The effect of psychological distance on perceptual level of construal

Three studies examined the effect of primed psychological distance on level of perceptual construal, using Navon's paradigm of composite letters (global letters that are made of local letters). Relative to a control group, thinking of the more distant future (Study 1), about more distant spatial locations (Study 2), and about more distant social relations (Study 3) facilitated perception of global letters relative to local letters. Proximal times, spatial locations, and social relations had the opposite effect. The results are discussed within the framework of Construal Level Theory of psychological distance ( Liberman & Trope, 2008 ; Trope & Liberman, 2003 ).     

When values matter: Expressing values in behavioral intentions for the near vs. distant future

It was predicted that because of their abstract nature, values will have greater impact on how individuals plan their distant future than their near future. Experiments 1 and 2 found that values better predict behavioral intentions for distant future situations than near future situations. Experiment 3 found that whereas high-level values predict behavioral intentions for more distant future situations, low-level feasibility considerations predict behavioral intentions for more proximate situation. Finally, Experiment 4 found that the temporal changes in the relationship between values and behavioral intentions depended on how the behavior was construed. Higher correspondence is found when behaviors are construed on a higher level and when behavior is planned for the more distant future than when the same behavior is construed on a lower level or is planned for the more proximal future. The implications of these findings for self-consistency and value conflicts are discussed.     

Age-related differences in word-retrieval but not in meaning generation

This study examines age-associated changes in retrieval on a picture-naming task, phonemic and semantic fluency tasks, and the Homophone Meaning Generation Test (HMGT). The sample included 152 Hebrew-speaking adults, half young (mean age 22.75) and half old (mean age 76.05). Groups differed on the picture-naming task and on both verbal fluency tasks, but not on the HMGT. Age explained a greater share of the variance than did education level on these three tests, whereas the opposite pattern of results was seen on the HMGT. We suggest that age-related word finding difficulties are attenuated when performance allows for semantic rather than phonological access.     

Social Workers' Intervention Preferences in Cases of Parental Violence Toward Intellectually Disabled Children

Children with intellectual disabilities are at risk of being abused by family members. This study sought to identify factors influencing the intervention decisions of social workers. Fifty-nine social workers employed at welfare services participated in the study. The study used a factorial survey design describing a violent interaction between a child with intellectual disability and a parent. Professional characteristics of the workers as well as personal attitudinal characteristics had no significant effect on the preference of intervention mode. However, levels of child and parental aggression presented in the vignettes did influence the preferred intervention. Child's challenging behavior plays an important and increasing role in preferences for more intrusive and authoritative interventions, even after controlling for parental aggression.     

“I May Look 75, but I’m Really a Pioneer”: Concept of Self and Resilience Among Israeli Elder Adults Living in a War Zone

This qualitative study explored concept of self and its connection to resilience among 35 elderly Israeli men and women, who live in a war zone along the border with Gaza. The participants were asked to tell their life stories and to answer questions that dealt with hardships they have faced, including the security threat that characterizes the area. Analyses of the interviews revealed 13 overall themes. The major theme discussed in this article centers on the interviewees’ self concept of being ideological pioneers, who have a strong belonging to the settlements they created in the desert. We conclude that this self-concept relates to resilience among this population, in spite of the hardships they have faced on the personal, familial, communal and social-political levels.     

Olfactory perception as a compass for olfactory neural maps

The mammalian brain commonly uses structural proximity to reflect proximity in stimulus and perceptual space. Objects or object features that are near each other in physical structure or perception are also near each other in the brain. This generates sensory maps. The topography of olfactory connectivity implies a rudimentary map in the olfactory epithelium, a more intricate map in the olfactory bulb, but no ordered topography is evident in piriform cortex. Currently, we are largely unable to link the ordered topography in epithelium and bulb to meaningful olfactory axes within a strong predictive framework. We argue that the path to uncovering such a predictive framework depends on systematically characterizing olfactory perception, and we describe initial efforts in this direction.     

Inferences from decision difficulty

We propose that people infer the relative attractiveness of the choice alternatives from decision difficulty. A difficult decision signifies that the alternatives are close to each other in attractiveness, and an easy decision signifies that the alternatives are remote from each other in attractiveness. In Study 1, observers used reported decision difficulty to infer preferences of the decision maker. Studies 2-4 showed that inferences about the source of one’s own decision difficulty may affect a decision maker’s preferences. Study 4 integrates the notion of inferences from decision difficulty with dissonance theory, showing that in repeatable decisions difficulty reduces post-decisional spreading of alternatives, as predicted by our model, whereas with one-time decisions, difficulty enhances post-decisional spreading of alternatives, as predicted by dissonance theory.     

The effect of temporal distance on level of mental construal

Four studies examined the prediction of construal level theory that the more distant future events would be construed in higher-level, more abstract, and simple terms. Objects were categorized into broader categories when they pertained to distant future situations than to near future situations (Study 1). Positive and negative experiences in the more distant future were expected to be more prototypical—less variable and more extreme (Study 2). More distant future coping experiences were expected to be less variable (Study 3). Preferences for events and activities that were expected in the distant future were organized around simpler structures than preferences for the same events when they were expected in the near future (Study 4). These results support the principle of temporal construal, according to which the more distant future is represented in a more schematic, abstract, and coherent way.     

Scaffolding dynamically toward change: Previous and new perspectives

This article follows the evolving meaning of scaffolding from the original definition denoting high asymmetry of knowledge and low mutuality of responsibility to various other values on these two dimensions. Parallel trajectories in the development of scientific theories or concepts and the power of scaffolding as a metaphor are suggested explanations for this evolution. Scaffolding is defined for an ensemble as a unit that includes the social and physical context of the activity and any number of interacting participants. Scaffolding within an ensemble can be analyzed by interrelating variability in the scaffoldees’ activity to simultaneous variability in the scaffolders’ activity across time, both tracing an observable “Zone of Current Development”. The interrelations between the scaffolders’ and scaffoldees’ zones distinguish successful from inefficient scaffolding. The suggested definition and analytic framework can be applied to vast variations in scaffolding, including borderline cases that nonetheless shed light on the nature and variability of scaffolding.     

The pros and cons of temporally near and distant action

The present research demonstrated that in considering an action, considerations against (con) the action tend to be subordinate to considerations in favor of (pro) the action in that cons are considered only if the level of pros is sufficient, whereas pros are considered independent of the level of cons (Studies 1A and IB). The authors therefore concluded that pros constitute a higher construal level than cons and predict, on the basis of temporal construal processes (Y. Trope & N. Liberman. 2003). that pros would be more salient in making decisions for the more distant future, whereas the reverse should hold for cons. As predicted, participants generated more pros and fewer cons toward new exam procedures (Study 2), public policies (Study 3), and personal and interpersonal behaviors (Studies 4-6) that were expected to take place in the more distant future. This research also examined the limiting conditions and the evaluative consequences of these shifts.