Knowledge of the self-control benefits of high-level versus low-level construal.

Abstract

Research indicates that inducing high-level construal (processing that highlights invariant, essential features) relative to low-level construal (processing that highlights idiosyncratic, peripheral features) promotes self-control (Fujita & Carnevale, 2012). In the present work, we investigate to what extent people recognize the self-control benefits of high-level construal, and explore the consequences of this knowledge. Studies 1 and 2 provide initial evidence that individuals are aware that high-level relative to low-level construal promotes self-control in the dieting domain. Studies 3 and 4 find that individual differences in this knowledge predict self-control success outcomes (i.e., body mass index) among those who are motivated by dieting goals. Examining academics as a domain of self-control, Study 5 demonstrates that those with higher knowledge of construal level's impact on self-control earned higher end-of-semester grades to the extent that they were motivated to do well academically. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

Imagining better societies: A social psychological framework for the study of utopian thinking and collective action

“…High-level construal also promotes self-control (Carnevale et al, 2015;Fujita & Carnevale, 2012;MacGregor et al, 2017), a more realistic assessment of one's abilities (Yan, Hou, & Unger, 2014), and a stronger sense that one's goals are meaningful and self-concordant (Davis et al, 2016). In the context of bargaining and negotiation, which may be relevant to the implementation of social change, adopting an abstract (vs. concrete) mindset tends to increase information sharing and the likelihood of obtaining an integrative (win-win) solution (Wening et al, 2016).…”

Construal level as a mediator of stress-induced bias in financial decision making

“…Research on self-control and motivation have attempted to answer these questions, but a more granular approach -that targets the way people think about their goals and decisions -has shown more promise in changing behaviour in different contexts. Several studies have shown that construal level mediates decision making by influencing self-control, future discounting, risk perception, choice confidence and motivation (Chiou et al 2013;Fujita et al 2019;MacGregor et al 2017;Tsai and McGill 2010).…”

A construal level approach to understanding interpersonal processes

“…Just as people might adopt one level of construal over another in order to communicate more persuasively, we propose that this principle of strategic use of construals might apply to interpersonal processes more broadly. Existing research indicates that people do have a general awareness that certain construal levels are functional for certain tasks (e.g., that high‐level construal facilitates high‐level tasks like self‐control whereas low‐level construal facilitates low‐level tasks such as vigilance) and that people can use construal levels strategically to pursue goals (MacGregor, Carnevale, Dusthimer, & Fujita, ). For example, a recent study asked participants to imagine a hypothetical scenario in which they would rate cookies for a market.…”

“…A related study further demonstrated that people are not only aware that construal can be used strategically, but that successful self‐regulators make strategic use of construal levels. College students were contacted before a final exam and asked to list distractions that would tempt them away from studying (MacGregor et al, ) and then write an essay about how to resist those temptations. Essays were coded for linguistic abstraction.…”