Elinor Amit
Behavioral Decision Making: Building Approaches from
Laboratory Insights
October 31th 2011

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)

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)

“the two most vivid forms of working memory are mental images... and snatches of inner speech”
Pinker, 2008

Apple

Medium words pictures
Dissimilar to the object:
Similar to the object:
Cognized
Arbitrary
Abstract
Gist
Simple
Perceived
Not arbitrary
Concrete
Peripheral
Complex

We will discuss today…
- The association between medium and psychological distance
- The implications of the medium of representation to moral judgment

We will discuss today…
- The association between medium and psychological distance
- The implications of the medium of representation to moral judgment

Proximal event
Distal event
 
Visual representation
  Verbal representation
Amit, Algom, & Trope, 2009

The distance between an individual and a target.
• Subjective
• Egocentric

• Temporal:
How much time separates between the individual’s present and the target event
• Spatial:
How far in space is the event from the individual
• Social:
How different is the social target from the individual
Bar Anan, Liberman & Trope, 2006

• Pictures and words serves different cognitive functions:
• Words  preserve the invariant & essential properties of the item for a distal use
• Pictures  preserve the stimulus in details for an immediate use.

Mental construal processes serve to traverse psychological distances and switch between perspectives.
Distal events  not so much information => abstract representation, entailing the essence, invariant features of the referent.
Proximal events  there is information => concrete, subordinate representation.
Trope & Liberman, 2003; 2010

Pictures and words are associated with psychological distance:
• People elect to represent close targets in pictures and distal targets in words.
• Pictures impart a feeling of proximity, whereas words impart a feeling of distance.

• cognitive processing:
- Identification
- Categorization
- Selective attention
- Memory
• Social cognition:
- Interpersonal communication
- Moral judgment
• Neural correlates

• cognitive processing:
Identification
- Categorization
- Selective attention
- Memory
• Social cognition:
- Interpersonal communication
- Moral judgment
• Neural correlates

football
Medium : pictures, words
Distance : socially near, far
Task : speeded identification soccer
Socially proximal
Socially distal
Amit, Algom, & Trope, 2009, Jep: General

610
590
570
650
630
proximal distal picture word
F(1,13)=7.63, p < .05
Amit, Algom, & Trope, 2009, Jep: General

Medium : pictures, words
Distance : spatially near, far
Task : speeded identification
Amit, Algom, & Trope, 2009, Jep: General

700
680
660
640
620
600
proximal distal picture word
F(1,15)=6.3, p < .05
Amit, Algom, & Trope, 2009, Jep: General

+
Tomorrow
CHAIR
+
Exp.1: event related design, 11 subjects
Exp.2: block design, 10 subjects
10 years
APPLE
+
 20 sec
 1 sec
Amit, Rim, Greene, & Trope, in prep

Mental travel (Harvard sample) far>near
Language regions near>far
Visual regions precuneus
BA47L
BA 21 L calcarine
Fusiform L
Fusiform R
N=10, p =.001

Pictures are associated with proximity, whereas words are associated with distance.
- This association influence performance in various cognitive tasks (e.g., identification)
- People spontaneously elect to represent proximal things visually (embodied cognition), and distal things verbally.

convenience for costumers paths existing routes location of main public services air pollution pressure from the government cost location of businesses bus driver’s union demands

Walk a lot
Wait a little
?
Walk a little
Wait a lot

We will discuss today…
- The association between medium and psychological distance
- The implications of the medium of representation to moral judgment

We will discuss today…
- The association between medium and psychological distance
- The implications of the medium of representation to moral judgment

Proximal event
Distal event
 
 
Visual representation
Verbal representation

Visual representation
Verbal representation
 
 
Proximal event
Distal event

Visual representation
Verbal representation
Implications for behavior…
Proximal event
 
 
Distal event
 If you see something
Do something!

• Pictures  “emergency” reaction
• Words  not so much

Visual processing
 Psychologically proximal
 High emotional reaction
Verbal processing

Psychologically distal
 Low emotional reaction
5 >1


Visual processing
 Psychologically proximal
 High emotional reaction
 Emotionally-driven judgments
Verbal processing

Psychologically distal
 Low emotional reaction
 “cognitive”-driven judgments
5 >1


5 >1

Yes ?

5 >1

Yes ?
No

Greene et al, Cognition , 2009

Predictions
Visual processing  deontological judgments
(rely on emotional reactions)
Verbal processing  utilitarian judgments
(rely on “controlled” reaction)

Another rationale for the medium/moral judgment prediction
Pictures  thinking about means (consistent with deontological moral reasoning)
Words  thinking about end-goals (consistent with utilitarian moral reasoning)

Exp 1: How media preferences are related to moral judgments?
L.A. Times
Wall Street journal

Exp 1: How media preferences are related to moral judgments?
More utilitarian
7
6
5
4
10
9
8
1
0
3
2
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 r(108) = 0.233, p = 0.011*
After controlling for level of education: r(107) = .22, p = 0.018*

Exp 1: How media preferences are related to moral judgments?
More utilitarian
6
7
5
10
9
8
4
3
2
1
0
0 1 2 3 4
Hours/day of TV watching
5
R(170) = -0.18, p = 0.017*
After controlling for education: r(169) = -0.18, p = 0.01**
6 7

Conclusions from Experiment 1:
Media consumption preferences are associated with moral judgments tendencies:
Visual  deontological style
Verbal  utilitarian style
* Cannot be accounted for by education

Exp 2: How cognitive style is related to moral judgments?
Amit & Greene, under revision

Exp 2: How cognitive style is related to moral judgments?
r = .35
p = .01
utilitarian
More utilitarian
Verbal - Visual Accuracy

Conclusions from Experiment 2:
Cognitive style is associated with moral judgments tendencies:
Visual style  deontological
Verbal style  utilitarian
Amit & Greene, under revision

Exp 3: How visual and verbal interference affect moral judgments?
Condition 1
Enemy soldiers have taken over your village….
Condition 2
You are standing near a footbridge…

5 sec
Is it appropriate to smother your baby?
Is it appropriate to smother your baby?

5 sec no…..yes
no…..yes
 2.5 sec
Amit & Greene, under revision

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.
Amit & Greene, under revision

Exp 3: How visual and verbal interference affect moral judgments?
0,58
0,56
0,54
More utilitarian
0,52
0,5
0,48
0,46
0,44
0,42
0,4 picture
* n.s
word
Interference type control
Amit & Greene, under revision

Conclusions from Experiment 3:
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.
Amit & Greene, under revision

• 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.

What did you imagine more?
The 5
1
The one
0
5
4
3
2 side
F(1,331) = 15.1, p < .0001
mean

imagery
P = .000***
Dilemma
(mean, side)
P = .000***
Sobel = -2.04, p = .004
P = .001**
Moral judgment

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.

• 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 Rand
•Regan Bernhard
•Ryan Halprin
•Sara Gottlieb
•Allison Gofman
•Rebecca Fine
•Warren Winter
•Paul Lively

Thanks!