Construal processes

This chapter advances the following theoretical framework: Humans overcome the psychological challenge of thinking about events that occur beyond the here and now by constructing abstract mental representations that remain stable as specific details of the event vary. This proposal builds on construal-level theory (CLT), which posits a basic relationship between abstraction and the ability to consider objects or events that are psychologically distant (i.e., removed from the here and now). The chapter elaborates and expands on several key principles that are foundational for CLT. The first principle is that increasing psychological distance to a mental target increases the variability in potential details surrounding that target. The second principle is that abstraction has evolved to deal with the variability. It does so by construing mental objects in terms of their commonalities while subordinating their variations. The third principle is that encountering or considering variability induces the mental process of abstraction as a way to manage all possibilities. Together, these three principles form the basis for CLT. The chapter elaborates these key principles and reviews illustrative research. It then expands on how these principles are tied to additional research in memory, self-control, and social cognition. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)