Construal-level theory of psychological distance - PubMed (original) (raw)

Construal-level theory of psychological distance

Yaacov Trope et al. Psychol Rev. 2010 Apr.

Erratum in

Abstract

People are capable of thinking about the future, the past, remote locations, another person's perspective, and counterfactual alternatives. Without denying the uniqueness of each process, it is proposed that they constitute different forms of traversing psychological distance. Psychological distance is egocentric: Its reference point is the self in the here and now, and the different ways in which an object might be removed from that point-in time, in space, in social distance, and in hypotheticality-constitute different distance dimensions. Transcending the self in the here and now entails mental construal, and the farther removed an object is from direct experience, the higher (more abstract) the level of construal of that object. Supporting this analysis, research shows (a) that the various distances are cognitively related to each other, (b) that they similarly influence and are influenced by level of mental construal, and (c) that they similarly affect prediction, preference, and action.

PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1

Figure 1

Example of the four Spatial Location × Word Meaning combinations in Bar-Anan, Liberman, Trope, and Algom (2007). The illustration demonstrates words related to hypotheticality.

Figure 2

Figure 2

Sample items from the Street Gestalt Completion Test (Street, 1931), provided courtesy of Teachers College, Columbia University. Identifying the pictures (from top right to bottom left: a boat, a rider on a horse, a rabbit, a baby) requires visual abstraction.

Figure 3

Figure 3

Example of four Social Distance × Medium (picture vs. word) combinations in Amit, Algom, and Trope (2009). For the Israeli participants in this study, a shekel was socially proximal, and a dollar was distal.

References

    1. Ainslie G. Specious reward: A behavioral theory of impulsiveness and impulse control. Psychological Bulletin. 1975;82:463–496. -PubMed
    1. Ainslie G, Haslam N. Hyperbolic discounting. In: Loewenstein G, Elster J, editors. Choice over time. New York, NY: Russell Sage; 1992. pp. 57–92.
    1. Amit E, Algom D, Trope Y. Distance-dependent processing of pictures and words. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. 2009;138:400–415. -PubMed
    1. Amit E, Algom D, Trope Y, Liberman N. “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image”: The distance-dependence of representation. In: Markman KD, Klein WMP, Suhr JA, editors. The handbook of imagination and mental simulation. New York, NY: Psychology Press; 2008.
    1. Amit E, Trope Y, Algom D. Unpublished manuscript. New York University; 2009. Do you remember seeing it or reading about it? the distance dependence of memory for pictures and words.

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources