The effects of affect, processing goals and temporal distance on information processing: Qualifications on temporal construal theory

According to temporal construal theory (Trope & Liberman, 2003, 2010), people are likely to evaluate a product on the basis of global, high-level criteria (e.g., the intrinsic desirability of its features) if they consider it for future consumption but consider situation-specific (e.g., feasibility-related) criteria if they consider it for immediate use. However, this may be true only when people are unmotivated to assess the implications of all of the information they have available, and this motivation, in turn, is a function of both their mood and the goal they happen to be pursuing. When individuals' objective is to make a good decision, the theory's implications are more likely to be supported when they are happy (and believe they have enough information to make a good judgment) than when they are sad. When their goal is to enjoy themselves, however, the theory is more strongly supported when they are sad (and are unmotivated to engage in extensive processing) than when they are happy.