High Construal Level Reduces Overoptimistic Performance Prediction

2014 ◽  
Vol 42 (8) ◽  
pp. 1303-1313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jin Yan ◽  
Songhui Hou ◽  
Alexander Unger
Keyword(s):  
Performance Prediction ◽  
Construal Level Theory ◽  
Construal Level ◽  
Anagram Task ◽  
Task Duration ◽  
Future Events ◽  
High Level ◽  
Goal Directed Behavior

Overoptimistic performance prediction is a very common feature of people's goal-directed behavior. In this study we examined overoptimistic prediction as a function of construal level. In construal level theory an explanation is set out with regard to how people make predictions through the abstract connections between past and future events, with high-level construal bridging near and distant events. We conducted 2 experiments to confirm our hypothesis that, compared with people with local, concrete construals, people with global, abstract construals would make predictions that were less overoptimistic. In Study 1 we manipulated construal level by priming mindset, and participants (n = 81) predicted the level of their productivity in an anagram task. The results supported our hypothesis. In Study 2, in order to improve the generalizability of the conclusion, we varied the manipulation of the construal level by priming a scenario, and measured performance prediction by having the participants (n = 119) estimate task duration. The results showed that high-level construal consistently decreased overoptimistic prediction, supporting our hypothesis. The theoretical implications of our findings are discussed.

scholarly journals Is Creative Description Always Effective in Purchase Intention? The Construal Level Theory as a Moderating Effect

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fei-Si Yao ◽  
Jing-Bo Shao ◽  
He Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Purchase Intention ◽  
Online Shopping ◽  
Construal Level Theory ◽  
Construal Level ◽  
Relevant Research ◽  
Rhetorical Devices ◽  
High Level ◽  
Moderating Role ◽  
Marketing Messages

Recent years has witnessed a rapid growth in online shopping. This paper draws from the construal level theory to examine the divergent effects of the creative text descriptions of products on consumers' purchase intention in an online context. It also investigates consumers' construal level and the moderating role of construal level in this relationship. An assumption has been made that the creative description embraces more rhetorical devices with analogies. In doing so, such texts are in need of consumers who are having a more abstract, top-down, flexible mindset, which makes it more persuasive to some consumers with high-level construal. Three experiments add evidence to this study. These results suggest that the creative text descriptions are generally more persuasive than the non-creative ones in an online context, and that the persuasiveness of the creative descriptions can be accentuated (vs. attenuated) especially for high- (vs. low-) level construal individuals. The findings hold various theoretical implications for the creative marketing messages and construal level theory. First, in the current research, broadening, and integrating relevant research were possible by exploring the creative language in an online context. Also, it demonstrates that construal level—that is, consumers' internal thoughts, rather than external factors—influences their preference for a creative description style, thus helping extend the applications of the construal level theory to the field of creative marketing communications and integrate the research discoveries in metaphor communication.

Artificial Intelligence and Persuasion: A Construal-Level Account

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 363-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tae Woo Kim ◽  
Adam Duhachek
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Construal Level Theory ◽  
Construal Level ◽  
Artificial Agents ◽  
Artificial Agent ◽  
Persuasive Messages ◽  
Total N ◽  
Low Level ◽  
High Level ◽  
Do So

Although more individuals are relying on information provided by nonhuman agents, such as artificial intelligence and robots, little research has examined how persuasion attempts made by nonhuman agents might differ from persuasion attempts made by human agents. Drawing on construal-level theory, we posited that individuals would perceive artificial agents at a low level of construal because of the agents’ lack of autonomous goals and intentions, which directs individuals’ focus toward how these agents implement actions to serve humans rather than why they do so. Across multiple studies (total N = 1,668), we showed that these construal-based differences affect compliance with persuasive messages made by artificial agents. These messages are more appropriate and effective when the message represents low-level as opposed to high-level construal features. These effects were moderated by the extent to which an artificial agent could independently learn from its environment, given that learning defies people’s lay theories about artificial agents.

scholarly journals Improving temporal consistency of preferences: The influence of mental construal

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 949-965
Author(s):  
Asli Elif Aydin
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Design ◽  
Mental Representations ◽  
Construal Level Theory ◽  
Construal Level ◽  
Temporal Consistency ◽  
Electronic Products ◽  
Mental Construal ◽  
Construal Levels ◽  
High Level ◽  
Over Time

Majority of the current literature on mental construal has focused on effects of varying construal levels on preference shifts whereas this research investigates the influence of mental construal on the change of preference consistency over time. Building on construal level theory, we propose that high-level construal, which creates abstract, and decontextualized mental representations, leads individuals to more consistent preferences than low-level construal, which creates concrete, and contextualized mental representations. Furthermore we examine the effect of having a matching versus non-matching construal level at two different evaluation instances, on achieving greater extents of consistency. To test this prediction a mixed experimental design is employed, in which participants evaluated electronic products at two different sessions. It is demonstrated that when participants have the same construal level at two points in time, their evaluations become similar since they mentally construe the objects in the same way whereas when the construal level differs at these two points, participants focus on different aspects of the products, form different evaluations and have less consistent preferences.

Better Off and Far Away: Reactions to Others’ Outcomes Depends on Their Distance

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Yudkin
Keyword(s):  
Relative Deprivation ◽  
Psychological Distance ◽  
Construal Level Theory ◽  
Construal Level ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Level Information ◽  
High Level ◽  
Comparison Target

Research shows that people’s satisfaction with outcomes they receive (e.g., a prize) is influenced by their standing relative to targets of comparison. Here we asked whether the similarity of the comparison target impacts which features of outcomes people pay attention to. This is particularly important in situations in which more than one outcome feature may drive people’s sense of relative deprivation. Drawing on Construal Level Theory, which contends that people use high level construals to transcend psychological distance, we show that comparing to more dissimilar targets increases the salience of high- versus low-level features of outcomes. Experiment 1 demonstrates that people seek out high-level information when they believe they are comparing to psychologically distant others. Experiments 2-4 show that high-level information, relative to low-level information, exerts greater weight on satisfaction when the comparison target is far versus near. Experiment 5 shows these effects can be explained by variations in construal level. Overall, this research highlights the importance of distant others in influencing people’s sense of relative deprivation.

Regulatory Scope and Its Mental and Social Supports

2020 ◽  
pp. 174569162095069
Author(s):  
Yaacov Trope ◽  
Alison Ledgerwood ◽  
Nira Liberman ◽  
Kentaro Fujita
Keyword(s):  
Adaptive Functioning ◽  
Social Supports ◽  
Construal Level Theory ◽  
Construal Level ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Empirical Results ◽  
Low Level ◽  
High Level ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Current Experience

Adaptive functioning requires the ability to both immerse oneself in the here and now as well as to move beyond current experience. We leverage and expand construal-level theory to understand how individuals and groups regulate thoughts, feelings, and behavior to address both proximal and distal ends. To connect to distant versus proximal events in a way that meaningfully informs and guides responses in the immediate here and now, people must expand versus contract their regulatory scope. We propose that humans have evolved a number of mental and social tools that enable the modulation of regulatory scope and address the epistemic, emotive, and executive demands of regulation. Critically, across these tools, it is possible to distinguish a hierarchy that varies in abstractness. Whereas low-level tools enable contractive scope, high-level tools enable expansion. We review empirical results that support these assertions and highlight the novel insights that a regulatory-scope framework provides for understanding diverse phenomena.

Dissecting Dispositionality: Distance Increases Stability of Attribution

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 446-453 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anita Körner ◽  
Sophie Moritz ◽  
Roland Deutsch
Keyword(s):  
Psychological Distance ◽  
Construal Level Theory ◽  
Construal Level ◽  
Future Events ◽  
Near Future

Causes of behavior are often classified as either dispositional (e.g., personality) or situational (e.g., circumstances). However, the disposition–situation dichotomy confounds locus (internal vs. external) and stability (unstable vs. stable) of attribution, rendering it unclear whether locus or stability drives changes in dispositionality. In the present research, we examine the dispositional shift—that is, psychologically distant (vs. near) events are attributed to dispositional (vs. situational) causes. Using construal level theory, we hypothesize that the dispositional shift is caused by a change in stability (but not necessarily locus) of attribution. Two experiments support this hypothesis. In Experiment 1, distant (vs. near) future events were attributed to more stable causes. In Experiment 2, actions by a socially distant person (vs. oneself) were also attributed to more stable (but also more internal) causes. Thus, important psychological manipulations, here psychological distance, can influence causal dimensions selectively, supporting the independence of stability and locus of attribution.

scholarly journals Seeing the Big Picture: A Within-Person Examination of Leader Construal Level and Vision Communication

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (7) ◽  
pp. 2666-2684 ◽  
Author(s):  
Merlijn Venus ◽  
Russell E. Johnson ◽  
Shuxia Zhang ◽  
Xiao-Hua (Frank) Wang ◽  
Klodiana Lanaj
Keyword(s):  
Effective Leadership ◽  
Sampling Design ◽  
Construal Level Theory ◽  
Visionary Leadership ◽  
Self Concept ◽  
Construal Level ◽  
Self Identity ◽  
Big Picture ◽  
High Level ◽  
Relationship Of

Despite the importance of leader vision communication to effective leadership, little is known about what prompts leaders to communicate a vision in the first place. Drawing from construal level theory, we examined the within-person relationship of leader construal level in the morning with vision communication during that workday. Leadership self-identity, or the extent to which “being a leader” is central to one’s self-concept, was specified as a cross-level moderator of the daily construal level–vision communication relationship. We tested our predictions using an experience sampling design across 15 consecutive workdays. In total, we obtained a total of 394 matched morning and afternoon surveys from 44 mid- to high-level managers. Results revealed that a high-level construal level in the morning was positively associated with vision communication during the day but only when leadership self-identity is high (vs. low). We discuss the theoretical implications of our findings, in particular with regard to the emerging field of visionary leadership as well as the emerging literature that uses construal level theory to explain leadership phenomena.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document