Functions of speculative thinking

Xie, Yibo ORCID: 0000-0002-9496-5975 (2020). Functions of speculative thinking. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

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Abstract

Speculative thinking is the thinking about things that are not currently real, which includes counterfactual thinking, prefactual thinking, and some other kinds of thinking. Through four experimental chapters (10 experiments), I explored the functions of speculative thinking from a general perspective.

Experiment 1 showed that learning that a protagonist had engaged in counterfactual thinking (compared to no counterfactual thinking) resulted in participants inferring that the past event was closer in time to the protagonist. Experiment 2 demonstrated that participants were not affected by the number of counterfactual statements they read when inferring temporal closeness. Experiment 3 demonstrated that participants who learned that a protagonist had engaged in counterfactual thinking (compared to no counterfactual thinking) were more likely to infer that the protagonist experienced the controllable event. Experiment 4 indicated that participants who learned that a protagonist had engaged in counterfactual thinking (compared to no counterfactual thinking) were more likely to infer that the protagonist experienced the exceptional event. Experiment 5 showed that construal level of describing far psychological distance activities were higher than that of describing close psychological distance activities, and construal level of describing past activities were higher than that of describing future activities. Experiment 6 demonstrated that participants doing Realistic Prefactual Thinking elicited more controllable modifications than participants doing Hypothetical Prefactual Thinking. Experiment 7 indicated that, participants doing Hypothetical Prefactual Thinking focused on more controllable modifications than participants doing Counterfactual Thinking. Experiment 8 showed that thinking about closeness did not lead to more controllable modifications than thinking about distance. Experiment 9 showed that participants were more likely to say that a protagonist experiencing a controllable event would lie than protagonist experiencing an uncontrollable event. Experiment 10 showed that participants expected protagonists to lie about controllable events rather than uncontrollable events.

To conclude, this thesis not only explored the traditional function of improving future performance that speculative thinking serves (i.e., the preparatory function), but also studied the functions that have not been widely discussed (i.e., the function to convey information through others’ counterfactuals, and the function of generating lies), also explored the different functions between speculative thinking of the past and future.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):