Novelty Categorization Theory

Abstract

Novelty Categorization Theory (NCT) attempts to predict when people perceive events as novel and how they process novel events across different domains. It is predicted that broad mental categories reduce the perception of an event being novel via inclusion processes, whereas narrow categories increase it via exclusion processes. Furthermore, based on a ‘motive to know’, when preparing for novel events, people broaden both perception and mental categories, because to understand novel information, it is essential to integrate it into pre‐existing knowledge structures that are sufficiently broad. Over time, a ‘when‐novel‐then‐process‐globally’ routine develops that is automatically elicited when novelty is encountered. Self‐protective motives can, however, counteract such processing styles so that threatening novelty leads to local processing. Relations to construal level theory and action identification theory and implications for future research are discussed.

When curiosity kills no cat—but mediates the relation between distant future thoughts and global processing across sensory modalities

“…For example, the jeans shopper with a local processing style may buy the jeans because of its soft texture by overlooking its miserable fit. Furthermore, because novelty naturally involves a funnel sequence from novel to familiar (Förster et al, ), it would be important to examine changes in perception over time. Would dating partners, for example, listen to the global meaning of a communication by missing important details, but then after some time when a relationship develops, would they focus more and more on specifics (Förster, Özelsel, & Epstude, )?…”

“…For example, the farther away in the future an event will take place, the more psychologically distant this event will be. Others suggested that distant events will create a feeling of novelty (Förster et al, ). Construal Level Theory (CLT; Liberman & Trope, ; Liberman et al, ; Trope & Liberman, ) further suggests that more psychologically distal stimuli are represented on a higher level, in a more abstract, super‐ordinate and general way.…”

“…Investigating the functionalities of the global versus local systems, GLOMO sys borrowed from Novelty Categorization Theory (NCT; Förster et al, ) and posits that a global processing style is driven by epistemic motives such as curiosity or interest. Although the experience of novelty, signaling a “gap in one's knowledge” (Loewenstein, , p. 87), might at first be experienced as unpleasant (Berlyne, , ), people still approach and explore novel events because of a genuine “motive to know” (Kagan, ; p. 54).…”

“…At the same time, it activates a broad conceptual scope facilitating a general understanding of the event (it is a human being, an animal, a house, etc.). Only later, when the perceiver wants to know more individual details of the event (or “wants to get closer to the event”), lo‐sys will take over (Förster et al, ; Fiske & Neuberg, ), providing a narrow perceptual focus on details and the activation of smaller, more narrowly defined categories in memory. Within the model, novelty, defined as “distance from experience”, is the common denominator of all distances (Förster et al, ).…”

“…In other words, we predict that when thinking about the distant, future people listen to, grasp, taste, and smell in a more global way compared with when they think about the proximal future. Such reasoning is based on the recently introduced GLOMO sys (Förster & Dannenberg, ) that borrows assumptions from Construal Level Theory of psychological distance (Trope & Liberman, ), and from Novelty Categorization Theory (Förster, Marguc, & Gillebaart, ). Support for such a multisensory link could have repercussions for theories on creative thought and the general notion of “visionaries” that “look” into the future.…”