Does the future look bright? Processing style determines the impact of valence weighting biases and self-beliefs on expectations.
Does the future look bright? Processing style determines the impact of valence weighting biases and self-beliefs on expectations.
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未来看起来光明吗？
DOI：
10.1037/pspa0000136
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发表时间：
2019
影响因子：
7.6
通讯作者：
Pietri, Evava S.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Niese, Zachary Adolph;Libby, Lisa K.;Fazio, Russell H.;Eibach, Richard P.;Pietri, Evava S.
人们经常对自己的未来形成期望，无论这些期望是积极的还是消极的，都会产生重要的后果。那么，什么决定了人们期望的效价呢？试图通过个体差异的方法来回答这个问题的研究已经证实，乐观/悲观自我信念中的特质偏差，以及最近更重视一个人过去的积极经历和消极经历的行为倾向的特质偏差，都可以预测人们典型期望的效价。然而，这两种偏见并不相关，这表明纯粹的个体差异方法来预测人们的期望是有限的。我们假设，由于这两种偏见似乎通过不同的过程运作（自上而下的自我信念和自下而上的效价加权偏见），为了预测一个人在特定场合的期望，考虑影响处理风格的情境因素也很重要。为了检验这一假设，我们研究了影响处理风格的未来思维的一个组成部分——心理意象——如何决定每种偏见的影响。两项实验测量了效价加权偏差和乐观/悲观的自我信念，然后操纵参与者是否使用自己的第一人称视觉视角（有利于自下而上的过程）或外部第三人称视觉视角（有利于自上而下的过程）形成期望。期望更多地与第一人称（相对于第三人称）的效价加权偏差相对应，但更多地与第三人称（相对于第一人称）的自我信念相对应。另外两项实验操纵了价权重偏差，证明了其在通过第一人称而非第三人称图像塑造期望（和行为）方面的因果作用。这些结果表明，这两种偏见通过不同的过程发挥作用，对增加乐观情绪的干预措施具有影响。
People regularly form expectations about their future, and whether those expectations are positive or negative can have important consequences. So, what determines the valence of people’s expectations? Research seeking to answer this question by using an individual-differences approach has established that trait biases in optimistic/pessimistic self-beliefs and, more recently, trait biases in behavioral tendencies to weight one’s past positive versus negative experiences more heavily each predict the valence of people’s typical expectations. However, these two biases do not correlate, suggesting limits on a purely individual-differences approach to predicting people’s expectations. We hypothesize that, because these two biases appear to operate via distinct processes (with self-beliefs operating top-down and valence weighting bias operating bottom-up), to predict a person’s expectations on a given occasion, it is also critical to consider situational factors influencing processing style. To test this hypothesis, we investigated how an integral part of future thinking that influences processing style—mental imagery—determines each bias’s influence. Two experiments measured valence weighting biases and optimistic/pessimistic self-beliefs, then manipulated whether participants formed expectations using their own first-person visual perspective (which facilitates bottom-up processes) or an external third-person visual perspective (which facilitates top-down processes). Expectations corresponded more with valence weighting biases from the first-person (vs. third-person) but more with self-beliefs from the third-person (vs. first-person). Two additional experiments manipulated valence weighting bias, demonstrating its causal role in shaping expectations (and behaviors) with first-person, but not third-person, imagery. These results suggest the two biases operate via distinct processes, holding implications for interventions to increase optimism.