Creative Cognition And The Construal Level Theory

Take a mobile phone. Your phone. What brand is it? What color is it? The answer is specific.

Look at your mobile phone. What is it?

The answer is variable. On one obvious level, it is a mobile phone. One another level it is a communication device. For the sake of answering this question, let’s call it a communication device.

Take your communication device. Now think – what communication devices are you familiar with? How many answers do you have?

Maybe 5, 6? Walkie talkies, radios, landlines, laptops with skype, etc.

Pause for a second.

Could you have easily jumped to the examples of communication devices based on the first question you answered (what brand is it?).

My guess is that calling it a communication device made it easier. The jump from your mobile phone brand to examples of communication devices is not that obvious.

What you did is – you traveled through the construal levels. Construal levels theory is a framework that describes the ‘level’ at which you construe (or understand) a concept. The level ranges from low to high or concrete to abstract or zoomed-in to zoomed-out. In a broader sense, it speaks of the psychological distance/magnification you have regarding a concept or perception. We’ll get to the distance bit at the end of the article.

Low construal levels are specific and narrow (by definition) in how they relate to other concepts. Its characteristics are local processing, focused attention, detail-oriented, and concrete-concepts based on precise attributes.

High construal levels are abstract and broad in how they relate to other concepts. Its characteristics are global processing, broad attention, essence-oriented, and abstract concepts based on an overview. High construals are a hotspot for creative thinking.

High construals create a pathway to fetch creative ideas because the links between different ideas are more abstract & broad.

Here is a hierarchy:

1. iPhone/Samsung
2. Mobile Phone
3. Communication Device

Each level has a link to a different set of concepts. The nearest neighbors are often related or on the same plane.

If you say iPhone, Samsung, it’s easy to fetch OPPO or OnePlus.

If you say Mobile Phone, it’s easy to fetch Laptop, Computer, Charging cable

If you say Communication Device, it is easy to fetch Medical devices, Electronics, Talking, etc. These examples seem unrelated but they are, in fact, linked on some level.

Concepts across construal levels are linked and become an example of different categories. In this hierarchy, the topmost level (lowest construal), is an example of specific details. The lowest level (highest construal) is about 2 different categories – communication & device. This is a key component of creative cognition – the ability to process concepts at various levels and selectively choose the details that matter.