Passive vs Active Voice: Distance and Construal – Study Notes

Active voice emphasizes the semantic subject, while passive voice emphasizes the semantic object, potentially obscuring the agent and increasing perceived objectivity. Psychological distance, or the felt distance between the reader and content, includes temporal, hypothetical, and spatial dimensions. Construal Level Theory (CLT) posits that greater psychological distance leads to higher-level, more abstract construal, whereas closer distance results in lower-level, more concrete construal. Objective tone and distance, often achieved through passive voice, can elevate psychological distance and abstract thinking beyond the text, leading to downstream effects that influence judgments and decisions in unrelated domains.

Reading in the passive voice can distance readers from content, activating a more abstract construal level, while active voice tends to promote a feeling of proximity and more concrete processing. This is supported by prior work that connects linguistic form to psychological distance and construal. Studies test propositions across multiple measures of distance and construal.

The core hypotheses predict that passive voice increases readers’ felt psychological distance from described activities, leading to higher abstraction. These effects should generalize across paragraphs and sentences, different topics, and different forms of distance, including temporal, hypothetical, and spatial dimensions.

Five studies were conducted across Americans, Australians, Britons, and Canadians, employing distinct measures of construal such as the Kimchi–Palmer Task (KPT), Behavioral Identification Form (BIF), and Navon task. Distance manipulations varied across temporal, hypothetical, and spatial dimensions, with varied passages and topics. Study 4 controlled for potential confounds like Interest and Ease of Understanding. The results consistently indicate a robust effect of passive voice on abstraction via increased psychological distance.

In Study 1, Americans reading a passage about a trip to France in March 2019 in passive voice experienced greater temporal distance and higher abstraction (as measured by KPT). Study 2 found that Australian undergraduates reading a Macbeth-effect abstract in passive voice showed higher abstraction (via BIF) and greater hypothetical distance. Study 3, involving Britons, demonstrated that passive voice in a passage about Hurricane Florence led to participants feeling farther from North Carolina, resulting in higher abstraction (BIF). Study 4, with Americans, confirmed that passive voice increases abstraction even when passages vary and after accounting for fluency-related confounds. Finally, Study 5, conducted with Canadians, showed that the abstracting effect of passive voice extends to single sentences, as confirmed by the Navon task.

In summary, across five studies, passive voice increases felt psychological distance and leads to higher-level (more abstract) construal. These effects generalize across age groups, English-speaking cultures, and different text forms. Distance appears to transfer to downstream processing and judgments in unrelated domains, consistent with CLT predictions. The bidirectional dynamics suggest that abstract thinking could promote more passive usage, while passive voice may be perceived as more objective but can reduce perceived certainty in scientific findings. Practical implications suggest writers and communicators should consider voice choices carefully, as passive constructions may promote abstraction and perceived distance, potentially reducing belief in specific findings or warnings. Theoretical implications extend CLT by linking objectivity, distance, and construal, suggesting feedback between linguistic form and downstream cognition. Limitations include inconsistent mediation results and the need for cross-language generalizability studies. Future work should explore truncated passives, alternate tense forms, and potential sequence effects among multiple distance dimensions.

Key takeaways include that passive voice increases psychological distance and construal level compared with active voice across multiple studies and languages. The effect is robust to differing passages, topics, and measurement tools. Linguistic form can shape how readers process information beyond the text, with potential downstream effects on judgments and behaviors. Writers should be mindful of voice when presenting information to be perceived as objective or urgent; conversely, passive voice may be used to foster abstraction in certain contexts, though it may reduce perceived certainty in scientific claims.