Shifting Construal Level Through Mobile Technology

• In Event: CAT Interactive Papers #1

Abstract

Prior research on construal level theory has illustrated the benefits of making decisions from a high construal level, or a more abstract, mindset. The purpose of this work is to develop and test an interactive cognitive task delivered through mobile technology that shifts construal level, or how abstractly an individual is thinking. The task is called mCL (mobile construal level). While, construal level has been manipulated in the laboratory (Freitas, Gollwitzer, & Trope, 2004; Wakslak & Trope, 2009), this is the first study to develop and test an application designed to shift construal level through mobile technology in the field.

Author

• Sherri Jean Katz, U of Minnesota