A construal level approach to understanding interpersonal processes

Construal level theory proposes that viewing events and objects from a distance (whether physical or psychological) leads individuals to construe them in more abstract, higher‐level ways. At high‐level construal, individuals focus on the overall gist or bigger picture, rather than on situationally‐dependent, concrete details. What patterns then emerge in how construal level relates to interpersonal processes? We find that an individual's construal level has implications for both (a) perceptions of others and (b) social influence. Specifically, our review suggests that high‐level (relative to low‐level) construal is related to greater holistic processing of the self and others by discussing literature linking construal level to person‐perception biases such as the fundamental attribution error and correspondence bias, as well as research on how construal level relates to stereotyping and prejudice. We further review a broad array of research examining social influence relating to self‐relevant feedback, the influence of aggregate versus anecdotal information, and the impact of abstract versus concrete language. We propose future avenues for CLT research relating to person‐perception biases, romantic relationships, stereotyping and prejudice, and the strategic use of construal level in the pursuit of specific interpersonal goals.     

Should supervisors communicate goals or visions? The moderating role of subordinates' psychological distance

There is an ongoing debate about how supervisors should communicate desired end‐states to subordinates, that is, whether they should set concrete goals (according to goal setting theory) or communicate abstract visions (according to transformational leadership theory). In this paper, we draw on construal level theory (CLT) to reconcile both views and develop a model of when supervisors communicating concrete goals versus abstract visions are seen as more effective. According to CLT, being psychologically removed from (vs. near to) an event or object makes people construe the event or object in a more abstract (vs. concrete) way, which, in turn, leads people to process abstract (vs. concrete) information more fluently and thus evaluate the sender of this information more favorably. Accordingly, supervisor effectiveness may be higher in conditions where communication and psychological distance to the supervisor converge (vision/far and goals/close) rather than diverge (vision/close and goals/far). We tested this hypothesis in two experiments, using different operationalizations of psychological distance. In these studies, we found supervisor effectiveness to be higher when vision was communicated at a far versus near distance and goals were communicated at a near versus far distance.     

心理距离对后悔的影响*

基于解释水平理论,考察了心理距离的不同维度对后悔程度的影响。本研究从心理距离的四个维度展开,时间距离采用组内设计,空间距离、社会距离和概率维度采用单因素完全随机设计,312名被试随机分配至各个维度参与实验处理,检验不同心理距离是否调节着后悔程度,其中有效数据275份。结果表明:在时间距离、空间距离、社会距离、概率和假设性条件下,均出现决策时心理距离越近,对决策事件或客体的解释水平越低,随后在获得负性结果反馈时体验到的后悔就越强烈。由此可见,决策事件的心理距离越近,后悔程度越大。     

心理距离对风险决策框架效应的影响

解释水平理论是一种解释心理距离怎样影响个体的思维决策的社会认知理论。研究基于解释水平理论,探查了心理距离对风险决策框架效应的影响。实验从心理距离的四个维度入手,每个维度均采用2（解释水平高、低）×2（正框架、负框架）的被试间设计,用于检验解释水平是否调节框架对被试决策任务的选择。结果表明,当心理距离越远,解释水平越高时,被试产生明显的框架效应;而当心理距离越近,解释水平越低时,框架效应明显减弱。除了大概率情况下的框架效应削弱至不显著,其余维度的高、低解释水平下的框架效应均显著。     

不同促销方式对产品购买决策的影响—— 基于解释水平理论视角的研究

赠品促销与价格促销对消费者购买决策的影响研究结果尚存在分歧。根据解释水平理论, 通过三个实验探究了赠品促销产品组合与价格促销产品组合在不同任务类型、不同时间距离条件下的促销效果差异。结果表明：(1)不同时间距离下, 消费者对促销产品决策存在差异。赠品促销方式在近期将来购物场景下的促销效果比在远期将来购物场景下的促销效果更好; 价格促销方式在远期将来购物场景下的促销效果比在近期将来购物场景下的促销效果更好。价格支付意愿任务下, 消费者对远期将来场景下促销产品的感知价值比近期将来购物场景下促销产品的感知价值高; 购买可行性任务下, 消费者对近期将来购物场景下促销产品的感知价值比远期将来购物场景下促销产品的感知价值高。(2)时间距离对促销方式与任务类型的表征水平匹配关系有增强、扩大作用。购买可行性任务下, 与远期将来时间相比, 消费者更倾向于在近期将来时间条件下选择赠品促销产品组合。价格支付意愿任务下, 与近期将来时间相比, 消费者更倾向于在远期将来时间条件下选择价格促销产品组合。     

Where to seat the applicant? How spatial distance influences the effect of self‐promotion on interviewer evaluations

In high‐stakes contexts such as job interviews, people seek to be evaluated favorably by others and they attempt to accomplish such favorable judgments particularly through self‐promotional behaviors. We sought to examine the persuasiveness of job candidates’ self‐promotion by examining job applicants’ subjective hireability from the perspective of construal‐level theory. Construal‐level theory states that perceptions occur from different levels of psychological distance (i.e., distal vs. proximal). This distance is created by other dimensions of distance (e.g., spatial or social distance) and affects how individuals construe incoming information. From a large distance, people more readily process abstract information, whereas from a close distance, people more readily process concrete information. Specifically, construal compatibility occurs when abstract versus concrete features of a stimulus match the psychological distance experienced by message‐recipients. Construal compatibility (vs. incompatibility) makes evaluations (e.g., of messages) more favorable. To apply this principle to self‐promotion, we created self‐promotional videos of a job interview, in which the applicant sat either far away from or close to the hiring manager (manipulating psychological distance); the applicant, then, used either direct or indirect self‐promotion (manipulating message construal level). The results showed participants reported stronger intention to hire the applicant when distance matched (vs. did not match) the type of self‐promotion the applicant used.     

识解水平对跨期选择和风险选择的影响

通过考察识解水平启动对跨期选择和风险选择的影响, 探究两类选择对时间或风险心理加工的相似性。结果发现, 无论以思维诱导为识解水平的启动条件(实验1), 还是以视觉加工为识解水平的启动条件(实验2), 受高识解水平启动的被试对延迟选项和风险选项的主观值判断都要大于受低识解水平启动的被试, 说明跨期选择中的延迟时间和风险选择中的概率具有相似的表征, 而识解水平思维定势是通过影响金额和时间(或概率)的相对权重起作用。即由于高识解水平下的金额权重高于低识解水平, 时间(或概率)权重低于低识解水平, 从而使被试在高识解水平下更愿意等待或冒险。     

心理距离与建构水平的双向作用关系

心理距离概念源于时间建构理论,以自我为中心,参照点是此时此地自己的直接经验,并沿不同维度向外扩展,形成通常所认为的时间、空间、社会距离和假设性四个维度。本文述评了心理距离与建构水平的双向作用关系及其产生原因,即远心理距离使人采用核心、去背景化特征表征事物,近心理距离使人采用外围、背景化特征表征事物;反之,高水平建构使人感知到远心理距离,低水平建构使人感知到近心理距离。未来研究应关注非自我参照点的客观距离与建构水平的关系,以及心理距离与建构水平关系的心理物理学研究等。     

Spontaneous trait inference and construal level theory: Psychological distance increases nonconscious trait thinking

Can psychological distance affect how much perceivers form spontaneous trait inferences (STI) from others’ behaviors? On the basis of construal level theory (CLT) which posits that distant (vs. near) entities are represented more in terms of their abstract, global, and decontextualized features, we predicted that perceived distance would increase the tendency for perceivers to draw spontaneous trait inferences from behavioral information about actors. In two experiments, participants learned about people who were perceived as being distant or proximal to the self, and STI formation was subsequently assessed. We found that perceivers were more likely to form STIs about distant vs. near actors from the same behavioral information. These findings generalized across two distance dimensions: space and time. In addition, we found that priming individuals to adopt a high-level (vs. low-level) construal mindset also resulted in increased STI (Experiment 3). In sum, psychological distance facilitates STI formation, and this occurs via high-level construal of actors and their behaviors.     

Construing Consumer Decision Making

Understanding how consumers represent outcomes and weigh different decision criteria is critical to consumer behavior research. Construal‐level theory articulates how psychological distance alters the mental representation of inputs and the effective weight given to “high‐level” and “low‐level” criteria. Trope, Liberman, and Wakslak (2007) provide a review of this literature. In this commentary, we illustrate the relevance of construal‐level theory to issues in consumer psychology, particularly consumer decision making. We highlight specific questions that researchers could address by considering consumer behavior within the framework of changes in construal. We focus our discussion on how construal levels affect consideration sets and how shifts in weight from high‐level to low‐level features might lead to consumer regret and dissatisfaction. Construal level can help us understand follow‐through on stated intentions for “really new” products and illuminate public‐policy issues such as consumer saving for retirement and nonredemption of rebates. We identify open issues related to how construal levels for the same object evolve over time and whether resources differ in terms of how susceptible they are to psychological distance effects.     

The effects of time perspective and level of construal on social distance

Psychological causes of social distance were examined from the perspective of Construal Level Theory (CLT; Liberman, Trope, & Stephan, 2007), which predicts that temporal distance from and abstract construal of a social target would create perception of social distance. Our studies demonstrate that expectations for temporally remote (versus proximal) social interaction produce greater social distance from a target person, measured as reduced familiarity (Study 1) and as reduced similarity to the self (Study 2). We also show that a more abstract, higher level construal of a social target results in less familiarity (Study 3) and in less allocation of resources (Study 4). The research sheds light on how social closeness can be promoted or hindered by previously unaddressed psychological factors.     

心理距离对自发特质推理的影响

采用错误再认范式,考察了心理距离是否影响个体对他人行为的自发特质推理。实验1采用2（配对类型：图片-可推测的特质词、图片-不可推测的特质词）× 2（空间距离：近、远）的混合设计,要求被试判断特质词是否在前面的行为句中出现过,以探讨自发特质推理形成情况。结果表明,与近空间距离相比,被试对远空间心理距离的行为主体产生了更多的自发特质推理。实验2采用2（配对类型：图片-可推测的特质词、图片-不可推测的特质词）× 2（时间距离：近、远）的混合设计,被试反应与实验1相同。结果发现,与近时间心理距离相比,被试对远时间心理距离的行为主体产生了更多的自发特质推理。实验结果提示远心理距离比近心理距离更利于自发特质推理,并在解释水平理论的框架内对结果进行了讨论。     

解释水平视角下的乐观偏差效应

研究基于解释水平理论,考查心理距离对乐观偏差效应的影响。实验从心理距离的事件概率维度、时间距离维度、空间距离维度入手,采用自编的材料对677名被试进行测量,探讨心理距离的远近对乐观偏差产生的影响。结果表明,被试对未来生活事件的判断存在总体上的乐观偏差。在较远的心理距离条件下,被试表现出更大的乐观偏差;而在较近的心理距离中,乐观偏差效应明显减小。但在时间距离维度以及消极事件的概率维度上,表现出与总体乐观偏差不一致的现象。     

Effects of Psychological Distance and Need for Cognitive Closure on Impression Formation

Based on theoretical and empirical similarities between Construal level theory of psychological distance and the Need for cognitive closure (NFC) theory, it could be hypothesized that psychological distance and NFC represent constructs that overlap to some degree. Since both theories describe judgmental behavior in terms of schematic processing, we hypothesized that primacy effect, a schema-driven phenomenon, is strengthened under the heightened NFC and psychological distance. We tested this hypothesis in an impression formation experiment while manipulating psychological distance and measuring NFC. Low NFC and psychological closeness reflect preference for situationally specific, contextually rich information, and therefore their joint effect resulted in reliance on all available information regardless of their position in a sequence. High NFC and psychological distance produced a preference for clear, schematic, stable knowledge, and therefore weighed first information more, which resulted in the primacy effect.     

Construal‐Level Effects on Preference Stability,Preference‐Behavior Correspondence,and the Suppression of Competing Brands

Construal level theory (Trope & Liberman, 2003) suggests that construal level––or the degree of abstractness of mental representations––increases with temporal, spatial, or sensory distance. Three experiments show that the mere presence of a set of target brands at the time a choice is made encourages consumers to represent the brands in memory in terms of concrete lower‐level construals. Consequently, preference stability is higher, preference‐behavior consistency is greater, and product category‐identification latencies for competing brands are slower. Furthermore, the mere presence of target brands at the time of choice affects preference‐behavior consistency independent of the effects of direct experience. Implications for an understanding of spontaneous preference formation, preference representation, and preference elicitation are discussed.     

Construal Level Theory and Consumer Behavior

The three commentaries on our paper “Construal Levels and Psychological Distance: Effects on Representation, Prediction, Evaluation, and Behavior” offer insightful theoretical extensions and practical applications of construal level theory (CLT). We were inspired and challenged by the commentaries to elaborate on a number of issues, although our elaboration more often raises questions and speculations than provides definite answers. Owing to space limitations, however, we could discuss only some of the issues raised in the commentaries. The first set of issues concerns our theoretical framework, namely, similarities and differences among distance dimensions, the question of additional distances, the nature of the interaction among distances, and the relationship between psychological distance and construct of stimulus information sampling. The second set of issues concerns applications of CLT to consumer choice, namely, how to make better decisions, the nature of regret, and how people construct and process choice sets.     

The origins and evolution of links between word learning and conceptual organization: new evidence from 11‐month‐olds

How do infants map words to their meaning? How do they discover that different types of words (e.g. noun, adjective) refer to different aspects of the same objects (e.g. category, property)? We have proposed that (1) infants begin with a broad expectation that novel open‐class words (both nouns and adjectives) highlight commonalities (both category‐ and property‐based) among objects, and that (2) this initial expectation is subsequently fine‐tuned through linguistic experience. We examine the first part of this proposal, asking whether 11‐month‐old infants can construe the very same set of objects (e.g. four purple animals) either as members of an object category (e.g. animals) or as embodying a salient object property (e.g. four purple things), and whether naming (with count nouns vs. adjectives) differentially influences their construals. Results support the proposal. Infants treated novel nouns and adjectives identically, mapping both types of words to both category‐ and property‐based commonalities among objects.     

Benefitting from a different perspective: The effect of a complementary matching of psychological distance and habitual perspective on emotion regulation

Psychological distance in terms of its purpose as a psychological adjustment is currently not well understood. Some researchers claim that psychological distance serves as an emotion regulator, while others argue that psychological distance has the reverse effect, leading to cognitive avoidance and rumination. To elucidate upon this discrepancy, we propose that a complementary matching of psychological distance to one's habitual psychological distance perspective may lead to better emotion regulation when compared to the original perspective (i.e. fixing on either psychological immersion or distance). This study hypothesizes that a complementary matching of psychological distance to one's habitual perspective generally leads to better emotion regulation; specifically, individuals with high avoidant attachment, who habitually distance themselves from their experiences, may benefit from psychological immersion, while individuals with high anxious attachment, who habitually immerse themselves in their experiences, may benefit from psychological distancing. A total of 83 participants completed measures of adult attachment orientations; read a conflict scenario, triggering their attachment systems; and then rewrote that scenario using designated pronouns, thereby employing psychological immersion or psychological distance. Participants in the self‐immersed condition were asked to write from the first‐person perspective, whereas those in the self‐distancing condition were asked to write from the third‐person perspective. The results support our hypothesis of a complementary matching of psychological distance and habitual perspective.     

解释水平理论的应用及发展

解释水平是指人们对于事物表征的不同抽象水平, 这一抽象水平有高有低。早期的研究侧重于探讨解释水平变化的底层心理机制, 即心理距离对于解释水平的影响。而近年来, 研究者侧重于解释水平理论的应用研究, 即探讨它在说服、谈判、消费者行为等领域的应用。这一应用体现在营销及消费者行为研究、社会认知研究、决策及协商研究、社会化研究中。另外, 解释水平理论的应用研究, 还推动了其底层心理机制研究的发展, 进一步完善了其理论体系。