Psychological Science

Psychological Science 21(1) 147 –152 © The Author(s) 2010 Reprints and permission: http://www .sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0956797609356283 http://pss.sagepub.com

Do people see their surrounding environments the way those environments really are? People tend to assume that their con- scious representations of the outside world reflect reality com- pletely and accurately. For psychologists, however, whether or not this assumption is true has proved an enduring question. Is vision instead influenced by psychological states internal to the perceiver?

We explored whether perceivers’ desires serve as internal psychological states that shape perception of the physical environment. We hypothesized that objects serving current goals seem more desirable than other objects and appear phys- ically closer to the perceiver. Why would perceivers see desir- able objects as closer? Classic research and theory suggest that desirable objects activate and energize behaviors toward those objects to the extent that the objects are in close proximity to the perceiver (Dollard & Miller, 1950). Movement toward an object in physical space leads perceivers to see an object as closer than it actually is, and this misperception then activates approach tendencies that serve needs (Lewin, 1935). We extended this classic argument by suggesting that, just as physically close objects encourage approach behaviors, biased subjective perceptions of distance can similarly energize approach behaviors toward objects that assist perceivers in fulfilling active goals. In other words, perceivers might see a desirable object (food, money, or a friend) as closer than it really is because this perception encourages approach behav- iors that will assist in the object’s acquisition.

We should note that this issue lay at the heart of the New Look approach to perception, which arose in the 1940s and 1950s, led by Bruner and others (e.g., Bruner & Minturn, 1955). According to New Look theorists, perception is a con- structive process influenced by the individual’s desires, needs, and values (Bruner & Goodman, 1947). The New Look per- spective initially engendered much support, but methodologi- cal and conceptual problems later emerged, leading to a barrage of criticism that undermined the enterprise (Goldia- mond, 1958; McCurdy, 1956; Wohlwill, 1966). For instance, the empirical methodologies used to test perceptual process- ing, although state-of-the-art at the time, allowed for too many alternative explanations, including those implicating memory (McCurdy, 1956) and response bias (Erdelyi, 1974). As a result, the New Look perspective was largely abandoned in the early 1960s, and its findings generally dismissed. The influ- ence of desire on visual perception was never firmly estab- lished, leaving unanswered a number of questions about whether desire plays any role in visual perception (Dunning, 2001; Jones, 1985).

With improved technologies and a deeper understanding of cognitive and perceptual processes, recent research has

Corresponding Author: Emily Balcetis, New York University, Department of Psychology, 6 Washington Place, New York, NY 10003 E-mail: [email protected]

Wishful Seeing: More Desired Objects Are Seen as Closer

Emily Balcetis1,2 and David Dunning3 1Ohio University, 2New York University, and 3Cornell University

Abstract

Although people assume that they see the surrounding environment as it truly is, we suggest that perception of the natural environment is dependent upon the internal goal states of perceivers. Five experiments demonstrated that perceivers tend to see desirable objects (i.e., those that can fulfill immediate goals—a water bottle to assuage their thirst, money they can win, a personality test providing favorable feedback) as physically closer to them than less desirable objects. Biased distance perception was revealed through verbal reports and through actions toward the object (e.g., underthrowing a beanbag at a desirable object). We suggest that seeing desirable objects as closer than less desirable objects serves the self-regulatory function of energizing the perceiver to approach objects that fulfill needs and goals.

Keywords

motivation, perception, vision, distance perception, New Look

Received 1/28/09; Revision accepted 6/1/09

Research Article

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148 Balcetis, Dunning

reopened the investigation into whether desire influences visual perception, particularly when the stimuli are perceptu- ally ambiguous (Balcetis & Dunning, 2006, 2007). For exam- ple, we discovered that people typically interpret bistable ambiguous figures (e.g., a figure that can be seen as the head of a horse or the body of a seal—but not as both at the same time) in a way that is congenial to their self-interest. The fol- lowing experiments investigated whether desires could also influence perception of naturally occurring ambiguities that perceivers confront in everyday environments.

One particular type of natural ambiguity is distance to an object (Proffitt, 2006). In five experiments, we examined whether perceivers resolve visually ambiguous distances as a function of objects’ desirability. Would participants perceive a desirable object as closer than a less desirable one?

Extant evidence lends credence to the assertion that higher- order psychological states influence distance perception in order to regulate the perceiver’s behavior toward optimal out- comes (Bhalla & Proffitt, 1999). For example, being fatigued, being older, or being heavily laden (i.e., carrying a heavy backpack) causes people to see hills as steeper and distances to some locations as farther (Bhalla & Proffitt, 1999; Proffitt, Stefanucci, Banton, & Epstein, 2003). Such perceptual errors arise, arguably, to efficiently guide the actions of the perceiver. For instance, exaggerated estimates of distance might lead perceivers to avoid physical challenges and conserve energy. Indeed, it has been argued that distance perception and regula- tion of physiological energy reserves interact in order to pro- mote optimal functioning in one’s environment (Esteve-Lanao, Lucia, deKoning, & Foster, 2008). We wondered if object desirability would also bias perception, but produce a reverse effect. Would desirability cause people to see the environment in a way that energizes their behavior?

Overview Across these five studies, participants estimated the distance to either a desirable object or a less desirable object. We manipu- lated object desirability by altering the visceral state of the per- ceiver (Study 1) or the objects’ social value (Studies 2a, 2b, 3a, and 3b). We expected that perceivers would see desirable objects as closer than less desirable objects. In addition, we tested the effects of mood on distance perception (Studies 2a, 2b, 3a, and 3b). We also controlled for the strength of participants’ attitudes, independent of valence, by exposing participants to an object about which they had a strong, but negative, attitude (Study 3b).

Finally, we also used several dependent measures to assess distance perception. In some studies, participants provided a verbal, numeric estimate of the distance between themselves and the object, using a 1-in. line as a reference (Studies 1, 2a, and 2b). In other studies, participants provided action-based measures (Study 3a) or visual matching measures (Study 3b). Both of these measures are standard means of assessing dis- tance perception, and both eliminate potential biases that can arise when converting visual phenomena to numeric reports.

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