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The role of feasibility and desirability considerations in near and distant future decisions: A test of temporal construal theory
- In
, 1998
"... Temporal construal theory states that distant future situations are construed on a higher level (i.e., using more abstract and central features) than near future situations. Accordingly, the theory suggests that the value associated with the high-level construal is enhanced over delay and that the v ..."
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Cited by 222 (35 self)
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Temporal construal theory states that distant future situations are construed on a higher level (i.e., using more abstract and central features) than near future situations. Accordingly, the theory suggests that the value associated with the high-level construal is enhanced over delay and that the value associated with the low-level construal is discounted over delay. In goal-directed activities, desirability of the activity's end state represents a high-level construal, whereas the feasibility of attaining this end state represents a low-level construal. Study 1 found that distant future activities were construed on a higher level than near future activities. Studies 2 and 3 showed that decisions regarding distant future activities, compared with decisions regarding near future activities, were more influenced by the desirability of the end state and less influenced by the feasibility of attaining the end state. Study 4 presented students with a real-life choice of academic assignments varying in difficulty (feasibility) and interest (desirability). In choosing a distant future assignment, students placed relatively more weight on the assignment's interest, whereas in choosing a near future assignment, they placed relatively more weight on difficulty. Study 5 found that distant future plans, compared with near future plans, were related to desirability of activities rather than to time constraints. In everyday life, people judge and make decisions about
Belief and feeling: Evidence for an accessibility model of emotional self-report
- Psychological Bulletin
, 2002
"... This review organizes a variety of phenomena related to emotional self-report. In doing so, the authors offer an accessibility model that specifies the types of factors that contribute to emotional self-reports under different reporting conditions. One important distinction is between emotion, which ..."
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Cited by 185 (9 self)
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This review organizes a variety of phenomena related to emotional self-report. In doing so, the authors offer an accessibility model that specifies the types of factors that contribute to emotional self-reports under different reporting conditions. One important distinction is between emotion, which is episodic, experiential, and contextual, and beliefs about emotion, which are semantic, conceptual, and decontex-tualized. This distinction is important in understanding the discrepancies that often occur when people are asked to report on feelings they are currently experiencing versus those that they are not currently experiencing. The accessibility model provides an organizing framework for understanding self-reports of emotion and suggests some new directions for research. Emotions are momentary experiences that are intimately tied to the ebb and flow of everyday life, but people also possess gener-representations, whereas emotions are episodic occurrences, emo-tional experience and beliefs about emotion often diverge. This less-than-perfect correspondence has important consequences for understanding emotional self-report. In this article, we explore the
Construal-Level Theory of Psychological Distance
, 2010
"... 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 ..."
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Cited by 158 (6 self)
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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.
Goals as Excuses or Guides: The Liberating Effect of Perceived Goal Progress on
- Choice,” Journal of Consumer Research,
, 2005
"... Consumer choices are often driven by multiple goals (e.g., career and family), each of which if viewed in isolation may appear to suggest conflicting choices. This article examines the effect of initial goal pursuit on consumers' interest in pursuing unrelated or even conflicting goals. Four s ..."
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Cited by 121 (24 self)
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Consumer choices are often driven by multiple goals (e.g., career and family), each of which if viewed in isolation may appear to suggest conflicting choices. This article examines the effect of initial goal pursuit on consumers' interest in pursuing unrelated or even conflicting goals. Four studies were conducted to test whether perceived goal progress hinders the pursuit of the focal goal. These studies demonstrate that in the course of self-regulation progress along one goal liberates people to pursue inconsistent goals. Furthermore, merely planning to make goal progress in the future may facilitate incongruent choice of immediate action.
Self-regulation of goal setting: Turning free fantasies about the future into binding goals
- Journal of Psychology and Social Psychology
, 2001
"... Fantasy realization theory states that when people contrast their fantasies about a desired future with reflections on present reality, a necessity to act is induced that leads to the activation and use of relevant expectations. Strong goal commitment arises in light of favorable expectations, and w ..."
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Cited by 103 (39 self)
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Fantasy realization theory states that when people contrast their fantasies about a desired future with reflections on present reality, a necessity to act is induced that leads to the activation and use of relevant expectations. Strong goal commitment arises in light of favorable expectations, and weak goal commitment arises in light of unfavorable expectations. To the contrary, when people only fantasize about a desired future or only reflect on present reality, expectancy-independent moderate goal commitment emerges. Four experiments pertaining to various life domains supported these hypotheses. Strength of goal commitment was assessed in cognitive (e.g., making plans), affective (e.g., felt attachment), and behavioral terms (e.g., effort expenditure, quality of performance). Implications for theories on goal setting and goal striving are discussed.
Abandoning unrealistic optimism: Performance estimates and the temporal proximity of self-relevant feedback
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
, 1996
"... Although evidence for unrealistic optimism is considerable, there is reason to believe that individuals will abandon their optimism and may even become pessimistic in anticipation of self-relevant feed-back. The authors propose and provide preliminary test of a model of the temporal transition from ..."
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Cited by 74 (1 self)
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Although evidence for unrealistic optimism is considerable, there is reason to believe that individuals will abandon their optimism and may even become pessimistic in anticipation of self-relevant feed-back. The authors propose and provide preliminary test of a model of the temporal transition from optimism to accuracy to pessimism in outcome predictions. In Study 1, college sophomores, juniors, and seniors estimated their likely salary at their first full-time job after graduation. Only seniors became less optimistic as graduation approached. In Study 2, students estimated their exam score a month before the exam, then again several times after completing the exam yet prior to receiving feedback. As the proximity of feedback neared, students abandoned their optimistic forecast in favor of a pessimistic forecast. Study 3 showed that, in anticipation of self-relevant feedback, participants with low self-esteem lowered their performance estimates more readily than did those with high self-esteem. People are constantly requested to make predictions about future events. Coaches, players, and fans alike are queried for their predictions regarding the outcome and likely score of sporting events. Physicians and other health specialists rou-
Time-Dependent Gambling: Odds Now, Money Later
- Journal of Experimental Psychology: General
, 2002
"... Four experiments investigated temporal changes in the influence of probability and payoffs on gambling. Using urn draws, the authors found in Experiment 1 that temporal distance increased the influence of payoffs and decreased the influence of probability on preferences. The authors found in Experim ..."
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Cited by 37 (9 self)
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Four experiments investigated temporal changes in the influence of probability and payoffs on gambling. Using urn draws, the authors found in Experiment 1 that temporal distance increased the influence of payoffs and decreased the influence of probability on preferences. The authors found in Experiment 2 that in choosing among the more distant gambles, participants offered more reasons dealing with payoffs and fewer reasons dealing with probability. In Experiments 3 and 4, the authors extended the scope of these findings using a card game and a raffle. The results were interpreted in terms of a temporal construal process that highlights the desirability of outcomes in the distant future and the feasibility of attaining the outcomes in the near future. Anecdotal evidence and empirical research across the various behavioral sciences suggest that decisions regarding future events often depend on temporal distance from those events (see, e.g.,
Predicting the near and distant future
- Journal of Experimental Psychology: General
, 2006
"... Four studies investigated individuals ’ confidence in predicting near future and distant future outcomes. Study 1 found that participants were more confident in theory-based predictions of psychological experiments when these experiments were expected to take place in the more distant future. Studie ..."
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Cited by 22 (4 self)
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Four studies investigated individuals ’ confidence in predicting near future and distant future outcomes. Study 1 found that participants were more confident in theory-based predictions of psychological experiments when these experiments were expected to take place in the more distant future. Studies 2–4 examined participants ’ confidence in predicting their performance on near and distant future tests. These studies found that in predicting their more distant future performance, participants disregarded the format of the questions (e.g., multiple choice vs. open ended) and relied, instead, on their perceived general knowledge (e.g., history knowledge). Together, the present studies demonstrate that predictions of the more distant future are based on relatively abstract information. Individuals feel more confident in predicting the distant future than the near future when the predictions concern outcomes that are implied by relatively abstract information.
Bracing for loss
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
, 2000
"... People find unexpected bad news aversive and often brace themselves by predicting the worst. Three experiments examined whether the pessimism is influenced by personal need. Students who differed in financial need learned that a billing error meant that some students would receive an additional bill ..."
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Cited by 20 (1 self)
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People find unexpected bad news aversive and often brace themselves by predicting the worst. Three experiments examined whether the pessimism is influenced by personal need. Students who differed in financial need learned that a billing error meant that some students would receive an additional bill from their university. Financially needy students were consistently pessimistic in predicting their likelihood of receiving a bill, whereas non-needy students were not. In addition, the experiments reveal that (a) the pessimism occurred for potential losses but not potential gains, (b) needy students were pessimistic about their own chances but not the chances of a friend, (c) the pessimism was not attributable to needy students ' being more readily primed by the news of a possible bill or to needy students ' having more experience with billing errors, and (d) the pessimism was specific to monetary losses and did not generalize to other events. The American way of life is replete with encouragement to be optimistic. Many parents raise their children to see the glass as half full and to recognize that every cloud has a silver lining. Maga-zines and television offer feature stories illustrating how determi-nation can turn poverty into riches. Everywhere from "Pollyanna"
