Effects Of Psychological Distance Research Articles

EXPRESS: The Effects of Psychological Distance on the Diagnosticity of Digits to the Left versus Right of a Separator

Many numerical expressions contain a separator such as a comma (e.g., 1,234) or a decimal point (e.g., 12.34) that divides the number into left and right parts. This research examines how individuals compare such numbers as a function of psychological distance. Integrating insights from research on diagnosticity, numerical cognition, and mental construal, we hypothesize that as psychological distance increases, the perceived diagnosticity of digits to the right of a separator (hereinafter right digits) decreases faster than that of the digits to the left of a separator (hereinafter left digits), which leads individuals to assign less weight to the right digits in comparative judgment. Four studies offer triangulating support for this theorizing and the underlying mechanism. In addition, we show that this effect is attenuated or suppressed when individuals perceive that numerical ratings are more stable over time (thereby increasing the perceived diagnosticity of right digits, Study3), and when the distinction between left and right digits are made less obvious (e.g., when removing the digit separator, Study 4). This research offers additional nuance to our understanding of numerical cognition and how psychological distance influences the processing of different types of information.

Avatars in live streaming commerce: The influence of anthropomorphism on consumers' willingness to accept virtual live streamers

Although companies are investing more in avatars to improve interactivity and engage their customers better, the effectiveness of avatars in online markets needs more evidences. This study explores the influence mechanism of anthropomorphism on consumers' willingness to accept virtual live streamers, grounded in social identity theory and construal levels theory. Three research hypotheses were formulated and tested through an online scenario experiment employing a 2 (high anthropomorphism vs. low anthropomorphism) and 2 (utilitarian products vs. hedonic products) between-subjects design (N = 214). The results reveal that anthropomorphism positively influences consumers' willingness to accept virtual live streamers. This effect is mediated through the chain mediation effects of psychological distance and trust (effect = 0.181, 95% confidence interval = [0.075, 0.299]). Additionally, product type serves as a moderator in this process. Specifically, the mediation is significant for utilitarian products (effect = 0.410, 95% confidence interval = [0.203, 0.604]) but not for hedonic products (effect = 0.102, 95% confidence interval = [-0.106, 0.310]). These findings contribute to understanding the effectiveness of avatar marketing in live streaming commerce, specifically consumers' willingness to accept virtual live streamers, and enrich the literature on anthropomorphism in online marketplaces. Furthermore, they assist live streaming commerce operators in developing effective anthropomorphism strategies to enhance the utilization efficiency of virtual live streamers.

The effect of psychological distance on intertemporal choice of the reward processing: an eye-tracking investigation.

This study employed eye-tracking technology to investigate how varying dimensions of psychological distance-temporal, probability, and social-affect intertemporal choice. Across three experiments, participants were asked to select between two intertemporal options while their eye movements were monitored. Findings revealed inconsistent impacts of different psychological distances on intertemporal decision-making. Increased temporal and social distances led to a preference for larger delayed rewards (Studies 1 and 3), whereas an increase in probability distance did not significantly alter choice preferences (Study 2). The research also highlighted a general pattern in information processing; as psychological distance widened, participants showed a tendency toward dimension-specific processing in making intertemporal decisions.

How distance influences contractual governance in buyer-seller relationships

This paper investigates how psychological and geographical distance influence contractual governance in exchange relationships. Drawing on multiple data sources, we find that both psychological distance and geographical distance increases firms' contractual safeguard enforcement, while psychological distance decreases the firms' contractual coordination enforcement. Moreover, the paper discusses the effect of psychological distance and geographical distance on contractual coordination enforcement. Findings suggest that firms should consider the nuanced influences of geographical and psychological distance on contractual safeguards and coordination clauses in governing exchange relationships.

The impact of psychological distance and fintech on Chinese farmers’ willingness to make financing choices

ABSTRACT Using data from China’s 2017 national household survey, we examine the effect of psychological distance on Chinese farmers’ willingness to make financing choices. Our empirical results show that psychological distance has a statistically significant impact on farmers’ choice of finance. A close psychological distance increases farmers’ willingness to choose financial institutions by activating low-level construal representation. Fintech plays an intermediary role. The psychological distance between farmers and financial institutions affects farmers’ financing choices and is mediated by fintech. Our study offers the micro-level proof of the relationship between psychological distance and Chinese farmers’ financing preferences.

High level of self-disclosure on SNSs facilitates cooperation: A serial mediation model of psychological distance and trust

In the Internet Age, self-disclosure on social networking sites (SNSs) has become a part of people's lives. Some studies have explored how it affects the feelings and attitudes of information recipients, but little research have further explored whether such feelings and attitudes lead to changes in interactive behavior, thus failing to reveal the complete interpersonal effects of this behavior. This study explores whether and how it affects a major interpersonal behavior - cooperation and its underlying psychological mechanisms through two experiments. Experiment 1 manipulated the level of self-disclosure and recorded data on the psychological distance, trust, and cooperative behavior of recipients. The results showed that when recipients received high levels of self-disclosure information, they cooperated more with disclosers than when they received low levels of self-disclosure information. This effect was generated through a series of mediating effects of psychological distance and trust. In Experiment 2, image information was attached or not attached to high and low levels of self-disclosure to test whether it moderated the effect of self-disclosure on cooperation. It was found that this information increased cooperation with individuals with high levels of self-disclosure, but did not affect cooperation with individuals with low levels of self-disclosure.

The Effect of Psychological Distance on the Experience of Joy Versus Pride

Despite the importance of positive emotions, little empirical attention has been given to factors that influence their intensity. We explored the influence of psychological distance on the experience of joy and pride. We suggest that pride involves a relatively more distant perspective than joy, and therefore, a psychologically distant perspective will lead to a less intense experience of joy than of pride. In Experiments 1a and 1b, using the Implicit Association Test, we found joy was associated with psychological proximity, whereas pride was associated with psychological distance. We then manipulated psychological distance through black-and-white versus color imagery (Experiment 2), and a third-versus first-person perspective (Experiment 3). We found that psychological distance consistently decreased the intensity of joy, whereas for pride, we found a smaller effect (Experiment 2) or no effect at all (Experiment 3). These findings suggest that psychological distance plays a different role in the regulation of joy and pride.

What psychological factors lead to the abandonment of cultivated land by coastal farmers? An interpretation based on the psychological distance

For a long time, the research on the cultivated land abandonment behavior of farmers, caused by natural constraints such as coastal ecological environment vulnerability and frequent extreme climates, has received extensive attention. However, few scholars pay attention to the impact of psychological construction of farmers’ environmental risk perception on abandoned farming behavior, especially the use of psychological distance (PD) to quantify this abstract psychological process. Taking Shankou Town, Guangxi, China as an example, this study combines the PD in the field of sociology with the construal level theory to build a PD framework for coastal farmers. A structural equation model was used to explore the influence mechanism of the social, temporal, hypothetical, and spatial distances on farmers’ cultivated land abandonment behavior. We found that coastal land abandonment is affected by social trust and the probability of extreme weather, although the risk preference under the ‘discount rate’ is not significantly affected. At the same time, the closer the spatial distance between the residence and the coastline, the higher the abandonment of cultivated land, although with a different impact. In addition, population mobility and human-sea connection were found to play a mediating role in the effect of psychological distance on cultivated land abandonment. We confirmed that the direction of the effects of the four types of psychological distance on land abandonment behavior is not consistent. This study is helpful to understand the cultivated land abandonment behavior of farmers in coastal zone, and tries to provide reference for coastal zone planting planning.

Smiling at moral misbehaviors: the effect of violation benignness and psychological distance

Why do certain moral violations elicit amusement while others do not? According to McGraw and Warren’s (2010) benign-violation theory of humor, for a situation to elicit amusement it should involve a benign violation. Furthermore, the greater the psychological distance from the situation, the greater the amusement it will elicit. We tested this theory by recording spontaneous facial expressions and collecting self-ratings of amusement in response to classic scenarios of purity and harm violations, which we stated either from a psychologically close second-person perspective or a psychologically distant third-person perspective. A feature of these classic scenarios is that purity violations are relatively more benign (less malignant) than harm violations, which we independently found. The theory thus predicts more amusement elicitation for purity violations, which would be more pronounced when the hypothetical transgressor is a third party rather than the participant. We found that amusement was exclusively elicited by the more benign purity violations but no effect of psychological distance. Furthermore, the judged malignance of a violation was a strong predictor of amusement. Overall, the results partially support the benign violation theory of humor.

Psychological proximity improves reasoning in academic aptitude tests

Performance on standardized academic aptitude tests (AAT) can determine important life outcomes. However, it is not clear whether and which aspects of the content of test questions affect performance. We examined the effect of psychological distance embedded in test questions. In Study 1 (N = 41,209), we classified the content of existing AAT questions as invoking proximal versus distal details. We found better performance with proximal compared to distal questions, especially for low-achieving examinees. Studies 2 and 3 manipulated the distance of questions adapted from AATs and examined three moderators: overall AAT score, working-memory capacity, and presence of irrelevant information. In Study 2 (N = 129), proximity (versus distance) improved the performance of low-achieving participants. In Study 3 (N = 1744), a field study, among low-achieving examinees, proximity improved performance on questions that included irrelevant information. Together, these results suggest that the psychological distance that is invoked by the content of test questions has important consequences for performance in real-life high-stakes tests.

Shared Accommodation Services in the Sharing Economy: Understanding the Effects of Psychological Distance on Booking Behavior

The sharing economy has risen rapidly in the past decade. The development of shared accommodation encourages more hotels and guesthouses to attract customers through online accommodation-sharing platforms, which has become a meaningful way to fight against the competition of the traditional hotel industry. In this condition, what the hosts are concerned about most is how to attract customers’ attention through the platform display to increase reservations. Based on construal level theory, this paper explores how hosts’ information displayed on online accommodation-sharing platforms determines consumers’ booking behavior by influencing their psychological distance. We use machine learning methods to mine the raw data and extract the representational factors of psychological distance. Based on the data-driven behavior decision-making approach, we collected valid large-scale fine-grained secondary actual consumption data from Airbnb, the world’s leading online accommodation-sharing platform, and scientifically and intelligently processed the data using machine learning methods, then tested the hypotheses using the regression analysis software STATA15. Our findings suggest that both social distance and temporal distance have a negative impact on booking behavior of guests. In detail, subject diversity, perspective taking, and facial attractiveness in the dimension of social distance positively influence guests’ booking behavior; instant bookable in the temporal distance dimension positively affects booking behavior, while response time has a negative effect. This study contributes to the literature by empirically examining psychological distance in the booking behavior of guests in shared accommodation through the processing and analysis of actual consumption data. The findings have important practical implications for how shared accommodation service providers and sharing economy platform managers can operate better.

Distance-construal relationship: Mediating role of perceived control and moderating role of locus of control.

The construal level theory (CLT) has been supported and applied widely in social psychology. Yet, what remains unclear is the mechanism behind it. The authors extend the current literature by hypothesizing that perceived control mediates and locus of control (LOC) moderates the effect of psychological distance on the construal level. Four experimental studies were conducted. The results indicate that individuals perceive low (vs. high) situational control from a psychological distance (vs. proximity), and the resultant control perception influences their motivation in control pursuit, producing a high (vs. low) construal level. Moreover, LOC (i.e., one's chronic control belief) affects an individual's motivation to pursue control and yields a reversal of distance-construal relationship under external (vs. internal) LOC as a result. Overall, this research first identifies perceived control as a closer predictor of construal level, and the findings are expected to help with influencing human behavior by facilitating individuals' construal level via control-related constructs.

La distance psychologique en sciences de gestion: Apports et limites de la théorie des niveaux de représentation

AbstractThis article explains how construal level theory (CLT) expand knowledge of management sciences related to the effect of psychological distance on the organization's stakeholders. This work also highlights different limits of this framework and sets out a research agenda to overcome them. The main limits concern 1) a lack of precision regarding the modification of construal level as a function of psychological distance; 2) a prevalence of research on temporal and social distance to retranscribe the effects of a psychological distance theorized as a global concept; 3) numerous inconsistencies regarding multiple distances. Managerial implications are also suggested to handle the psychological distance of the stakeholders.

The effects of psychological distance on spontaneous justice inferences: A construal level theory perspective.

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of psychological distance on spontaneous justice inferences. Two experiments were conducted using the probe recognition paradigm to directly examine whether psychological distance affects spontaneous justice inferences. In Experiment 1, the spatial distance of justice actions from the perceivers was manipulated. In Experiment 2, temporal distance was manipulated. Consistent with our expectations, the results of Experiments 1 and 2 (for spatial distance and temporal distance, respectively) consistently demonstrated the effect of psychological distance on spontaneous justice inferences. In concrete terms, participants made stronger spontaneous justice inferences when confronted with situation descriptions of justice-implying events occurring in a spatially distant location than in a proximal location (Experiment 1) and in the distant-future condition than in the near-future condition (Experiment 2). These findings indicate that psychological distance can influence influence simplicity, unintentional processing of justice inferences.

Metaphor and board writing matter: The mediating roles of psychological distance and immersion in video lectures

The present study investigated the influence of metaphor and board writing on students’ learning performance, continuance intention, and recommendation intention through the mediating effects of psychological distance and immersion. Four aspects of psychological distance—temporal, spatial, social, and hypothetical distance—and immersion are introduced to identify the mechanism. Through a two (with versus without metaphor) by two (with versus without board writing) between-subject experimental design, 193 participants were randomly assigned to one of four sets of video lectures on the gradient descent method, followed by an online questionnaire. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was employed to validate the research model. The results demonstrate that metaphor has a significant effect on all four aspects of psychological distance and immersion, while board writing has an impact only on hypothetical distance. Social distance mediates the relationship between metaphor and learning performance, recommendation intention, and continuance intention; hypothetical distance mediates the interplay between metaphor, board writing, and learning performance; and immersion mediates the link between metaphor and recommendation intention.

The Effect of Promotional Format, Message Framing, and Psychological Distance on Perception and Engagement of Cause-related Marketing

Aims: This research provides a unique lens by offering a more comprehensive consideration of cause-related marketing (CRM) campaign effectiveness. Specifically, we propose that the relative effectiveness of contribution type (monetary vs. in-kind) may hinge upon message framing (loss vs. gain-framed).
 Study Design: Integrating construal level and prospect theories with related CRM, message framing, and psychological distance literatures lead to propositions.
 Methodology: Literature reviews were first conducted. Rationalized on the construal level theory, multiple propositions of the effect of psychological distance on different contribution types and message framing are presented. The relationships among these concepts are proposed to have significant and positive effects on the effectiveness of CRM promotional campaigns based on the literature reviewed.
 Conclusion: The proposed research model not only advances the collective knowledge of construal level theory and psychological distance literatures, making a theoretical contribution specifically in the CRM field, but also should provide important marketing insights to guide CRM practices.

Emotional intelligence similarity in service recovery

Service failure and recovery research has primarily explored employees' emotional intelligence but has largely overlooked customers' emotional intelligence. This study considers both employees' and customers' emotional intelligence by investigating the recovery effect of perceived emotional intelligence similarity. We test why and how perceived emotional intelligence similarity promotes customer forgiveness through experiments. Findings reveal the positive effect of perceived emotional intelligence similarity on customer forgiveness and the sequentially mediating effects of psychological distance and customer trust. Additionally, results indicate that interdependent self-construal and indulgence moderate the perceived emotional intelligence similarity effect. Findings enrich theories on emotional intelligence in the service failure and recovery field. Additionally, this research offers tourism companies suggestions on addressing service failures based on perceived emotional intelligence similarity.

Development Mode of Recreation Belt around the City: Ecological Authenticity or Fashion Creativity?

The recreational belt around the city has low population density, good ecological environment, and rich natural and cultural landscapes, which can meet the tourism needs of urban residents to get close to nature and experience culture. Particularly in today's increasingly normal epidemic prevention and control, outing and microtourism have become the first choice of urban public tourism and an important part of rural tourism development. In the process of developing rural tourism, there are two distinct voices: one is to pay attention to the local complex and strive to let people “see mountains and water and remember nostalgia.” In the era of cultural tourism integration, we should promote rural tourism with culture, highlight rural culture with rural tourism, and give full play to the bridge between cultural tourism and rural cultural innovation. In view of this situation, this paper discusses the theme orientation of the advanced development of the recreational belt around the city through three studies. In Study 1, tourists' perceptions of local complex and rural cultural creation were compared through field investigation. In Study 2, brand trust was used as a calibration variable to further test the robustness of the conclusion. Study 3 analyzed the “distortion” mechanism of rural cultural creation and tested the intermediary effect of psychological distance. At the same time, it discusses the evolution model of the recreational space system around the city. The development of recreation space shows that the recreation space around the city is the product of the agglomeration of population and economic activities, and its occurrence and development process is closely related to the expansion of urban space and the change of human living space. This paper analyzes the spatial process of the development of recreation around the city, focuses on the types of recreation space that continue to appear in the development and evolution of modern recreation space, and then tries to find the context of the gradual development and evolution of recreation around the city with the process of urbanization and excavate the organic connection between the recreational space and the city and its surrounding areas in the process of development and evolution. It is found that (1) tourists' perception of local culture is further distorted, which leads to a further reduction in tourists' perception of “local culture” and “recreation,” and (2) the increase in psychological distance is the key psychological mechanism for tourists to perceive “lost property.”

Effects of psychological distance and social influence on tourists’ hotel booking preferences

ABSTRACT Standing out in the tourists’ hotel booking process is important for hotels in today’s competitive environment. To effectively promote hotels, it is necessary to have a deeper grasp of the factors affecting tourists’ hotel choices. To this end, this research examines the effects of psychological distance (temporal and spatial) and social influence on tourists’ hotel booking preferences based on the Construal-Level Theory (CLT). Social influence is identified as a moderator between psychological distance and tourists’ booking preferences; whole perceived message quality is identified as a mediator. The paper concludes with theoretical implications, practical implications, and ideas for future research.

How psychological distance shapes hedonic consumption: The moderating role of the need to justify

Psychological distance is pervasive in consumers’ minds and affects their hedonic consumption patterns. However, the literature regarding the effects of psychological distance on hedonic consumption is inconsistent. Three experiments demonstrate that the need to justify is an important moderator. Experiments 1 and 2 show that when the need to justify is not salient, psychological distance negatively impacts hedonic consumption. However, when the need to justify is salient, the effect of psychological distance disappears statistically. Experiment 3 shows that when the need to justify is not salient, the effect of psychological distance on hedonic consumption is explained by two conflicting mechanisms (i.e., positive emotional intensity and the difficulty in justifying) which respectively represent the indirect negative and positive effect. Nevertheless, when the need to justify is salient, the effect of psychological distance can only be explained by the difficulty in justifying the hedonic option, resulting in an indirect positive effect.