Distance in time, space or probability shifts thinking toward the abstract and idealistic, while nearness shifts it toward the concrete and feasible.
Distant matters are represented by their central features and desirability, near ones by their details and feasibility, which is why people hold high principles about the distant future and act on convenience in the present without experiencing a contradiction. The two modes are not in conflict because they are rarely active at once.
In practice
- A board that adopts an ambitious five-year commitment declines the first concrete step toward it in the same meeting.
- A person certain about what they would do in a crisis is reasoning in a mode the crisis will not permit.
- Standing
- The underlying construal level theory is an established research programme; the blog formulation is a popularisation that draws stronger conclusions about hypocrisy than the source supports.
- Subject
- Decision-making & Reasoning
- Essay
- Why reasoning works the way it does