Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 
 

Files

File List


osu1236786651.pdf (903.02 KB)

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Shifting Perspectives: Point of view in visual images affects abstract and concrete thinking

Shaeffer, Eric M.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1236786651

Abstract Details

2009, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Psychology.
Visual images can depict the same action or event from multiple points of view. Images from a first-person perspective depict events as seen through the actors’ own eyes, whereas images from a third-person perspective depict events through the eyes of an observer who is watching an action take place. This dissertation examines how varying this aspect of images affects level of abstraction, which then leads to different interpretations of the same event. Four experiments tested whether visual perspective is related to thinking abstractly or concretely about actions. Across these studies, actions depicted in third-person images were described abstractly more often than were first-person images, and actions described abstractly were more often paired with third-person depictions of those actions. Two additional experiments tested whether point of view in visual images causes one to adopt either an abstract or a concrete mindset. In these studies, people who had been briefly exposed to third-person images were more likely to describe unrelated actions abstractly and to think that abstract descriptions fit Aesop’s fables than people exposed to first-person images. These findings suggest that third-person images are more strongly associated with adopting an abstract processing style. Together, these studies attest to the significance of visual perspective in images and highlight the broader role of perspective in human cognition.
Lisa K. Libby (Committee Chair)
Richard E. Petty (Committee Member)
Kentaro Fujita (Committee Member)
109 p.
Psychology; Social Psychology
visual perspective; perspective-taking; action identification; construal level

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Shaeffer, E. M. (2009). Shifting Perspectives: Point of view in visual images affects abstract and concrete thinking [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1236786651

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Shaeffer, Eric. Shifting Perspectives: Point of view in visual images affects abstract and concrete thinking. 2009. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1236786651.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Shaeffer, Eric. "Shifting Perspectives: Point of view in visual images affects abstract and concrete thinking." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1236786651

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1236786651
1,032
© 2009, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.