Behavioral Influences in the Present Tense: On Expressive Versus Instrumental Action

Seligman and colleagues importantly ask when behavior is produced by the past or the future, but in doing so forget that it can also be guided by the present. We discuss the distinction between expressive influences (i.e., those that attach to behavioral choices in the present) and instrumental ones (i.e., those attached to potential future outcomes of those choices). We argue that expressive influences play a larger role in decision-making, particularly social decisions about trust, than economists and psychologists recognize. As such, any discussion of the influence of past and future on behavior must also include a treatment of influences that exist in the immediate here and now.