Converging evidence indicates that distanced self-talk (i.e., using one's own name and other non-first person pronouns to refer to the self) promotes self-control and wise reasoning. However, no research has examined how this process affects how people conceptualize the self. We addressed this issue across two experiments. In Study 1, participants who were randomly assigned to describe themselves using their own name (vs. I) used more abstract descriptors and talked less about their social identities. Study 2 directly replicated these effects in a high-powered pre-registered experiment. It also demonstrated that using one's name to think about the self led to greater shifts in self-concept than those associated with thinking about other people (i.e., a “socially distant” target). Together, these finding demonstrate how subtle shifts in language that promote psychological distance influence the way people cognitively represent the self. They also highlight the need for future research to distinguish between self- and social distance.

越来越多的证据表明，远距离的自我对话（即，使用自己的名字和其他非第一人称代词指代自我）促进了自我控制和明智的推理。但是，没有研究检查过这个过程如何影响人们对自我的概念化。我们通过两个实验解决了这个问题。在研究1中，被随机分配使用自己的名字描述自己的参与者（相对于I）使用了更多的抽象描述符，并且很少谈论他们的社会身份。研究2在一项功能强大的预注册实验中直接复制了这些效应。它也证明了使用一个人的名字去思考自我会比在思考别人时（即一个“远离社会的”目标）带来更大的自我观念转变。一起，这些发现表明，促进心理距离的语言微妙变化如何影响人们认知地表达自我的方式。他们还强调指出，有必要进行进一步的研究以区分自我和社会距离。