Department of Psychology, Tel-Aviv University, PO Box 39040,Tel-Aviv 69978, Israel.
J Pers Soc Psychol. 2010 Feb;98(2):268-80. doi: 10.1037/a0016960.
According to politeness theory (P. Brown & S. Levinson, 1987), politeness serves to both reflect and regulate social distance. On the basis of this notion and on construal level theory (N. Liberman & Y. Trope, 2008; N. Liberman, Y. Trope, & E. Stephan, 2007), it was predicted that politeness would be related to abstract construal, temporal distance, and spatial distance. Eight studies supported this prediction. Politeness increased when the addressees were construed abstractly (Study 1), were temporally distant (Studies 2, 3), and were spatially distant (Study 4). It was also found that increasing politeness produced abstract construals (Study 5), greater temporal distance (Study 6), and greater spatial distance (Study 7, 8). These findings shed light on the way politeness operates in different cultures and is conveyed in different languages, and they support the idea that dimensions of psychological distance are interrelated.
根据礼貌理论（P. Brown 和 S. Levinson，1987），礼貌既反映又调节社会距离。基于这个概念和构念水平理论（N. Liberman 和 Y. Trope，2008；N. Liberman、Y. Trope 和 E. Stephan，2007），人们预测礼貌与抽象构念、时间距离和空间距离有关。八项研究支持了这一预测。当被试者被抽象地构念（研究 1）、时间上远离（研究 2、3）和空间上远离（研究 4）时，礼貌程度会增加。还发现，增加礼貌会产生抽象的构念（研究 5）、更大的时间距离（研究 6）和更大的空间距离（研究 7、8）。这些发现揭示了礼貌在不同文化中的运作方式以及在不同语言中的表达方式，并支持了心理距离维度相互关联的观点。
