How the 'end of history' illusion shapes your life choices, David Robson

When you reflect on your life story, you can probably identify a series of transformations that made you the person you are today. You might have been shy as a child but found greater confidence in the workplace, or perhaps you were a wild child who eventually found inner peace. Many people describe this as a personal journey.

 If you now look to the future, I'm sure you can picture some important landmark events, but you may be hard-pressed to imagine further transformation in your core characteristics. It is as if your sense of self has reached its final destination, and you assume you'll keep the same traits, values and interests that you have today. "Although we recognise that we've evolved from who we once were to who we are now, we fail to see that we will continue to change in the future," notes the psychologist Hal Hershfield at the University of California, Los Angeles in his new book Your Future Self.

 This bias is known as the "end-of-history illusion" and it can have many unfortunate consequences for our personal and professional lives.

 Read more