Wanting a bird's eye to understand why: Motivated abstraction and causal uncertainty

• Causal uncertainty activates a goal to think abstractly.
• Causal uncertainty increases resumption to interrupted abstract thinking task.
• Abstract thinking task completion leads to post-fulfillment decrease in motivation.

When negative events occur (e.g., a breakup, a mass shooting), people naturally ask themselves why such things happen. Recent research has shown that more abstract thinking about negative events fosters less uncertainty about why those events happened. The present research examined a downstream consequence of this effect, namely, whether causal uncertainty activates a goal to think more abstractly. We drew on principles of goal activation, to show that after leading participants to feel more uncertain about a negative event, they were more likely to resume an experience that afforded an opportunity to think more abstractly (i.e., focusing on similarities rather than differences; Experiments 1A and 1B). In further support of our motivational framework, we also show that after leading participants to feel more uncertain about a negative event, they no longer exhibited a more positive attitude toward an experience that afforded an opportunity to think more abstractly once they had the opportunity to actually engage in more abstract thinking (Experiment 2). Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.