On Psychological Distance and Construal Level

Abstract

Abstract People often plan for events that extend beyond the here and now; they also need to be attuned to opportunities in the immediate context. This chapter extends construal level theory by adopting a self-regulatory perspective to understand how people address these challenges. It discusses how construal level—how abstractly or concretely events are represented—helps people to modulate regulatory scope, or the range of possibilities that they account for in goal-directed thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. More abstract, high-level construal supports the expansion of regulatory scope—allowing people to connect to and be guided by more distal considerations. By contrast, more concrete, low-level construal supports the contraction of regulatory scope, sensitizing people to goal-relevant opportunities afforded by their current environment. After reviewing supporting research, the chapter discusses future directions and novel implications derived from this regulatory perspective on construal level theory.