Psychosocial resources, threat, and the perception of distance and height: Support for the resources and perception model.

Harber, Kent D.; Yeung, Douglas; Iacovelli, Anthony

doi:10.1037/a0023995

Cited by 61 publications

(75 citation statements)

References 59 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In particular, people should be biased to anticipate the motion of an approaching threat and misremember it as having come closer to themselves than it actually had. Indeed, related effects have been reported for spider stimuli (Cole, Balcetis, & Dunning, 2013;Harber, Yeung, & Iacovelli, 2011;Witt & Sugovic, 2013). Third, our displays of rings and dots on otherwise blank backgrounds were schematized, simple, and predictable in their content, and our predisplay descriptions conveyed threat only conceptually Hubbard, 1995Hubbard, , 2005Laney, Campbell, Heuer, & Reisberg, 2004;Laney, Heuer, & Reisberg, 2003;Vinson & Reed, 2002).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

When anticipation beats accuracy: Threat alters memory for dynamic scenes

et al. 2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Threat frequently leads to the prioritization of survival-relevant processes. Much of the work examining threat-related processing advantages has focused on the detection of static threats or long-term memory for details. In the present study, we examined immediate memory for dynamic threatening situations. We presented participants with visually neutral, dynamic stimuli using a representational momentum (RM) paradigm, and manipulated threat conceptually. Although the participants in both the threatening and nonthreatening conditions produced classic RM effects, RM was stronger for scenarios involving threat (Exps. 1 and 2). Experiments 2 and 3 showed that this effect does not generalize to the nonthreatening objects within a threatening scene, and that it does not extend to arousing happy situations. Although the increased RM effect for threatening objects by definition reflects reduced accuracy, we argue that this reduced accuracy may be offset by a superior ability to predict, and thereby evade, a moving threat.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

When anticipation beats accuracy: Threat alters memory for dynamic scenes

et al. 2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Another interesting research perspective consists in extending the rationale of the economy-of-action account to social cognition. Recent evidence has suggested that this perspective is promising, since it has been reported that psychosocial resources and costs influence visual perception (Harber, Yeung, & Iacovelli, 2011;Morgado, Muller, Gentaz, & Palluel-Germain, 2011;Schnall, Harber, Stefanucci, & Proffitt, 2008; for reviews, see Balcetis & Lassiter, 2010;Schnall, 2011;Stefanucci, Gagnon, & Lessard, 2011).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Within reach but not so reachable: Obstacles matter in visual perception of distances

et al. 2012

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A large number of studies have shown that effort influences the visual perception of reaching distance. These studies have mainly focused on the effects of reach-relevant properties of the body and of the objects that people intend to reach. However, any influence of the reach-relevant properties of the surrounding environment remains still speculative. We investigated this topic in terms of the role of obstacle width in perceiving distances. Participants had to estimate the straightline distance to a cylinder located just behind a transparent barrier of varying width. The results showed that participants perceived the straight-line distance to the cylinder as being longer when they intended to grasp the cylinder by reaching around a wide transparent barrier rather than by reaching around narrower ones. Interestingly, this effect might be due to the anticipated effort involved in reaching. Together, our results show that reach-relevant properties of the surrounding environment influence perceived distances, thereby supporting an embodied view of the visual perception of space.

show abstract

“…For instance, the needs and motivations of the perceiver can influence their estimates of physical distance. People judged a threatening object (a live tarantula), but not an innocuous object (a cat toy), as physically closer (Harber, Yeung, & Iacovelli, 2011). However, the more self-worth that people reported, the farther away they estimated the tarantula, which led these authors to conclude that psychosocial resources play a role in judgments of physical distance (Harber et al, 2011).…”

Section: Distance Perceptionmentioning

confidence: 99%