But what does that have to do with the adjectives of ‘near’ and ‘far’?
People somewhere (someone know the reference?) have done studies on how priming people with certain types of words influences how they react to new information.
The findings noticed that whenever people were made to think of things far in the future or socially distant they were more likely to think abstractly and idealistically. When prompted with things in the present or immediate future or by things that are close to them in their social network they are more likely to react with the practical thinking.
Pjeby’s explaination is a good way of describing just why this has come to be the case.
People somewhere (someone know the reference?) have done studies on how priming people with certain types of words influences how they react to new information.
The findings noticed that whenever people were made to think of things far in the future or socially distant they were more likely to think abstractly and idealistically. When prompted with things in the present or immediate future or by things that are close to them in their social network they are more likely to react with the practical thinking.
Pjeby’s explaination is a good way of describing just why this has come to be the case.