Look at Yourself!
Visual Perspective Influences Moral Judgment by Level of Mental Construal
Abstract
Previous research (Libby, Shaeffer, & Eibach, 2009) has established that a third-person (external) visual perspective elicits more abstract processing than a first-person (inner) perspective. Because many moral principles constitute abstract psychological constructs, we predicted that they should weigh more heavily when people adopt a third-person visual perspective. In two experiments we show that a third- (vs. first-) person visual perspective leads to harsher judgments of one’s own morally questionable actions. Moreover, we demonstrate that this effect can be partially explained by level of mental construal. The present research suggests that simple visual perspective techniques may be used to promote moral behavior.
References
2009a). Moral concerns are greater for temporally distant events and are moderated by value strength. Social Cognition, 27, 260–281. doi 10.1521/soco.2009. 27.2.261
(2009b). Temporal distance and moral concerns: Future immoral behavior is perceived as more wrong and evokes stronger prosocial intentions. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 31, 1–11. doi 10.1080/01973530802659885
(2003). “As you would have them do unto you”: Does imagining yourself in the other’s place stimulate moral action? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29, 1190–1201. doi 10.1177/0146167203254600
(2008). Judging near and distant virtue and vice. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44, 1204–1209. doi 10.1016/j.jesp.2008.03.012
(1981). The philosophy of moral development: Moral stages and the idea of justice. San Francisco, CA: Harper & Row.
(2005). When asking “why” does not hurt: Distinguishing rumination from reflective processing of negative emotions. Psychological Science, 16, 709–715. doi 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2005.01600.x
(2010). Reconstruction of things past: Why do some memories feel so close and others so far away. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46, 217–220. doi 10.1016/j.jesp.2009.09.003
(2002). Construing action abstractly and blurring social distinctions: Implications for perceiving homogeneity among, but also empathizing with and helping, others. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 1224–1238. doi 10.1037/0022-3514.83.5.1224
(2009). Seeing meaning in action: A bidirectional link between visual perspective and action identification level. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 138, 503–516. doi 10.1037/a0016795
(2007). Picture yourself at the polls: Visual perspective in mental imagery affects self-perception and behavior. Psychological Science, 18, 199–203. doi 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01872.x
(2002). The effect of temporal distance on level of construal. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 523–535. doi 10.1016/S0022-1031(02)00535-8
(1983). Point of view in personal memories. Cognitive Psychology, 15, 467–482. doi 10.1016/0010-0285(83)90016-6
(1998). Momentous events, vivid memories: How unforgettable moments help us understand the meaning of our lives. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
(2008). Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior Research Methods, 40, 879–891. doi 10.3758/BRM.40.3.879
(2009). Construing collective concerns: Increasing cooperation by broadening construals in social dilemmas. Psychological Science, 20, 1319–1321. doi 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02458.x
(2010). Construal-level theory of psychological distance. Psychological Review, 117, 440–463. doi 10.1037/a0018963
(1989). Levels of personal agency: Individual variation in action identification. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 660–671. doi 10.1037/0022-3514.57.4.660
(