Causal Uncertainty Prompts Abstract Construal of Behavior

Title Causal Uncertainty Prompts Abstract Construal of Behavior
Publication Type Journal Article
Year of Publication 2012
Authors Helzer EGEdwards JA
Journal Social Cognition
Volume 30
Pagination 519-536
Abstract

When people experience Causal Uncertainty (CU; the sense that they have failed to understand the causal structure of the social world) they search for information that will restore their understanding. Three studies explore information processing strategies that guide this search. We hypothesized that CU would promote abstract construal of behavioral information. In Study 1, CU promoted faster spontaneous trait inferences; in Studies 2 and 3, individuals with chronically activated CU beliefs, and those primed with CU, showed broader unitization of the behavioral stream (Study 2) and increased preference for abstract construal of behaviors (Study 3). We argue that these strategies reflect a search for diagnostic causal information about the social world.

URL https://doi.org/10.1521/soco.2012.30.5.519
DOI 10.1521/soco.2012.30.5.519