Future possible selves
Possible selves, a term coined by Hazel Markus and Paula Nurius, are described as how an individual thinks about his or her potential and future. An individual’s possible selves are thought to be the cognitive link between past experiences and future hopes, desires, fears, and fantasies. Possible selves derive from representations of the self in the past and they include representations of the self in the future. They are different and separable from the cur- rent or now selves, yet are intimately connected to them. Possible future selves, for example, are not just any set