Abstract: A plenty of research has studied the relationship of time and consumer behaviors, but pay little attention on the time process of consumption experience. Timeflow is such a time process of the behavior experience when people perceive during an current activity. Correspondingly, this review is organized around three questions: (1) What is timflow; (2) What are the factors that may influence individuals’timeflow; (3)How timeflow affects people's behavior. Based on the literature, timeflow is constituted by five dimensions: the setting up of external scenario, the coordination of body skills, the initial perception of rules, the gradual integrate of target affective, and the thorough association of cultural meanings. Furthermore, there exists a relationship of coupling between five dimensions of timeflow: the setting up of external scenario is not only the foundation of target affective, but also provides effective guarantee for the association of cultural meanings; the coordination of body skills inspires and promotes the thorough association of cultural meanings for things; the initial perception of rules forms information guide for people to understand the time experience process. Accordingly, harmonious coupling relationship among five dimensions can inspire people to form a joyful time to experience the process, then have a positive timeflow and improve people’s happiness. Factors that may infuence individual timeflow are discussed from the perspective of perception and emotion. On one hand, people’s perception of time which is positive or negative determines the process of people’s experience of time. Negative emotional stimuli can accelerate people's internal clock unconsciously and change people's time perception, then forms negative timeflow. Positive and neutral emotional stimuli do not have this effect. On the other hand, emotional impact on time perception is explained by the distribution of attention: under positive emotion, people's attention mainly focus on the things that make oneself happy which makes people reduce the attention to time and underestimate duration of time, so people always form a short but happy timeflow. However, people want to finish unpleasant things under negative emotion which makes people pay more attention to time; then people always feel time is so long that forms a long and unpleasant timeflow. Timeflow also influences people's shopping experiences and happy experiences which follows the rule of double kink value function. Double kink value function of time refers that moderate blocks of time is valued in accordance with increasing marginal utility, large blocks of time is valued in accordance with diminishing marginal utility, and the value of small blocks time is indifference. The relationship between five dimensions of timeflow and the double kink value of timeflow have been reviewed in this paper. Therefore, future research could undertake empirical studies of the deep coupling relationship between five dimensions of timeflow and explore how "double kink" value function of time influences people's consumption behavior such as decision-making.

Key words: timeflow, marginal utility of time, double kink value function

摘要： “时间流”( timeflow )是指从行为体验的角度来定义时间，即个体在当前某项活动中所感知到行为体验的时间过程，塑造“时间流”的维度包括：外部场景的塑造、自身肢体动作的配合、活动规则的初步感知、目标情感的逐渐融入、文化喻义的深入联想。影响个体“时间流”的主要因素包括感知和情绪，“时间流”也会影响消费体验和幸福体验。未来应关注时间“双扭结”价值函数如何影响人们的行为决策及验证“时间流”五个维度之间的耦合关系。

关键词: 时间流, 时间边际效用, “双扭结”价值函数