The Effect of Construal Levels on the Perception and Memory of Exercise

The perception of an action can be influenced by how distant it is in time. According to construal level theory, events in the far future or far past are more likely to be construed at a high level, with more focus on the goals of the action and the larger context. Actions in the near future or near past are usually construed at a low level, and perceptions of these events are more detailed and realistic. In this study, 30 non-avid runners at Susquehanna University were asked to run for at least 5 minutes, and afterwards rated the unpleasantness of their run. Two weeks later, both groups rated their recall of the unpleasantness of the original run, and their predictions about the unpleasantness of an upcoming run. Half of the participants (Group 1) made these ratings right before their second running session, so we expected them to have a low-level construal of it. The other half (Group 2) made their ratings a week before their second run, and were expected to have a high-level construal. We predicted that participants’ construal of their upcoming run would change their construal of the memory of the prior run. If so, participants in Group 1 would remember the initial run as being more unpleasant than Group 2. Surprisingly, the timing of the second run did not directly influence participants’ construal levels. However, additional analysis suggests that their construal of the second run was still the strongest predictor of their memory of the first run