Time-Construal Associations and Functional Outcomes: Examining the Relationship between Time-Construal Associations, Well-Being, Self-Control, and Time Travel
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2015
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ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-osu14286688992021-08-03T06:30:02Z Time-Construal Associations and Functional Outcomes: Examining the Relationship between Time-Construal Associations, Well-Being, Self-Control, and Time Travel Greaves, Sara Social Psychology This research examines if associations between temporal distance/high-level construal can have functional outcomes. Construal-Level Theory (CLT; Trope & Liberman, 2010) suggests that people think about distant time abstractly. This means that people think about the essential, prototypical features of a distant event. People are able to draw upon the representations they have developed from past experiences to form general expectations for a future event. This is functional because it enables people to prepare for an event even without specific details. When people repeatedly use high-level construal to think about distant time, an association between temporal distance and high-level construal forms. Thus, time-construal associations should be indicative of people’s tendency to think about distant time in a high-level way. This association between temporal distance and high-level construal should form when people think about both the past and the future. We examine if the strength of association between high-level construal/temporal distance varies for past vs. future time in both of our experiments. In both experiments, there was no difference for past vs. future in association strength when using a reaction time-based measure of association strength. However, the association between high-level construal and temporal distance was stronger in the future when using an error-based measure of association strength.We also suggest that if people are able to think about distant time, they should be able to plan for their goals. This suggested self-regulatory function should help people toiiiattain high well-being. When people are able to plan for their goals, they should be more likely to achieve them and feel hopeful and satisfied with their lives. When people successfully reach their goals, they should experience an increase in self-efficacy and better well-being. When people are unable to achieve their goals, they are likely to ruminate on their failures and develop depression. Time-construal associations should also be related to self-control to the extent that people mental time travel to pursue their long-term goals and resist short term temptations. Lastly, time-construal associations should be related to the tendency to directly think about distant time.We test these hypotheses in two experiments. In Experiment 1, we found that time-construal associations (as assessed by a reaction time-based measure of association strength) were related to decreased depression and rumination, but increased hope and life satisfaction. When we used an error-based measure of association strength, we found that the association between temporal distance/high-level construal was related to reduced depression. In Experiment 2, the reaction time-based measure of association strength was related to an increased ability to consider future consequences and a decreased present time orientation. We did not find the well-being relationships with association strength in Experiment 1. When we used the error-based measure of association strength, we found that the association between temporal distance/high-level construal was related to reduced hope and the association between temporal proximity/low-level construal was related to increased rumination. We have preliminary evidence from Experiment 1 that time-construal associations are functional, but future research is needed on this topic. 2015-05-20 English text The Ohio State University / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1428668899 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1428668899 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws. |
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NDLTD |
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English |
| sources |
NDLTD |
| topic |
Social Psychology |
| spellingShingle |
Social Psychology Greaves, Sara Time-Construal Associations and Functional Outcomes: Examining the Relationship between Time-Construal Associations, Well-Being, Self-Control, and Time Travel |
| author |
Greaves, Sara |
| author_facet |
Greaves, Sara |
| author_sort |
Greaves, Sara |
| title |
Time-Construal Associations and Functional Outcomes: Examining the Relationship between Time-Construal Associations, Well-Being, Self-Control, and Time Travel |
| title_short |
Time-Construal Associations and Functional Outcomes: Examining the Relationship between Time-Construal Associations, Well-Being, Self-Control, and Time Travel |
| title_full |
Time-Construal Associations and Functional Outcomes: Examining the Relationship between Time-Construal Associations, Well-Being, Self-Control, and Time Travel |
| title_fullStr |
Time-Construal Associations and Functional Outcomes: Examining the Relationship between Time-Construal Associations, Well-Being, Self-Control, and Time Travel |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Time-Construal Associations and Functional Outcomes: Examining the Relationship between Time-Construal Associations, Well-Being, Self-Control, and Time Travel |
| title_sort |
time-construal associations and functional outcomes: examining the relationship between time-construal associations, well-being, self-control, and time travel |
| publisher |
The Ohio State University / OhioLINK |
| publishDate |
2015 |
| url |
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1428668899 |
| work_keys_str_mv |
AT greavessara timeconstrualassociationsandfunctionaloutcomesexaminingtherelationshipbetweentimeconstrualassociationswellbeingselfcontrolandtimetravel |
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