Abstract
Three studies examined how the use of the present versus the past tense in recalling a past experience influences behavioral intentions. Experiment 1 revealed a stronger influence of past behaviors on drinking intentions when participants self-reported an episode of excessive drinking using the present tense. Correspondingly, there was a stronger influence of attitudes towards excessive drinking when participants self-reported the episode in the past tense. Experiments 2 and 3 liked this effect to changes in construal level (Liberman, Trope, & Stephan, 2007; Trope & Liberman, 2003), with the present tense being similar to a concrete construal level and the past tense being similar to an abstract construal level.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1196-1200 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Journal of Experimental Social Psychology |
| Volume | 48 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Sep 2012 |
Keywords
- Attitude
- Behavioral intentions
- Construal level
- Past behavior
- Verb tense
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Psychology
- Sociology and Political Science
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