时间距离对自我–他人决策偏好的影响

The Effect of Time Distance on Self-Other Decision Preference

摘要: 解释水平理论认为，自我–他人决策差异的出现是因为人们在对事物进行表征时具有不同的解释水平，而这种解释水平的不同是由于觉察者和目标之间的心理距离不同。本研究选择了心理距离的其中一个维度——时间距离，并探究了在不同时间距离和选项条件下，人们的决策是否存在认知偏好上的差异。实验一探究了时间距离对自我–他人决策差异的影响，实验二验证了在不同时间距离下，人们决策对象的不同会使得人们对“价值”和“可行性”两个维度的偏好不同。结果发现，在不同时间距离下，为自己决策和为他人决策之间存在差异，同一选项在时间距离较远时会具有较小的吸引力；当价值和可行性发生冲突时，决策对象的不同会使得人们在“价值–可行性”两个维度上的偏好不同，为他人决策的被试会更注重选项的价值，并且时间距离的延长也会使得被试更注重价值高的选项。这表明，时间距离是影响自我–他人决策偏好的重要因素。

Abstract: As the construal level theory believes, the difference in self-other decision making occurs because people have different construal levels when representing things, and this difference is due to the psychological distance between the perceiver and the target. This research selects one of the psychological distance—temporal-distance, and explores whether there are differences in cognitive preferences in people’s decision-making under different time distances and options. Experiment 1 explored the influence of temporal-distance on self-other decision making differences. Experiment 2 verified that under different temporal distances, different decision-making subjects will lead to different preferences for the two dimensions of desirability and feasibility. The result shows that there is a difference between decision-making for oneself and for others at different time-distances, and the same option will have less attraction when the time-distance is much longer. When desirability and feasibility conflict, different decision-making subjects will make people have different preferences in the two dimensions of “desirability-feasibility”. Participants who make decisions for others will pay more attention to the value of options. With the time distance extends, the subjects pay more attention to the high-desirability options.