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My fair future self: The role of temporal distance and self-enhancement in prediction

My fair future self: The role of temporal distance and self-enhancement in prediction
My fair future self: The role of temporal distance and self-enhancement in prediction
Information people rely on when making self-predictions may be influenced by temporal distance and the self-enhancement motive. We proposed, drawing from Construal Level Theory, that temporally distant (vs. near) predictions reflect the “gist” self-attributes, rather than other attributes (“noise”). Based on the self-enhancement literature, positive (vs. negative) attributes will be perceived as the “gist.rdquo; In three studies, we tested the hypothesis that positive attributes are more prominent in distant predictions. Distant (compared to near) predictions reflect the “gist” attributes, are more positive and confident (Study 1). Such predictions rely on positive (rather than negative) attributes (Study 2). Distant predictions reflect a greater better-than-average effect, better ratings on positive (and not-as-bad on negative) attributes in comparison to peers (Study 3). These tendencies hold true for individuals with varying levels of self-esteem (Studies 1, 3). The studies suggest that temporal distance and motivation to enhance the favorability of self-concept both influence prediction.



0278-016X
149-168
Stephan, Elena
4d379020-be54-4a1c-848a-9b61923648d2
Sedikides, C
9d45e66d-75bb-44de-87d7-21fd553812c2
Heller, D
b7094306-073d-4c86-8a5a-69804bbdc72f
Shidlovski, D
86c0f0f0-a9ae-4089-b0ef-44a45478aa2f
Stephan, Elena
4d379020-be54-4a1c-848a-9b61923648d2
Sedikides, C
9d45e66d-75bb-44de-87d7-21fd553812c2
Heller, D
b7094306-073d-4c86-8a5a-69804bbdc72f
Shidlovski, D
86c0f0f0-a9ae-4089-b0ef-44a45478aa2f

Stephan, Elena, Sedikides, C, Heller, D and Shidlovski, D (2015) My fair future self: The role of temporal distance and self-enhancement in prediction. Social Cognition, 33 (2), 149-168. (doi:10.1521/soco.2015.33.2.149).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Information people rely on when making self-predictions may be influenced by temporal distance and the self-enhancement motive. We proposed, drawing from Construal Level Theory, that temporally distant (vs. near) predictions reflect the “gist” self-attributes, rather than other attributes (“noise”). Based on the self-enhancement literature, positive (vs. negative) attributes will be perceived as the “gist.rdquo; In three studies, we tested the hypothesis that positive attributes are more prominent in distant predictions. Distant (compared to near) predictions reflect the “gist” attributes, are more positive and confident (Study 1). Such predictions rely on positive (rather than negative) attributes (Study 2). Distant predictions reflect a greater better-than-average effect, better ratings on positive (and not-as-bad on negative) attributes in comparison to peers (Study 3). These tendencies hold true for individuals with varying levels of self-esteem (Studies 1, 3). The studies suggest that temporal distance and motivation to enhance the favorability of self-concept both influence prediction.



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Published date: 2015

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 376426
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/376426
ISSN: 0278-016X
PURE UUID: 53985b7d-ef75-4325-9028-911f5a67512b
ORCID for C Sedikides: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-4036-889X

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Date deposited: 28 Apr 2015 12:20
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:02

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Contributors

Author: Elena Stephan
Author: C Sedikides ORCID iD
Author: D Heller
Author: D Shidlovski

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