Effects of Temporal and Social Distance on Consumer Evaluations

This article investigates how two dimensions of psychological distance (i.e., temporal distance and social distance) jointly affect consumers' evaluations of products. Drawing on the properties of psychological distance and diminishing sensitivity to the increase in distance, we show an interaction effect of the two distance dimensions on product evaluations in two experiments. Specifically, when both dimensions are proximal, consumer evaluations are more influenced by the value associated with low-level construals than when either or both dimensions are distal, where consumer evaluations are more influenced by the value associated with high-level construals.