<p>Self control is affected by self-regulatory strength depletion (Hagger et al., 2010) as well as construal-level mindset (Fujita et al., 2006). However, two conflicting perspectives have emerged predicting differential interactive effects of construals and depletion. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the independent and interactive effects of construal levels and self-control strength in an effortful cycling exercise task. Using a randomized 2 X 2 factorial design, undergraduate participants (<em>N </em>= 67, <em>n</em> = 34 women) completed a baseline cycling task, followed by a self-control depletion manipulation (Stroop task vs. quiet rest; Wallace & Baumeister, 2002), a construal-level manipulation (category vs. exemplar naming task; Fujita et al., 2006), and then a 10-minute strenuous cycling test trial. The results showed no main effects for either self-control strength depletion or construal level (<em>p</em> > .20). However there was a near-significant interaction effect (<em>p </em>= .07) indicating the depleted group outperformed the non-depleted group in the low-construal condition, whereas the opposite effect occurred in the high-construal condition. The results provide novel insights of the effects of self-control strength depletion and construal mindsets on exercise performance and implications for the design of construal level and self-control depletion research.</p> / Master of Science (MSc)

The prevalence of work and family in people’s lives combined with limited time and resources often results in a moral decision between work and family, posing a dilemma between hedonistic values for work and altruistic values for family. This study aimed to understand the processes of decision-making in work-family dilemmas and tested three approaches. Therefore, the construal-level theory, time perspectives and logic of appropriateness were introduced. In line with research on construal-level theory and dilemmas, the impact of psychological distance and construal level theory on the decision was examined. Operationalizing social distance, participants were asked to either advise a closely related person (group 1) or someone they just met (group 2) on four work-family dilemmas. The total sample consisted of 212 participants from Germany (49.5%), Sweden (35.8%) and other countries (14.2%). t-tests between the two treatment groups did not reveal significant differences in the dilemma advice (p &gt; .05). Exploratory analyses did not find time perspectives to be related to the decision (p &gt; .005) but work-family centrality was found to be significantly associated to the decision-making in the dilemma (p &lt;.005). With the limitations of the study in mind, the construal level theory could not be supported but values have shown to impact attitudinal decisions, supporting the logic of appropriateness. In work-family conflicts, it, therefore, does not matter whom one advises but whether the advisor values work or family more, influences the given advice. Based on this study, implications for further research are pointed out.

Submitted by JOSIANE SANTOS DE OLIVEIRA (josianeso) on 2017-08-07T16:53:43Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Fernanda Teixeira da Rosa_.pdf: 1605905 bytes, checksum: 5cb877c9b680cc4ddb29a75154a95f95 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-07T16:53:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Fernanda Teixeira da Rosa_.pdf: 1605905 bytes, checksum: 5cb877c9b680cc4ddb29a75154a95f95 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-05-04 / Nenhuma / Não existe um processo claro de como as pessoas tomam decisões, além das particularidades no que tange à percepções, julgamentos e representações, a sensação de possuir energia disponível e a ativação de uma informação no momento da escolha pode impactar o processo decisório. Com o objetivo de preencher essa lacuna, o presente estudo buscou verificar se o distanciamento psicológico (temporal) afeta a tomada de decisão, bem como se a vitalidade subjetiva e o ego depletion podem alterar essas respostas. Para comprovar empiricamente esses argumentos, foram realizados três estudos experimentais. O Estudo 1 validou a hipótese de que a informação ativa (autocontrole e indulgência) tem influência nas decisões de um futuro próximo, não acontecendo o mesmo em um futuro distante. O segundo experimento buscou verificar se o modelo do Estudo 1 se altera quando o indivíduo está em um estado de ego depletion, a conclusão foi de que na condição de autocontrole o processo se modifica; quando a pessoa está com a informação ativa de autocontrole e logo após estiver em um estado de baixa energia (ego depletion) as decisões de um futuro próximo serão indulgentes e de um futuro distante as decisões serão controladas, logo, pode-se perceber que no Estudo 2 ocorreu o inverso do Estudo 1. Entretanto, no Estudo 2 não foi possível comprovar que as decisões de um futuro próximo e distante são diferentes quando a informação ativa é de indulgência. Por fim, no Estudo 3, os resultados encontrados demonstram que quando a informação ativa for de autocontrole ela irá se potencializar no futuro próximo, concluindo-se que quando a informação ativa for de autocontrole e após de vitalidade subjetiva as decisões de um futuro próximo serão mais conservadoras e de um futuro distante mais indulgentes, de maneira significativa. / There is no clear process to know how people take decisions despite the particularities regarding perceptions, judgments and representations, the sensation of having available energy and the information activation when choosing something can impact the decision process. Aiming to fulfill this gap, the present study sought to verify if the psychological distance (temporal) affects the decision making as if the subjective vitality and the ego depletion can modify those answers. It was made three experimental studies to empirically prove the arguments. The study number 1 confirmed the hypothesis that the active information (self-control and indulgence) has influence in a near future decisions but not happening the same in a distant future. The second experiment sought to check if the model of study 1 modifies when the person is in an ego depletion moment, being concluded that the process modifies when in the self-control condition. When the individual is with active information of self-control and if in the sequence falls in a state of low energy (ego depletion), the decisions in a near future will be indulgent while those of a distant future will be controlled, it can be perceived that the study number 2 demonstrated the opposite of what happened in the study number 1. Nevertheless in the study number 2 it was not possible to prove that the decisions of a near and a distant future are different when the active information is of indulgence. Finally, in the study number 3, the achieved results showed that when the active information is of self-control, it is going to be maximized in a near future, concluding that when the active information is of self-control and later of subjective vitality the near future decisions will be more conservative and of a distant future more indulgent in a significant way.

La distance psychologique est omniprésente dans l’esprit du consommateur et influence ses attitudes et son comportement envers les produits hédoniques. Cependant, des contradictions sont présentes dans la littérature quant à la direction (positive ou négative) des effets de la distance psychologique sur les réponses du consommateur envers les produits hédoniques. En effet, certaines recherches avancent que l’augmentation de la distance psychologique influence positivement les réponses du consommateur envers les produits hédoniques. Alors que d’autres suggèrent l’effet inverse. L’objectif de cette recherche est de réconcilier ces contradictions en examinant sous quelles conditions la distance peut avoir un effet positif ou négatif. Nous proposons que le degré de proéminence du besoin de justification (non saillant vs saillant) du consommateur au moment où il évalue le produit hédonique modère ses effets et constitue une condition sous laquelle la distance psychologique peut avoir un effet positif ou négatif sur les réponses du consommateur envers les produits hédoniques. Trois expérimentations ont été conduites pour le test de nos hypothèses. Les deux premières suggèrent qu’en condition de besoin de justification non saillant, l’augmentation de la distance psychologique a une influence négative sur les réponses attitudinales et comportementales du consommateur envers les produits hédoniques. La troisième expérimentation, quant à elle, propose qu’en condition de besoin de justification saillant, l’augmentation de la distance psychologique a un effet positif sur la réponse comportementale du consommateur envers le produit hédonique. / Psychological distance is pervasive in the consumer’s mind and impacts their attitude and behavior toward hedonic products. However, the literature is inconsistent regarding the direction of the effects of psychological distance on consumer’s responses toward hedonic products. In fact, one part of the research suggests that increasing psychological distance positively impacts consumer’s responses toward hedonic products. Whereas another part of the literature proposes the opposite effect. The aim of this research is to reconcile this inconsistency by examining under which conditions psychological distance can have positive or negative effect. We suggest that the degree of prominence of need to justify (non-salient vs salient), which a consumer experiments during the evaluation of hedonic products, moderates the effect of psychological distance and constitutes the condition under which psychological distance can have a positive or a negative impact on consumer’s responses toward hedonic products. In order to test our research hypotheses, we carried out three experiments. The first two experiments show that in the condition of a non-salient need to justify, the increase of psychological distance has a negative impact on consumer’s responses toward hedonic products. The third experiment suggests that in the condition of a salient need to justify, the increase of psychological distance has a positive impact on consumer’s response toward hedonic products.

This thesis was interested in exploring the questions of why individuals typically do not respond strongly to climate change, and how individual motivations to do so might be strengthened. More specifically, this thesis explored two widely cited barriers to climate change action and the solutions commonly suggested to overcome them. The first barrier is the lack of personal experience with climate change, which is believed to inhibit relevant emotional processes. The second, not unrelated, barrier is that people typically perceive climate change as a distant threat, one that is not relevant to them personally, where they live, and in the present time. To test these explanations, two public surveys of residents of both the UK (n = 616) and Switzerland (n = 316) explored the relationships among negative emotions, perceptions of geographically proximal and distant climate change risks, and variables that capture people’s willingness to address climate change. The findings supported the idea that stronger negative emotions were positively related to more readiness to act against climate change. The relationship between spatially close versus distant risk perceptions and measures of different forms of action was, however, more complex. Specifically, the findings revealed a strong association between global risk perceptions and policy support and a strong association between local risk perceptions and personal intentions. One explanation for these (unexpected) associations is that they are due to spontaneous matches with regard to psychological distance: Local risk perceptions are psychologically proximal on the spatial dimension and personal intentions can be regarded as proximal on the social dimension. Likewise, the spatially remote global risk perceptions can be matched to support for policies, which can be regarded as distant on the social dimension. Studies 3 and 4 tried to experimentally untangle the complex relationships between psychological distance and people’s perceptions and actions that were 2 observed in the survey research. Specifically, in both studies participants were manipulated to adopt either a spatially proximal or distant perspective on climate change. Study 3 (n = 80) measured participants emotional responses to climate change and looked at how these predicted different attitudinal and behavioural responses under a proximal or distant framework, whereas Study 4 (n = 330) more directly explored the possible effects of activating negative emotions (i.e., fear) in combination with different distance frames as part of attempts to promote action on climate change. The findings of Studies 3 and 4 suggest that decreasing the psychological distance of climate change and inducing fear can both be potentially useful strategies to promote action on climate change. However, the operation of both these strategies is more complex than is often assumed and these complexities have implications for the effectiveness of each strategy. For one thing, both attempts to reduce distance and increase fear can initiate multiple psychological processes that simultaneously increase and decrease the likelihood of acting on climate change. Because these processes work in opposition, reduced distance and increased fear can have positive effects, negative effects, or no effect at all. Together, the findings across studies highlight that psychological distance is neither an insurmountable obstacle to action against climate change – it depends on what kind of action is being considered (Studies 1 & 2) – and nor is decreasing psychological distance a panacea to motivate action – this can trigger the same kind of defensiveness that have been observed in response to other strategies, such as the use of emotion (Studies 3 & 4). In the general discussion, the theoretical implications of these insights for different theoretical models of distance, emotion, and action are considered, as are the implications for the practice of promoting public engagement with and action on climate change.

L’objectif de cette thèse est de concevoir une démarche d’intervention pour promouvoir la réduction du gaspillage alimentaire reposant sur l’hypocrisie induite semble. Cette procédure d’induction de dissonance articule une phase de saillance normative et une phase de rappel des transgressions. Si l’hypocrisie induite est interprétée à la lumière de la théorie de la consistance de Soi, nous reprenons à notre compte les propos de Vallacher (1992), selon lesquelles la nature de l’action, c’est-à-dire les significations qu’un individu attribue à ces comportements, est susceptible d’influencer le processus de dissonance. La théorie des niveaux de construit, incluant l’identification de l’action, a été mobilisée pour appréhender les significations accordées à des conduites pro-sociales. Plus précisément, nous avons examiné l’influence des niveaux de construit, sur les comportements de soumission obtenus, selon que la phase de saillance normative sera suivie ou non d’un rappel des transgressions. Dans une première expérience, nous avons testé l’applicabilité de l’hypocrisie induite pour promouvoir la réduction du gaspillage alimentaire. Les deux expériences suivantes examinent l’influence des niveaux de construits dans l’hypocrisie induite. Enfin, une recherche-action reposant sur des interventions de type face-à-face auprès des ménages a été mise en œuvre et integre des mesures comportementales effectives. Nos résultats suggèrent que l’hypocrisie induite est à même de promouvoir des changements de comportements effectifs de réduction du gaspillage, mais que ces changements dépendent des significations accordées à cette conduite pro-sociale / Our research aims at conceiving an intervention process to promote food waste reduction in households. Considering the characteristics of food waste, induced hypocrisy appeared adapted to lead to behavioural changes. This sequential procedure of dissonance induction articulates two steps: preaching publicly a socially desirable behaviour (normative salience) and remembering one’s counter-normative behaviours (mindfulness). Though induced hyprocrisy is interpreted in the light of self-consistency theory, we make ours Vallacher’s propositions (1992), according to which the nature of the action, that is the meanings attributed to these behaviours by an individual, is likely to influence arousal and dissonance reduction. This research relies on construal level theory, including action identification, to understand the meanings given to pro-social behaviours. More specifically, we tested the influence of construal levels, manipulated during the stage of normative salience, on the compliance behaviours thus obtained, whether the normative salience stage be or not followed by mindfulness. In a first study, we applied induced hypocrisy to a previously unstudied behavioural area: the encouragement of food waste reduction. The next two experiments, conducted in a laboratory, examined the influence of construal levels in induced hypocrisy. Relying on these studies, we conducted a field experiment, which used effective behavioural measures, based on face-to-face interventions in the households. Our results suggest that induced hypocrisy may encourage individuals to actually reduce food waste, but that these changes depend on the meanings they grant to this pro-social behaviour

<p>This research is based on Construal Level Theory (CLT) and explores the impact of inducing high-level vs low-level construals through various message content on health behavior intentions in the context of medication taking in depression and anxiety. In addition to the direct effects on intentions, the research also explored the mediating roles of perceived psychological distance and risk perception on these intentions and the moderating effects of age and mental health stigma.</p><p>Previous work in CLT suggests that concrete low-level construals, or mental representations, are likely to dominate thinking near decision times, but those who remain focused on more abstract high-level construals are more likely to follow through with good intentions and that a person can be induced to focus on these abstract benefits and goals through messaging. However, evidence that a person’s construal level mindset can be maintained over time to support ongoing intended behavior in the face of daily cognitive demands is lacking.</p><p>Messages were sent via secure text service to a mobile device twice weekly for 4-weeks. Results of within and between-subjects analysis showed that low-level construal messages have the greatest direct effect on behavioral intentions (BI) (<i>Wilks’ λ F</i>=11.591, <i>p</i><.001, <i>η</i>^<em>2</em>=.056) and actual medication taking behavior (<i>Wilks’ λ</i> <i>F</i>=2.979, <i>p</i>=.051, <i>η</i>^<em>2</em>=.271) as compared to controls. Significant changes were also seen in perceived social distance to a future risk (SD) (<i>Wilks’ λ F</i>=61.654, <i>p</i><.001, <i>η</i>^<em>2</em>=.240) and overall risk perception (RP) (<i>Wilks’ λ</i> <i>F</i>=3.393, <i>p</i>=.019, <i>η</i>^<em>2</em>=.058) over the 4-week study vs controls, but no mediation effect was detected between messaging, SD, or RP and BI. Finally, mental health stigma (MHS) was seen to moderate the direct effect of the messaging on BI (<i>F</i>=2.701, <i>p</i>=.048, <i>R</i>^<em>2</em><i>chng</i>=.043).</p><p>Results suggest text messages delivered over time can positively impact treatment adherence intention, behavior, and health attitudes in patients with depression and anxiety. In addition, the construal level focus of the messages is likely to impact those outcomes differentially in various patient groups.</p>

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Cette thèse étudie les représentations du passé par les marques et leur effet sur les consommateurs dans le cadre théorique de la distance temporelle. Que se passe-t-il lorsqu’une marque indique sa date de fondation sur un packaging, présente son histoire en page d’accueil du site internet ou fait de son fondateur le personnage central de ses créations publicitaires ? L’objectif de cette thèse est de qualifier ce phénomène, de mieux le comprendre et d’en mesurer les effets cognitifs et affectifs sur les consommateurs. La première partie de la thèse situe ce phénomène par rapport aux recherches sur le rôle du temps en marketing, et plus particulièrement à celles liées au passé comme le marketing rétrospectif, la nostalgie, l’authenticité et la consommation du passé. La seconde partie présente deux études qualitatives et cinq études quantitatives (chapitres 4 à 6) dont les résultats permettent de 1) proposer une nouvelle échelle pour mesurer la perception du patrimoine de marque, 2) démontrer que la mobilisation du patrimoine de marque augmente la distance temporelle entre le consommateur et la marque, 3) montrer que le patrimoine de marque est associé à des bénéfices cognitifs même si la causalité n’est pas vérifiée, et 4) prouver que le patrimoine de marque a un effet sur l’attachement à la marque, uniquement si les consommateurs en sont familiers. Ces résultats contribuent à la recherche sur la gestion de la temporalité de la marque, aux travaux sur le concept de patrimoine de marque, sur les effets cognitifs et affectifs des représentations du passé par les marques, et sur les effets de la distance temporelle dans le passé / This doctoral thesis explores brands’ representations of the past and their effect on consumers in the theoretical framework of temporal distance. What happens when a brand indicates its founding date on a packaging ? Or puts forward its history on its website ? Or uses its founder as the central character in an advertising campaign ? This thesis aims to qualify this phenomenon, to better understand it, and to measure its cognitive and affective effects on consumers. The first part of the dissertation situates this phenomenon with regards to existing research on the role of time in marketing, and most particularly, to the research relating to the past such as retrospective branding, nostalgia, authenticity and the commodification of the past. The second part details two qualitative and five quantitative empirical studies whose results : 1) suggested a new scale to measure the perception of brand heritage, 2) demonstrated that brand heritage increases temporal distance between the brand and its consumers, 3) showed that brand heritage is associated with cognitive benefits although causality is not assessed, and 4) proved the effect of brand heritage on brand attachment for familiar brands. Those results contribute to the research on temporality in brand management, on the concept of brand heritage and its measurement, on the cognitive and affective consequences of brands’ representations of the past, and on the temporal distance on the past