Effects of Psychological Distance on Mental Abstraction: A Registered Report of Four Tests of Construal-Level Theory

Date

2026-04-01

Author

Calderon, Sofia
Mac Giolla, Erik
Ask, Karl
Adler, Susanne Jana
Agerström, Jens
Akpınar, Burcu
Albayrak, Nihan
Alparone, Francesca Romana
Amin, Shahrazad
Aquino, Antonio
Bachet, Melissa
Baisile, Baisile
Bausenhart, Karin M.
Beylat, Magali
Bialobrzeska, Olga
Bloomfield, Eliana C.
Boecker, Lea
Bonora, Matteo
Brady, Shannon T.
Branch, Jared G.
Brandy, Nicole E.
Bui, Kelley T.
Bustos-Ortega, Mariela
Caballero, Amparo
Cai, Andi
Cantarero, Katarzyna
Cárdenas, Stephanie A.
Carrera, Pilar
Chang, Jung-Tzu
Chao, Hsuan-Fu
Christy, Andrew G.
Cook, Jennifer A.
Dang, Junhua
Danielson, Scott
Davis, William E.
de Boer, Cara
de Groot, Elise
Derrick, Jaye L.
Dittmar, Sarah
Döring, Tim
Douilliez, Céline
Egger, Martin
Escher, Yannik A.
Evans, Thomas Rhys
Fabiani, Sofia
Feldman, Gilad
Fernandez, Nicole
Fischer, Julia
Formanowicz, Magdalena
Friese, Malte
Fuglestad, Paul T.
Gaboriaud, Aurore
Gale, Jessica
Gamrát, Richard
Genschow, Oliver
Ghasemi, Omid
Giacomantonio, Mauro
Gieseler, Karolin
Greijdanus, Hedy
Griffin, Siobhán Mary
Gül, Doğa
Gunaydin, Gul
Haasova, Simona
Halkias, Georgios
Hawk, Christopher E.
Helfers, Anna
Hernandez, Cindy L.
Hess, Yanine D.
Horgos, Petr J.
Hrymchak, Yehor
Huff, Markus
Ildırım, Ezgi
Jokić, Biljana
Julliard, Yoann
Kacˇmár, Pavol
Kaup, Barbara
Kim, Hyunji
Kim, Kyungmi
Kingstone, Alan
KOÇ, KENAN
Koppel, Lina
Körner, Anita
Kovácˇová Holevová, Bibiána
Labor, Paul Danielle
Laforet, Bronwyn D.
Lalot, Fanny
Lamm, Leonie
Laurent, Sean M.
Lee, Sean T. H.
Lee, Yi-Chen
Lemay, Edward P
Lin, Zhicheng
Lin, Yun-Kai
Long, Jia-Xin
Loschelder, David D.
Makri, Katerina
Manley, Harry
Maugeri, Nicolò
McCarthy, Randy J.
McHugh, Cillian
Miazek, Katarzyna
Milyavskaya, Marina
Morvinski, Coby
Muchová, Michaela
Muftareviç, Sümeyye
Muller, Dominique
Nave, Gideon
Newell, Ben R.
Nurra, Cécile
Ouellet, Marc
Özdoğru, Asil Ali
Pagnani, Mia
Paolini, Daniele
Papenmeier, Frank
Petrowsky, Hannes M.
Pfattheicher, Stefan
Picado, Jean C.
Pickering, Ryan M.
Purić, Danka
Quiamzade, Alain
Ramsay, Jonathan E.
Renaud, Tristan Nicholas
Romero-Sánchez, Mónica
Ross, Robert M.
Sánchez-Rodríguez, Ángel
Santiago, Julio
Sarstedt, Marko
Scally, Luke
Scandola, Michele
Schachtner, Judith P. M.
Schindler, Simon
Segerberg, Andreas
Selcuk, Emre
Sevillano, Verónica
Shalev, Edith
Shao, Xiaoyi
Shaw, Steven D.
Shi, Keyi
Siem, Birte
Solana, Pablo
Soliman, Meikel
Solmazer, Gaye
Sonmez, Fatih
Stanley, Samantha K.
Steinmetz, Janina
Stivers, Adam W.
Szymkow, Aleksandra
Tagand, Maude
Tan, Yan Zhen
Terzi, Hilal
Tian, Miaomiao
Tinghög, Gustav
Tran, Ulrich S.
Urschler, David F.
VanHorn, Daniel R.
Västfjäll, Daniel
Verschuere, Bruno
Verschueren, Amelie
Vlad, Anna Laura
Voracek, Martin
Wang, Xiaotian
Wang, Deming
Warmelink, Lara
Wee, Adam Kah Jjin
Lee Wichman, Aaron
Wiechert, Sera
Woltin, Karl-Andrew
Wong, Hoo Keat
Xu, Jiawen
Yao, Zai-Fu
Yeung, Siu Kit
Yogeeswaran, Kumar
Žeželj, Iris
Zhang, Qing
Ziegler, Rene
Luke, Timothy J.

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Construal-level theory (CLT) proposes that psychological distance influences the level of abstraction at which something is mentally construed: Things perceived as less probable (likelihood) or further away from the here (spatial distance), now (temporal distance), or self (social distance) are thought about more abstractly. In this international multilab study, we tested four basic hypotheses derived from core assumptions of CLT and explore potential moderators and boundary conditions of the effects. Participants (N = 11,775) from 27 countries and regions were randomly assigned to one of four experimental protocols focused on different types of psychological distance (temporal, spatial, social, or likelihood), and each experiment manipulated psychological distance (close vs. distant). The protocols for temporal distance (n = 2,941) and spatial distance (n = 2,973) were direct replications of Liberman and Trope (Study 1) and Fujita et al. (Study 1), respectively. The remaining two protocols were paradigmatic replications, applying to social distance (n = 2,926) and likelihood (n = 2,936). The effects of psychological distance on construal level for the four present studies were as follows (positive effects are consistent with hypotheses): temporal, d = 0.08, 95% confidence interval [CI] = [0.003, 0.16] (effect in original study: d = 0.92); spatial, d = 0.04, 95% CI = [−0.03, 0.11] (effect in original study: d = 0.55); social, d = −0.27, 95% CI = [−0.34, −0.19]; and likelihood, d = 0.03, 95% CI = [−0.05, 0.11]. Pretests indicated that valence and abstraction were confounded in response options on the outcome measure. Controlling for this confound eliminated the hypothesis-inconsistent effect of social distance, d = 0.006, 95% CI = [−0.05, 0.07]. These findings provide limited evidence for the predictions of the theory and present a critical challenge for CLT.

Subject Keywords

construal-level theory, mental abstraction, multilab, open data, open materials, preregistration, psychological distance, replication

URI

https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?partnerID=HzOxMe3b&scp=105036429491&origin=inward
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/119348

Collections

Department of Psychology, Article