You'd think gaining extra time should make it easier to stay on schedule. Yet many people experience the opposite: a meeting ends 15 minutes early, yet they're still late for the next one - or a flight is delayed by an hour, but they still nearly miss it.
Research led by the University of Toronto's Sam Maglio suggests these experiences may stem from a common psychological tendency: free time gained unexpectedly feels subjectively longer than it actually is, leading people to act as though they have more of it than they do.
In a paper published in the Journal of the Association for Consumer Research , Maglio and co-authors analyzed the phenomenon across seven studies involving both real and hypothetical scenarios. They found that people with an unexpected surplus of free time were likelier to linger on activities, spend more time on routine tasks and take on more time-consuming activities.
"I see gained time as a blessing and a curse," said Maglio, a professor of marketing and psychology at U of T Scarborough who is cross-appointed to the Rotman School of Management. "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. Maglio compares it to finding $20 in an old jacket pocket - going from having nothing to suddenly having something makes the gain feel greater than it is.
"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 researchers found that this effect doesn't hinge on feelings - time will feel expanded whether you're relieved or disappointed by the change in plans.
The effect also became stronger as people gained more unexpected free time. And when participants compared having ordinary free time with having no free time at all, regular free time, too, felt similarly expanded.
This suggests the effect stems from the contrast between having no time and having some time, rather than from the unexpected schedule changes alone.
In one study, people said they would spend about 10 per cent longer on a walk during their free time if that time was gained unexpectedly. In another, participants reported they were likely to choose more time-consuming versions of the same activity, whether for work or leisure, if their time was unexpectedly gained.
The pattern also held in real-life scenarios. Students who unexpectedly gained 10 minutes at the end of a lab session took about 14 per cent longer to leave the building. 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, co-author of a previous study that found actively pursuing happiness can make us unhappy - specifically because it makes us feel pressed for time.
"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 has personal experience with this psychological phenomenon, having recently nearly missed a delayed flight despite just co-authoring a paper about the effect. "Just because you study how people use their time doesn't always mean you're good at it," he said.
His practical advice is to outsource the clock-watching entirely, especially when the stakes are high - enjoy the extra hour, but set an alarm.
"A bit of intentionality can go a long way."
