Construal Level and Confidence

...or Why Tam's Confidence in Her Math Mojo Might Be So Variable

Construal level theory addresses the issue of psychological distance and proposes that events, objects, individuals, etc., can be close or distant from oneself in time, space, social distance, and hypotheticality.  Higher levels of construal are associated with a more abstract mental representation while lower levels of construal involve more concrete mental representations. 

To take an example from my own life these days, when considering "going on an interview visit at X university" at a high level of construal (e.g., when thinking of it as something in the future), I am apt to think of it in terms of its meaning or purpose (such as making progress in my career).  When thinking of it at a low level of construal (e.g., as something happening in the next couple of days), I am likely to think of it very concretely in terms of the detailed aspects of the experience (such as dealing with the hassle of air travel).

"At higher construal levels, being a math student is construed at an abstract level, and confidence assessments center on the desirability of the outcome.  When people assess their confidence in obtaining a desirable outcome, they often intuit that their chances should increase with effort put forth or level of investment in the outcome.  This positive association of effort and confidence in outcome desirability aligns with the conventional wisdom reflected in idioms such as 'Good things don't come easy,' 'The early bird catches the worm,' 'No pain, no gain,' and so forth.  Hence, we propose that at higher construal levels, ease is interpreted in terms of the effort or, more specifically, in terms of the relationship between effort and outcome desirability.  Confidence therefore results from feeling as if she did or did not put in enough effort to ensure a desirable outcome.  For example, experiencing difficulty when reading the textbook would be interpreted as thinking carefully, and we hypothesize that the student would feel more confident, believing she had worked hard at the task.  By contrast, subjective feelings of ease might leave the student with misgivings, as in 'I did not put much effort into this task, so I am not so confident.'

"At lower construal levels, however, being a math student is construed as a concrete task, and confidence is based on the feasibility of completing the task (e.g., "Do I have the ability?").  In this case, subjective feelings of ease indicate that the task is going smoothly without hindrance.  This sense that the task is 'coming off without a hitch' signals that it is feasible to do the task well, thereby fostering confidence.  However, subjective feelings of difficulty signal that the student is running into rough spots in the process or is lacking the ability to complete the task, and so indicate lower feasibility of completing the task, thereby reducing confidence.  For example, experiencing difficulty in reading the textbook might be interpreted as a hindrance and a signal of low ability.  It is as if the student thinks, 'That was a breeze, so I must have gotten it right' or 'That was hard every step of the way, so now I'm not so sure.'"

Adapted from:
Tsai, C. I., & McGill, A. L. (2011). No pain, no gain? How fluency and construal level affect consumer confidence. Journal of Consumer Research, 37, 807-821.