Picturing yourself: a social-cognitive process model to integrate third-person imagery effects. Issue 1 (2nd January 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Niese, Zachary Adolph; Eibach, Richard P.; Libby, Lisa K.
• Is Part Of: Journal of cognitive psychology. Volume 34:Issue 1(2022)
• Page Start: 24
• Page End: 44
• Publication Date: 2022-01-02
• Subjects: visual imagery perspective -- third-person imagery -- processing styles; Cognitive psychology -- Periodicals; 153.05
• DOI: 10.1080/20445911.2021.1912051
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2044-5911

Abstract

ABSTRACT: People have a fascinating capacity to picture their actions from an external vantage point. Much of the research on this third-person imagery has focused on the specific effects it has on cognition due to the elements of episodic experience that it lacks relative to first-person imagery. Other research focuses on the information that the third-person provides that first-person imagery lacks. We propose a more systematic approach that conceptualises how third-person imagery's various effects interrelate due to a common underlying social-cognitive function. Specifically, we outline an integrative model proposing that third-person and first-person imagery cause people to adopt qualitatively distinct processing styles. This model explains many of the diverse effects that have been documented in the literature and helps reconcile seemingly discrepant findings. We conclude with recommendations for strategies to more systematically investigate the functions of visual perspective in mental imagery to build more comprehensive understanding of this phenomenological variable.