Look at yourself!: Visual perspective influences moral judgment through level of mental construal

• Previous research (Libby et al., 2009) has established that a third-person (outside) visual perspective elicits more abstract processing than a first-person (inside) perspective. Because many moral principles constitute abstract psychological constructs, we predicted that they should weigh more heavily when people adopt a third-person visual perspective. In two experiments we show that a third- (vs. first-) person visual perspective leads to harsher judgments of one’s own morally questionable actions. Moreover, we demonstrate that this effect can be partially explained by level of mental construal. The present research suggests that simple visual perspective techniques may be used to promote moral behavior.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Psykologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Psychology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

construal

visual perspective

moral judgment

Publication and Content Type

art (subject category)

ref (subject category)