Self-other differences in change predictions

Individuals live in a changing world in which they predict future events based on past trends. Every event changes between two extremes (e.g., increases and decreases, successes and failures, and peaks and bottoms). People will anticipate changes if they can see the correlation between two extremes. This study investigates whether predictions about changes differ when individuals make predictions about events regarding themselves and others. Based on construal level theory, we hypothesized and found that people who made predictions for others anticipated more changes between two extremes than those who made predictions for themselves. However, self-other differences had boundary conditions. These differences were found in past trends without reversals but not in those with reversals. These results provide novel insights into change predictions.