Effect of Event Valence on Future Time Perception and Choices: A Construal-Level Perspective

Abstract

This study examined the mental construal process believed to be responsible for event valence. In three studies, respondents were exposed to future events, varying in their gains or losses, and asked to estimate the mental construal process and subsequent temporal perceptions or choices. The gains versus losses could be construed distinctly. People receiving gains were more likely to construe the event at a high rather than a low level of thinking. Therefore, people facing gains perceived the future time interval as longer than those facing losses and relied more on desirability rather than feasibility attributes.