The moderating role of self-construal in the effects of past immorality on the perspective of time

• Main Author: Chern, Hui Ying
• Other Authors: Albert Lee Kai Chung
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2020
• Subjects: Social sciences::Psychology
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/140672
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Abstract concepts, such as time, can be understood in terms of metaphors. Therefore, temporal perspective can be mapped to spatial metaphors and be represented as either an ego-moving or time-moving perspective. The perspective adopted depends on a person’s motivation to vary the psychological distance between themselves and an event. Vicarious emotions can arise from the behaviors of others especially those of ingroups. Thurs, when recalling an immoral behavior displayed by the self (i.e., personal recall) or by an ingroup member (i.e., relational recall), how would self-construal play a part in the likelihood of the temporal perspective adopted? This paper investigates how self-construal (independent vs. interdependent) moderates the relationship between immoral past and the perspective of time adopted. Participants completed an online study involving a past immorality recall, a self-construal manipulation, and they answered an ambiguous temporal question that reflected temporal perspectives. While recalling a personal past immoral event led to stronger negative feelings compared to recalling a relational past immoral event, the self-construal manipulation did not significantly influence participants’ selfconstrual, and the predicted interactions between immoral past and self-construal were not supported by the data. Possible reasons for the insignificant interaction effects could be due to the weakness of the self-construal manipulation and anger being triggered instead of guilt or shame.