Construal Levels and the Social-Cognitive Processes of Self-Control

当面对更显著和更可获得的回报和诱惑时，人们往往会放弃他们的目标和全球利益。这些自我控制的失败，如肥胖、滥用药物和不安全的性行为等问题，令人困惑和不安。尽管人们对自我控制的重要性达成了广泛共识，但令人惊讶的是，对于自我控制需要什么，以及哪些因素促进或削弱了自我控制，人们缺乏共识。本研究提出，与其他判断和决定一样，自我控制也是识解依赖的。也就是说，人们可以抽象地(或高层次地)或具体地(或低层次地)解读同一对象或事件(“听讲座”)(或在高层次上，例如“接受教育”)。解读的水平影响自我控制，因为对事件的更高水平的解读会导致判断和决定更符合一个人的全球目标和价值观。俄亥俄州立大学的Kentaro Fujita博士通过研究主观构念影响自我控制的特定心理机制，建立了他在这一领域的先前工作。一组研究考察了识解水平如何调节诱惑和目标之间的认知联系。另一组研究考察了识解水平如何缓和诱惑和消极情绪之间的评价联系。认知和评价性联想的这些变化，作为高水平与低水平理解的函数，应该会使人们更容易避免诱惑，并选择促进自我控制的行为选择。自我控制的失败被认为是许多代价高昂的个人和社会问题的核心。更好地了解什么是自我控制，它的基本过程，以及增强或削弱自我控制的因素，可能会为如何解决这些问题提供关键的见解。

When faced with more salient and available rewards and temptations, people often abandon their goals and global interests. These self-control failures, exemplified by problems such as obesity, substance abuse, and unsafe sex, are perplexing and troubling. Despite widespread agreement of its importance, there is a surprising lack of consensus on what self-control entails, and what factors promote or impair it. The present research proposes that, like other judgments and decisions, self-control is construal-dependent. That is, people can construe the same object or event ("listening to a lecture") abstractly (or at high-levels; e.g., "getting an education") or concretely (or at low-levels; e.g., "sitting in a lecture hall"). The level of construal affects self-control in that higher level construals of events lead to judgments and decisions that are more consistent with one's global goals and values. Dr. Kentaro Fujita of Ohio State University builds on his previous work in this area by examining the specific psychological mechanisms by which subjective construals impact self-control. One set of studies examines how construal level may moderate the cognitive association between temptation and goal. Another set of studies examines how construal level may moderate the evaluative association between temptation and negativity. These changes in cognitive and evaluative associations as a function of high- vs. low-level construals should make it easier to avoid temptations and choose behavioral options that promote self-control. Self-control failures are believed to be at the heart of a number of costly personal and societal issues. Understanding better what self-control is, its underlying processes, and the factors that enhance or impair self-control may provide critical insight in how to address such problems.