Intertemporal choice is a decision made in the dimension of time, which means that individuals
make choices and judgments by weighing the costs and benefits of options at different time points.
Previous studies have shown that people generally have a preference for recent gains, showing a “myopic”
cognitive mode. Many studies have investigated the influencing factors of intertemporal choice from the
aspects of environment and decision makers, focusing on the shaping of individual intertemporal choice
by established factors in the past. One of the current trends in psychological research is to emphasize the
expectation of the future. The “future perspective” focusing on intertemporal decision-making can reflect
an important change in the orientation of psychological research to a certain extent. Future research can
continue to explore the influencing factors of intertemporal choice from the “future perspective” and
comprehensively use eye-movement technology and other emerging technologies to track the cognitive
process of individual intertemporal choice to explain the mechanism behind intertemporal decision
making, which will help strengthen people’s understanding of intertemporal choice. At the same time, it
can be applied to practice to help individuals cultivate the decision-making mode of “farsightedness” to
seek better development.