Thinking in 3D: A multidimensional mapping of the effects of distance on abstraction

Despite a large body of research concerning the effects of psychological distance, our understanding about how different dimensions of distance interact and influence cognition is still limited. In this study, we moved beyond first-order approximations of the effects of psychological distance, to map the effects of multidimensional events as they appear in the world. We developed a novel experimental idiographic paradigm in which participants were asked to generate narratives of events. We simultaneously manipulated the prompts to adjust the perceived proximity in three dimensions of psychological distance, according to what individuals consider to be close to (or far from) them. Additionally, we trained an algorithm to identify the distances depicted in these narratives. Consistent with construal level theory, the results of our large-sample, preregistered analyses revealed that an increase in distance, irrespective of its type, led to more abstract representations and that experimentally manipulating distance on one dimension led to increased distance on the other dimensions. This was true for both traditional measures of linguistic abstraction and memory semanticization measures that quantify the amount of episodic detail. Results show that the effect of distance on abstraction was consistent across its various dimensions, confirming a monotonic and additive (i.e., linear) relationship. This sheds light on the mechanisms whereby psychological distance affects our thought and paves the way for more refined, integrative models of how our minds construct possible futures and alternative realities. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).