Look at yourself!: Visual perspective influences moral judgment through level of mental construal
Author
Summary, in English
Previous research (Libby et al., 2009) has established that a third-person (outside) visual perspective elicits more abstract processing than a first-person (inside) perspective. Because many moral principles constitute abstract psychological constructs, we predicted that they should weigh more heavily when people adopt a third-person visual perspective. In two experiments we show that a third- (vs. first-) person visual perspective leads to harsher judgments of one’s own morally questionable actions. Moreover, we demonstrate that this effect can be partially explained by level of mental construal. The present research suggests that simple visual perspective techniques may be used to promote moral behavior.
Department/s
Publishing year
2013
Language
English
Pages
42-46
Publication/Series
Social Psychology
Volume
44
Issue
1
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Hogrefe & Huber Publishers
Topic
- Psychology
Keywords
- construal
- visual perspective
- moral judgment
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 2151-2590