TBB Highlights: "You Can't See Much in the Dark: Darkness Affects Construal Level and Psychological Distance"

Some interesting highlights from this article, (with more text available here):

Visual darkness leads our brains to ponder more "distant" things across for dimensions: space-wise, time-wise, hypothetically, and socially. We think more globally and abstractly (hypothetical), we picture broad social contexts rather than narrow ones, and we become more focuses on long term, long distance situations.

Here's an interesting paradox: in social interaction games people exhibit slightly more sociopathic and self-interested tendencies, but also view others more positively and are more likely to volunteer for charity.

http://sciencia.org/stories/1775150/You_Cant_See_Much_in_the_Dark_Darkness_Affects_Construal_Level_and_Psychological_Distance.html

http://www.overcomingbias.com/2011/08/dark-is-far.html