harvard kennedy talkfor students

8/13/2019 Harvard Kennedy Talkfor Students

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Pictures and Words

Behavioral Decision Making: Building Approaches fromLaboratory Insights

October 31th 2011

Elinor Amit


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How do we think about things?...

The 3 main approaches:

Words (inner speech) (e.g., Vygotsky, 1934; Oppenheim & Dell, 2010)

Pictures (mental imagery) (e.g., Kosslyn et al)

Abstract, a-modal representations (e.g., Caramazza, Hillis,Rapp, & Romani, 1990; Lambon Ralph, Graham, Patterson, & Hodges, 1999; Rapp, Hillis, & Caramazza,1993; Tyler & Moss, 2001; Mahon & Caramazza, 2008)


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the two most vivid forms of working memory

are mental images... and snatches of inner

speech

Pinker, 2008


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Apple


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Red apple


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Apple

Red apple


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Differences between words and pictures

Red apple

Medium

words pictures

Dissimilar to the object:

Cognized

Arbitrary

Abstract

Gist

Simple

Similar to the object:

Perceived

Not arbitrary

Concrete

Peripheral

Complex


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- The association between medium and

psychological distance

- The implications of the medium of representation

to moral judgment

We will discuss today


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to moral judgment



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The medium/morality hypothesis

Proximal event Visual

representation

Distal event Verbal

representation

It depends

Amit, Algom, & Trope, 2009

How do we think about things?...


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What is psychological distance?

The distance between an individual and a target.

Subjective Egocentric


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What is psychological distance?

Temporal: How much time separatesbetween the individuals present and the

target event

Spatial: How far in space is the eventfrom the individual

Social: How different is the socialtarget from the individual

Bar Anan, Liberman & Trope, 2006


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Why is medium associated with

distance? Pictures and words serves different cognitive

functions:

Wordspreserve the invariant & essential

properties of the item for a distal use

Picturespreserve the stimulus in details for

an immediate use.


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Construal Level Theory (CLT)

Mental construal processes serve to traverse psychological distancesand switch between perspectives.

Trope & Liberman, 2003; 2010

Distal events not so much information =>

Proximal events there is information =>

abstract representation, entailing the essence, invariant

features of the referent.

concrete, subordinate representation.


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Main hypothesis

Pictures and words are associated with psychologicaldistance:

People elect to represent close targets in pictures and

distal targets in words.

Pictures impart a feeling of proximity, whereas wordsimpart a feeling of distance.


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cognitive processing:

- Identification

- Categorization

- Selective attention

- Memory

Social cognition:

- Interpersonal communication

- Moral judgment

Neural correlates


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cognitive processing:

- Identification

- Categorization

- Selective attention

- Memory

Social cognition:

- Interpersonal communication

- Moral judgment

Neural correlates


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Speeded Identification: Social distance

football

soccer

Amit, Algom, & Trope, 2009, Jep: General

Socially proximal

Socially distal

Medium: pictures, words

Distance: socially near, farTask: speeded identification


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Speeded Identification: Social distance

570

590

610

630

650

picture word

ReactionTim

e(ms)

proximaldistal

F(1,13)=7.63, p < .05Amit, Algom, & Trope, 2009, Jep: General


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Speeded Identification: Spatial distance

Medium: pictures, words

Distance: spatially near, farTask: speeded identification



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Speeded Identification: Spatial distance


600

620

640

660

680

700

picture word

ReactionTime(ms)

proximaldistal

F(1,15)=6.3, p < .05


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Amit, Rim, Greene, & Trope, in prep

+

Tomorrow

CHAIR

+

10 years

APPLE

+

20 sec

1 sec

Mental travel

Exp.1: event related design, 11 subjects

Exp.2: block design, 10 subjects


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near>far

N=10, p =.001

calcarine

far>near

BA 21 L

Language regions Visual regions

Fusiform L

BA47L

precuneus

Fusiform R

Mental travel (Harvard sample)


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Interim conclusion

Pictures are associated with proximity, whereaswords are associated with distance.

- This association influence performance invarious cognitive tasks (e.g., identification)

- People spontaneously elect to representproximal things visually (embodied cognition),and distal things verbally.


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Implications of the medium/distance

association for public policy


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paths

cost

air pollution

convenience for

costumers

pressure

from the

government

bus drivers

union demands

location of

businesses

existing routes

location ofmain public

services


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Walk a lot

Wait a little

Walk a little

Wait a lot?


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to moral judgment



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to moral judgment



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Proximal event Visual

representation

Distal event Verbal

representation

The medium/distance hypothesis


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Proximal eventVisual

representation

Distal eventVerbal

representation



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Proximal eventVisual

representation

Distal eventVerbal

representation


If you see something

Do something!

Implications for behavior


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Picturesemergency

reaction

Wordsnot so much


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Visual

processingHigh emotional

reaction

Verbal

processing

Low emotional

reaction

5 >1

Psychologically

proximal

Psychologically

distal


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Visual

processingHigh emotional

reaction

Verbal

processing

Low emotional

reaction

5 >1

Psychologically

proximal

Psychologically

distal

Emotionally-driven

judgments

cognitive-driven

judgments


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Dual-Process Moral Cognition

5 >1 Yes

?


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Dual-Process Moral Cognition

5 >1

No

Yes

?

XGreene et al, Cognition, 2009


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Visual processingdeontological judgments

(rely on emotional reactions)

Verbal processingutilitarian judgments

(rely on controlledreaction)

Predictions


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Another rationale for the medium/moral judgment prediction

Picturesthinking about means (consistent with

deontological moral reasoning)

Wordsthinking about end-goals (consistent withutilitarian moral reasoning)

Exp 1: How media preferences are related to moral judgments?


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Exp1: How media preferences are related to moral judgments?

L.A. Times Wall Street journal



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r(108) = 0.233, p = 0.011*

After controlling for level of education: r(107) = .22, p = 0.018*

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7


More utilitarian



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R(170) = -0.18, p = 0.017*

After controlling for education: r(169) = -0.18, p = 0.01**

Hours/day of TV watching

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7


More utilitarian


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Conclusions from Experiment 1:

Media consumption preferences are associated

with moral judgments tendencies:

Visualdeontological styleVerbalutilitarian style

* Cannot be accounted for by education

Exp 2: How cognitive style is related to moral judgments?


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Amit & Greene, under revision



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Verbal - Visual Accuracy

utilitarian

N = 50

r= .35

p= .01

R(50)=.346, p < .01


More utilitarian


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Cognitive style is associated with moral

judgments tendencies:

Visual styledeontologicalVerbal styleutilitarian


Exp 3: How visual and verbal interference affect moral judgments?


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Enemy soldiers

have taken overyour village.

Is it appropriate

to smother your

baby?

2.5 secno..yes

5 sec


5 sec


You are standing

near afootbridge

Is it appropriate

to smother your

baby?

no..yes

Condition 1 Condition 2


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Prediction:

pictorial interference prevents representing

the dilemma visually, thus leads to more

utilitarian judgment.

Verbal interference prevents representing the

dilemma verbally, thus leads to more

deontological judgment.




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0.4

0.42

0.44

0.46

0.48

0.5

0.52

0.54

0.56

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picture word control

Interference type

* n.s

p j g

More utilitarian



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Visual imagery creates more deontological

judgments.

No effect for words (compared to control)suggests that the default mode of thinking

about moral dilemmas is visual.



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Exp. 4

Subjects read mean vs. side dilemma.

Than made moral permissibility judgment

And reported whether they imagined the one

to be killed or the five to be saved.


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0

1

2

3

4

5

side mean

F(1,331) = 15.1, p< .0001

What did you imagine more?

The 5

The one


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Dilemma

(mean, side)

imagery

Moral judgment

P = .000*** P = .001**

P = .000***

Sobel = -2.04, p = .004

k h


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Take-home message

Intriguing implications for the differences between

pictures and words

- People think about proximal things in pictures

and about distal things in words

- They think about means in pictures and about

end-goals in words

- Thinking in pictures lead to deontological moral

judgments, and thinking in words lead to

utilitarian moral judgments.


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Thanks

Joshua Greene

Yaacov Trope

Daniel Algom

Galit Yovel Evelina Fedorenko

SoYon Rim

Georg Halbeisen

Nobuhito Abe

Alek Chakroff

Fiery Cushman

Joe Paxton

Steven Frenkland

David RandRegan Bernhard

Ryan Halprin

Sara Gottlieb

Allison Gofman

Rebecca FineWarren Winter

Paul Lively


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Thanks!

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