive dilation causes individuals to perform tasks more slowly, select longer-duration activities, and miscalculate time capacity, frequently leaving them late for subsequent commitments or flights despite having extra time.
Key Facts
- Subjective Time Expansion: Free time that is gained unexpectedly feels cognitively longer than equal amounts of pre-planned free time due to a sharp contrast with an initial baseline expectation of having zero available time.
- Behavioral Dilation and Delay: In a live laboratory setting, students who unexpectedly gained 10 free minutes at the end of a session took 14 percent longer to exit the building than those who anticipated the free time, spending more time packing up and browsing items.
- Activity Duration Inflation: Individuals gaining unexpected time consistently chose longer tasks and activities, such as agreeing to walk 10 percent longer, selecting farther coffee shops, or opting for longer work tasks (45 minutes versus 30 minutes).
- Compounding Contrast Effect: The mental expansion effect operates independently of emotional state (relief versus disappointment) and compounds as the amount of unexpectedly gained time increases.
- Practical Countermeasure: To avoid falling into “time famine” after gaining unexpected time, researchers recommend using external reminders and alarms rather than relying on internal clock-watching.
Source: University of Toronto
Has this ever happened to you? Your last meeting ended 15 minutes early, yet with all that extra time, you still showed up late for your next meeting? Or maybe your flight was delayed by an hour, yet you still nearly missed it.
Sam Maglio and co-authors have an explanation in a new study about this psychological phenomenon — which is so strong that Maglio recently almost missed a delayed flight despite just helping write an entire paper about how that was probably going to happen.
“Just because you study how people use their time doesn’t always mean you’re good at it,” says Maglio, a professor of marketing and psychology at U of T Scarborough and the Rotman School of Management.
In a paper published in the Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, Maglio and his co-authors found that when you gain time unexpectedly, that time feels subjectively longer than regular time.
Across seven studies of both real and hypothetically gained free time, they found this mental time expansion changes how we behave: we’ll often spend longer doing the same things and choose activities that take more time.
“I see gained time as a blessing and a curse. If you feel chronically pressed for time, then gaining half an hour seems awesome. And maybe slowing down a bit is good for well-being. But when you take that not-so-pressed-for-time feeling and stretch it out too far, you can fall right back into time famine.”
The effect comes down to the reference points our brains use. Judged against an expectation of nothing, anything feels like a lot.
Maglio compares it to finding $20 in the pocket of a jacket you haven’t worn in a while. Because your expectation jumped from zero to 20, rather than staying at 20, you’ll feel like you just got $20 richer. Or, think of it like lighting a match in a pitch-black room versus lighting one in a room with all its lights on.
“Whatever free time opens up — five minutes or five hours — is going to seem bigger than it is because of that expectancy-violation snap from ‘I’ve got nothing’ to ‘I have something,’” he says.
The team found that this effect doesn’t hinge on feelings — time will feel expanded whether you’re relieved or disappointed that your plans were cancelled. They also found the effect compounds: the more unexpected time people gained, the stronger the effect became. And when participants were asked to compare ordinary free time to having no free time at all, the difference vanished; regular free time felt just as expanded as gained time.
In one study, people were asked how long they’d spend on a walk during their free time, and those who were told they got that time unexpectedly said they would walk about 10 per cent longer than those who expected the free time.
In another, participants reported they’d pick longer versions of the same activity if their time was unexpectedly gained, such as choosing a coffee shop that’s farther away, or starting a 45-minute work task instead of a 30-minute one. The effect was the same whether they spent their new time on leisure or work.
In a real-life study, students who unexpectedly gained 10 minutes at the end of a lab session took about 14 per cent longer to simply leave the building than those who knew the time would be free. They packed up more slowly and were more likely to browse a box of trinkets and snacks the researchers planted in the hallway.
“When time feels long, you kind of just luxuriate in it,” says Maglio, whose research often focuses on time and well-being, including a previous study that found actively pursuing happiness can make us unhappy, specifically because it makes us feel pressed for time.
So is gained time a gift, or a trap? Maglio says it’s both.
“It’s totally a trap you could fall into,” he says. “When we gain time, we see it differently, and the behaviour we default to might not be in our best interest. We run the risk of thinking we can do more in that time than we actually can.”
Maglio’s practical advice is to outsource the clock-watching entirely, especially when the stakes are high, like his delayed flight — enjoy the extra hour, but set an alarm.
“A bit of intentionality can go a long way.”
Key Questions Answered:
A: The phenomenon relies on reference points in cognitive processing. When a schedule changes suddenly, the brain contrasts the new free time against an expectation of zero available time. This expectancy violation creates a mental contrast that makes the newly gained minutes feel significantly larger than an equivalent amount of pre-planned free time.
A: No. The study demonstrated that the subjective expansion of time occurs regardless of whether an individual feels relieved or disappointed about the unexpected cancellation or delay. The effect is driven by cognitive contrast rather than emotional state.
A: Researchers suggest outsourcing time management to external devices rather than relying on internal time estimation. Setting a phone alarm or timer immediately upon learning of a delay or early meeting end allows a person to enjoy the extra time without overestimating how much they can accomplish before their next commitment.
Editorial Notes:
- This article was edited by a Neuroscience News editor.
- Journal paper reviewed in full.
- Additional context added by our staff.
About this psychology research news
Author: Suniya Kukaswadia
Source: University of Toronto
Contact: Suniya Kukaswadia – University of Toronto
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
“Gained Time Is Expanded: Examining the Psychological and Behavioral Consequences of Gaining Time” by Gabriela N. Tonietto, Selin A. Malkoc, Kun Wang, and Sam J. Maglio. Journal of the Association for Consumer Research
DOI:10.1086/740288
Abstract
Gained Time Is Expanded: Examining the Psychological and Behavioral Consequences of Gaining Time
A prevalent sense of time scarcity leads consumers to want more time. But what happens when they gain this much-desired resource?
Across seven studies examining both real and hypothetical temporal gains, we find that gained time feels subjectively expanded, altering how that time is consumed.
First, four studies uncover that intervals of gained time feel perceptually longer than other equivalent-length intervals of available time. This happens because consumers contrast temporal gains against an expectation of having no free time.
Next, three studies examining intended and actual behavior reveal that behavior adapts to this subjective sense of expanded time. Specifically, consumers spend more time performing activities and select longer (vs. shorter) activities during gained (vs. nongained) intervals.
