Effects of Psychological Distance on Mental Abstraction: A Registered Report of Four Tests of Construal-Level Theory
Sofia Calderon, Erik Mac Giolla, Karl Ask, Susanne Jana Adler, Jens Agerström, Burcu Akpınar, Nihan Albayrak, Francesca Romana Alparone, Shahrazad Amin, Antonio Aquino, Melissa Bachet, Baisile Baisile, Karin M. Bausenhart, Magali Beylat, Olga Bialobrzeska, Eliana C. Bloomfield, Lea Boecker, Matteo Bonora, Shannon T. Brady, Jared G. Branch, Nicole E. Brandy, Kelley T. Bui, Mariela Bustos-Ortega, Amparo Caballero, Andi Cai, Katarzyna Cantarero, Stephanie A. Cárdenas, Pilar Carrera, Jung-Tzu Chang, Hsuan-Fu Chao, Andrew G. Christy, Jennifer A. Cook, Junhua Dang, Scott Danielson, William E. Davis, Cara de Boer, Elise de Groot, Jaye L. Derrick, Sarah Dittmar, Tim Döring, Céline Douilliez, Martin Egger, Yannik A. Escher, Thomas Rhys Evans, Sofia Fabiani, Gilad Feldman, Nicole Fernandez, Julia Fischer, Magdalena Formanowicz, Malte Friese, Paul T. Fuglestad, Aurore Gaboriaud, Jessica Gale, Richard Gamrát, Oliver Genschow, Omid Ghasemi, Mauro Giacomantonio, Karolin Gieseler, Hedy Greijdanus, Siobhán Mary Griffin, Doğa Gül, Gul Gunaydin, Simona Haasova, Georgios Halkias, Christopher E. Hawk, Anna Helfers, Cindy L. Hernandez, Yanine D. Hess, Petr J. Horgos, Yehor Hrymchak, Markus Huff, Ezgi Ildırım, Biljana Jokic´, Yoann Julliard, Pavol Kacˇmár, Barbara Kaup, Hyunji Kim, Kyungmi Kim, Alan Kingstone, Kenan Koç, Lina Koppel, Anita Körner, Bibiána Kovácˇová Holevová, Paul Danielle Labor, Bronwyn D. Laforet, Fanny Lalot, Leonie Lamm, Sean M. Laurent, Sean T. H. Lee, Yi-Chen Lee, Edward P. Lemay, Jr., Zhicheng Lin, Yun-Kai Lin, Jia-Xin Long, David D. Loschelder, Katerina Makri, Harry Manley, Nicolò Maugeri, Randy J. McCarthy, Cillian McHugh, Katarzyna Miazek, Marina Milyavskaya, Coby Morvinski, Michaela Muchová, Sümeyye Muftareviç, Dominique Muller, Gideon Nave, Ben R. Newell, Cécile Nurra, Marc Ouellet, Asil Ali Özdoğru, Mia Pagnani, Daniele Paolini, Frank Papenmeier, Hannes M. Petrowsky, Stefan Pfattheicher, Jean C. Picado, Ryan M. Pickering, Danka Puric´, Alain Quiamzade, Jonathan E. Ramsay, Tristan Nicholas Renaud, Mónica Romero-Sánchez, Robert M. Ross, Ángel Sánchez-Rodríguez, Julio Santiago, Marko Sarstedt, Luke Scally, Michele Scandola, Judith P. M. Schachtner, Simon Schindler, Andreas Segerberg, Emre Selcuk, Verónica Sevillano, Edith Shalev, Xiaoyi Shao, Steven D. Shaw, Keyi Shi, Birte Siem, Pablo Solana, Meikel Soliman, Gaye Solmazer, Fatih Sonmez, Samantha K. Stanley, Janina Steinmetz, Adam W. Stivers, Aleksandra Szymkow, Maude Tagand, Yan Zhen Tan, Hilal Terzi, Miaomiao Tian, Gustav Tinghög, Ulrich S. Tran, David F. Urschler, Daniel R. VanHorn, Daniel Västfjäll, Bruno Verschuere, Amelie Verschueren, Anna Laura Vlad, Martin Voracek, Xiaotian Wang, Deming Wang, Lara Warmelink, Adam Kah Jjin Wee, Aaron Lee Wichman, Sera Wiechert, Karl-Andrew Woltin, Hoo Keat Wong, Jiawen Xu, Zai-Fu Yao, Siu Kit Yeung, Kumar Yogeeswaran, Iris Žeželj, Qing Zhang, Rene Ziegler, and Timothy J. Luke
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. (Study1), 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.
Sofia Calderon, Erik Mac Giolla, Karl Ask, Susanne Jana Adler, Jens Agerström, Burcu Akpınar, Nihan Albayrak, Francesca Romana Alparone, Shahrazad Amin, Antonio Aquino, Melissa Bachet, Baisile Baisile, Karin M. Bausenhart, Magali Beylat, Olga Bialobrzeska, Eliana C. Bloomfield, Lea Boecker, Matteo Bonora, Shannon T. Brady, Jared G. Branch, Nicole E. Brandy, Kelley T. Bui, Mariela Bustos-Ortega, Amparo Caballero, Andi Cai, Katarzyna Cantarero, Stephanie A. Cárdenas, Pilar Carrera, Jung-Tzu Chang, Hsuan-Fu Chao, Andrew G. Christy, Jennifer A. Cook, Junhua Dang, Scott Danielson, William E. Davis, Cara de Boer, Elise de Groot, Jaye L. Derrick, Sarah Dittmar, Tim Döring, Céline Douilliez, Martin Egger, Yannik A. Escher, Thomas Rhys Evans, Sofia Fabiani, Gilad Feldman, Nicole Fernandez, Julia Fischer, Magdalena Formanowicz, Malte Friese, Paul T. Fuglestad, Aurore Gaboriaud, Jessica Gale, Richard Gamrát, Oliver Genschow, Omid Ghasemi, Mauro Giacomantonio, Karolin Gieseler, Hedy Greijdanus, Siobhán Mary Griffin, Doğa Gül, Gul Gunaydin, Simona Haasova, Georgios Halkias, Christopher E. Hawk, Anna Helfers, Cindy L. Hernandez, Yanine D. Hess, Petr J. Horgos, Yehor Hrymchak, Markus Huff, Ezgi Ildırım, Biljana Jokic´, Yoann Julliard, Pavol Kacˇmár, Barbara Kaup, Hyunji Kim, Kyungmi Kim, Alan Kingstone, Kenan Koç, Lina Koppel, Anita Körner, Bibiána Kovácˇová Holevová, Paul Danielle Labor, Bronwyn D. Laforet, Fanny Lalot, Leonie Lamm, Sean M. Laurent, Sean T. H. Lee, Yi-Chen Lee, Edward P. Lemay, Jr., Zhicheng Lin, Yun-Kai Lin, Jia-Xin Long, David D. Loschelder, Katerina Makri, Harry Manley, Nicolò Maugeri, Randy J. McCarthy, Cillian McHugh, Katarzyna Miazek, Marina Milyavskaya, Coby Morvinski, Michaela Muchová, Sümeyye Muftareviç, Dominique Muller, Gideon Nave, Ben R. Newell, Cécile Nurra, Marc Ouellet, Asil Ali Özdoğru, Mia Pagnani, Daniele Paolini, Frank Papenmeier, Hannes M. Petrowsky, Stefan Pfattheicher, Jean C. Picado, Ryan M. Pickering, Danka Puric´, Alain Quiamzade, Jonathan E. Ramsay, Tristan Nicholas Renaud, Mónica Romero-Sánchez, Robert M. Ross, Ángel Sánchez-Rodríguez, Julio Santiago, Marko Sarstedt, Luke Scally, Michele Scandola, Judith P. M. Schachtner, Simon Schindler, Andreas Segerberg, Emre Selcuk, Verónica Sevillano, Edith Shalev, Xiaoyi Shao, Steven D. Shaw, Keyi Shi, Birte Siem, Pablo Solana, Meikel Soliman, Gaye Solmazer, Fatih Sonmez, Samantha K. Stanley, Janina Steinmetz, Adam W. Stivers, Aleksandra Szymkow, Maude Tagand, Yan Zhen Tan, Hilal Terzi, Miaomiao Tian, Gustav Tinghög, Ulrich S. Tran, David F. Urschler, Daniel R. VanHorn, Daniel Västfjäll, Bruno Verschuere, Amelie Verschueren, Anna Laura Vlad, Martin Voracek, Xiaotian Wang, Deming Wang, Lara Warmelink, Adam Kah Jjin Wee, Aaron Lee Wichman, Sera Wiechert, Karl-Andrew Woltin, Hoo Keat Wong, Jiawen Xu, Zai-Fu Yao, Siu Kit Yeung, Kumar Yogeeswaran, Iris Žeželj, Qing Zhang, Rene Ziegler, and Timothy J. Luke
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. (Study1), 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.Keywords: construal-level theory, mental abstraction, psychological distance, replication, multilab, open data, open materials, preregistration
Citation: Calderon, S., Giolla, E. M., Ask, K., Adler, S. J., Agerström, J., Akpınar, B., Albayrak, N., Alparone, F. R., Amin, S., Aquino, A., Bachet, M., Baisile, B., Bausenhart, K. M., Beylat, M., Bialobrzeska, O., Bloomfield, E. C., Boecker, L., Bonora, M., Brady, S. T., . . . Luke, T. J. (2026). Effects of psychological distance on mental abstraction: A registered report of four tests of construal-level theory. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 9(2), 1-29. https://doi.org/10.1177/25152459251401177
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