Four studies test the proposition that when people look back to past selves as a means of gauging current status, the visual perspective they assume determines the kind of information that they consider in making their judgments of change. In this way, visual perspective, coupled with the kind of change for which people are looking, determines how much change is perceived. The studies demonstrate that in the first-person perspective, experiential information is weighted more heavily than content information, whereas in the third-person perspective, the converse is true. In addition, the effects of perceived change on behavior are revealed, such that greater perceived positive change is associated with behaviors that are congruent with that change, whereas greater perceived negative change is associated with behaviors that are incongruent with that change. Theoretical implications, as well as implications for behavioral interventions, are discussed.
