Politeness and Psychological
Distance: A Construal Level Perspective
Department of
Psychology, Tel-Aviv University
Abstract
According to
politeness theory (P. Brown & S.
Levinson, 1987), politeness serves to both reflect and regulate social distance. On the
basis of this notion and on construal level theory (N. Liberman & Y.
Trope, 2008; N. Liberman, Y. Trope,
& E. Stephan, 2007), it was predicted that politeness would be related to
abstract construal, temporal distance, and spatial distance. Eight studies
supported this prediction. Politeness increased when the addressees were
construed abstractly (Study 1), were temporally distant (Studies 2, 3), and
were spatially distant (Study 4). It was also found that increasing politeness
produced abstract construals (Study 5), greater temporal distance (Study 6),
and greater spatial distance (Study 7, 8). These findings shed light on the way
politeness operates in different cultures and is conveyed in different
languages, and they support the idea that dimensions of psychological distance
are interrelated.
Keywords: politeness,
psychological distance, social distance, construal level theory
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