Abstractness and Messages Describing Consequences Promote Healthier Behavioral Intentions

The Role of Abstraction: Construal Level Can Improve Adolescents' Idea Selection in the Domain of Social Creativity

Creative idea selection is an important part of the creative process, but the current research on creative idea selection has not attracted enough attention, and this lack is particularly evident in the research on creativity focusing on adolescents. In view of this, in this study, centered on the creative process, we delved into the effect of the construal level on adolescents' creative idea selection and whether there were domain differences in this effect. The effect of trait-level construals in the general and social creative domains on creative idea selection was examined in Study 1. The results showed that (1) the creativity of the ideas selected by adolescents with high trait-level construals was higher than that of those with low trait-level construals; (2) the creativity and novelty of idea selection in the social creative domain were significantly lower than those in the general creative domain of adolescents. To determine the consistency and stability of the effects of construal level on creative idea selection, Study 2 distinguished between high and low construal levels on the basis of state initiation. It was demonstrated that (1) the creativity and applicability scores for the idea selection of adolescents with high state-level construals were higher than those of adolescents with low state-level construals; (2) the overall creativity and novelty of adolescents' idea selection in the social creative domain were significantly lower than those in the general creative domain. On the basis of the above results, the following conclusions were drawn in this study: (1) the overall creativity and novelty of adolescents' idea selection in the social creative domain are lower than those in the general creative domain, but there are inconsistent results with respect to applicability; (2) both high trait- and state-level construals can promote the creativity and novelty of adolescents' social creative idea selection.

Effects of Construal Level on Responses to Ambiguous Health Information about Alcohol Consumption

Information about the health effects of alcohol consumption can be ambiguous (i.e., lacking in reliability, credibility, or adequacy) and thus may promote maladaptive health behavior. Guided by Construal Level Theory and a conceptual taxonomy of uncertainty in health care, we tested the hypothesis that manipulating construal level would promote adaptive responses to ambiguous health information. We examined the effects of ambiguous health information about alcohol on health cognitions, message responses, and intentions, as well as whether manipulating construal moderated these effects. Alcohol users (n = 135, M_age = 20.15, 68.9% female) were randomly assigned to either a high-level or low-level construal task and then to read either an ambiguous or unambiguous health communication about the health effects of alcohol. Participants responded similarly to ambiguous health information as they did to unambiguous health information and participants in a high-level construal did not generally report differences compared with those in a low-level construal. Findings suggest that ambiguous health information might not always lead to maladaptive effects. More research is needed to examine moderators of the relationship between ambiguous health information and health outcomes, as well as to understand how and when using construal manipulations are effective in different health contexts.

A culturally targeted video to promote genetic counseling in a community sample of at-risk US Latina women: The role of the concrete mindset

Latina women, who are at increased risk of hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (HBOC), have lower use of genetic counseling and testing (GCT) than non-Hispanic White women. In a recent study, culturally targeted video improved psychosocial outcomes related to GCT. Additional analyses examine whether the culturally targeted video improved positive reactions in women who focus on difficulties (concrete mindset) versus women who focus on the final goals (abstract mindset). Participants (N = 32) completed surveys before and immediately after watching the video. The surveys measured attitudes, emotions, and women's mindset. Before watching the video, women with a concrete mindset reported more negative attitudes and negative emotions about GCT than women with an abstract mindset. After watching the video, women with a concrete mindset reported negative attitudes and feelings at levels comparable to those of women with an abstract mindset, reflecting a reduction in their negative attitudes and emotions. The sample size limits the power to find statistically significant differences. Results support the relevance of considering the audience's mindset in the development and testing of public health messages to promote the use of GCT.

Does poverty promote a different and harmful way of thinking? The links between economic scarcity, concrete construal level and risk behaviors

We tested the relationships between economic scarcity, concrete construal level and risk behaviors. We manipulated the lack of economic resources using a priming task in Studies 1 and 2, and participants reported their real income and completed the BIF scale to measure their construal level in Study 3. Studies 1–3 supported the link between perceived economic scarcity and the concrete construal level. Study 4 demonstrated the mediating role played by the concrete construal level in the influence of economic scarcity on risk behaviors using two opposite priming procedures (scarcity plus abstraction). Study 5, in a real context of economic vulnerability, supported the link between concrete mindset and risk behavioral intentions, while abstraction was associated with fewer risk intentions. Concrete thinking implies focusing on the immediate situation, which might facilitate adaptation to the demanding conditions that characterize scarcity contexts but leaves people without a broad perspective of the future to make safe decisions in situations that involve self-control, such as health-risk behaviors. Because an abstract construal level can be induced, these findings open up challenging ways to improve the conditions in which people in scarcity contexts make some behavioral decisions while we continue working to reduce situations of economic scarcity.

The Relationships between Economic Scarcity, Concrete Mindset and Risk Behavior: A Study of Nicaraguan Adolescents

Background: Nicaragua is one of the poorest countries in Latin America, with an extremely low human development index (HDI). Fifty-two percent of the Nicaraguan population are children and adolescents under 18 years of age. Nicaraguan adolescents present several risk behaviors (such as teenage pregnancies, consumption of alcohol, tobacco, cannabis). Our study examines the links between risk behaviors, fatalism, real economic scarcity, and concrete construal level for adolescents with low and middle-low socioeconomic status in Nicaragua. Methods: Nicaraguan adolescents (N = 834) from schools located in especially vulnerable areas (low economic status) or in neighborhoods with middle-low social class completed several scales and questions to evaluate fatalism (SFC-social fatalism scale), construal level (BIF) and their past and future risk behaviors (smoking cigarettes, smoking cannabis, unsafe sex, and alcohol consumption). Results: We identified that the poorest individuals who maintained a concrete style of thinking had the highest rates of past and future risk behaviors. This vulnerable group also reported the highest levels of fatalism, i.e., negative attitudes and feelings of helplessness. Encouragingly, the adolescents who were able to maintain an abstract mindset reported healthier past and future habits and lower fatalism, even when they belonged to the lowest social status. In the middle-low economic group, the construal level was not as relevant to maintaining healthy habits, as adolescents reported similar rates of past and future risk behavior at both construal levels. Conclusions: All these results support the importance of considering construal level when studying vulnerable populations and designing risk prevention programs.