When physical closeness induces psychological distance: The effects of psychological ownership and contagion threat on social connectedness

With the advanced development of IT, people are spending an increasing amount of time in the cyberspace and perceive psychological ownership of intangible objects (e.g., e-books, avatars, online movie streaming services), which they come to regard as “theirs”. This study focuses on users’ psychological ownership of OTT (over the top) services, which have recently received much attention, and investigates how service providers can present recommendation information more effectively when recommending content to users. This study, based on psychological ownership theory, specifically attempts to verify which method of recommending information is effective in correlation to the level of psychological ownership that a user feels about an online service. Additionally, this study presents this effect in terms of psychological distance, which we argue is the underlying mechanism of psychological ownership. Watcha, one of South Korea’s OTT services, was employed as the experimental subject in this study, and a scenario-based test was conducted. In conclusion, this study found that for users with high psychological ownership of online services, a recommendation information message based on objective and concrete information about a movie was more effective, whereas for users with low psychological ownership, abstractly expressed messages were more effective. Furthermore, by applying a moderated mediation model, this study confirmed that psychological distance mediated the results stated above.

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Self-Compassion and Quality of Life in Adults Who Stutter

American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology ◽

10.1044/2020_ajslp-20-00055 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 29 (4) ◽

pp. 2097-2108

Author(s):

Robyn L. Croft ◽

Courtney T. Byrd

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Social Connectedness ◽

The Self ◽

Future Research ◽

Self Compassion ◽

Adults Who Stutter ◽

And Gender ◽

Relationship Of ◽

The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this study was to identify levels of self-compassion in adults who do and do not stutter and to determine whether self-compassion predicts the impact of stuttering on quality of life in adults who stutter. Method Participants included 140 adults who do and do not stutter matched for age and gender. All participants completed the Self-Compassion Scale. Adults who stutter also completed the Overall Assessment of the Speaker's Experience of Stuttering. Data were analyzed for self-compassion differences between and within adults who do and do not stutter and to predict self-compassion on quality of life in adults who stutter. Results Adults who do and do not stutter exhibited no significant differences in total self-compassion, regardless of participant gender. A simple linear regression of the total self-compassion score and total Overall Assessment of the Speaker's Experience of Stuttering score showed a significant, negative linear relationship of self-compassion predicting the impact of stuttering on quality of life. Conclusions Data suggest that higher levels of self-kindness, mindfulness, and social connectedness (i.e., self-compassion) are related to reduced negative reactions to stuttering, an increased participation in daily communication situations, and an improved overall quality of life. Future research should replicate current findings and identify moderators of the self-compassion–quality of life relationship.

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Re-Increased Male Suicide Rates in the Recovery Phase Following the Great East Japan Earthquake

Crisis ◽

10.1027/0227-5910/a000656 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 41 (6) ◽

pp. 422-428 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Masatsugu Orui

Keyword(s):

Social Connectedness ◽

Recovery Phase ◽

Great East Japan Earthquake ◽

Temporary Housing ◽

Period Analysis ◽

Suicide Rates ◽

Male Suicide ◽

The Social ◽

The Difference

Abstract. Background: Monitoring of suicide rates in the recovery phase following a devastating disaster has been limited. Aim: We report on a 7-year follow-up of the suicide rates in the area affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, which occurred in March 2011. Method: This descriptive study covered the period from March 2009 to February 2018. Period analysis was used to divide the 108-month study period into nine segments, in which suicide rates were compared with national averages using Poisson distribution. Results: Male suicide rates in the affected area from March 2013 to February 2014 increased to a level higher than the national average. After subsequently dropping, the male rates from March 2016 to February 2018 re-increased and showed a greater difference compared with the national averages. The difference became significant in the period from March 2017 to February 2018 ( p = .047). Limitations: Specific reasons for increasing the rates in the recovery phase were not determined. Conclusion: The termination of the provision of free temporary housing might be influential in this context. Provision of temporary housing was terminated from 2016, which increased economic hardship among needy evacuees. Furthermore, disruption of the social connectedness in the temporary housing may have had an influence. Our findings suggest the necessity of suicide rate monitoring even in the recovery phase.

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Interpersonal Stress and Poor Health

European Psychologist ◽

10.1027/1016-9040/a000003 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 3-11 ◽

Cited By ~ 32

Author(s):

Mette M. Aanes ◽

Maurice B. Mittelmark ◽

Jørn Hetland

Keyword(s):

Psychological Distress ◽

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Social Relationships ◽

Indirect Effects ◽

Social Connectedness ◽

Somatic Symptoms ◽

Total Effect ◽

Subjective Feeling ◽

Interpersonal Stress ◽

The Relationship

This paper investigated whether the lack of social connectedness, as measured by the subjective feeling of loneliness, mediates the well-known relationship between interpersonal stress and psychological distress. Furthermore, a relationship between interpersonal stress and somatic symptoms was hypothesized. The study sample included 3,268 women and 3,220 men in Western Norway. The main findings were that interpersonal stress was significantly related to psychological distress as well as to somatic symptoms, both directly and indirectly via paths mediated by loneliness. The size of the indirect effects varied, suggesting that the importance of loneliness as a possible mediator differs for depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and somatic symptoms. In the case of depressive symptoms, more than 75% of the total effect was mediated through loneliness, while in the case of somatic symptoms just over 40% of the total effect was mediated through loneliness. This study supports the hypotheses that social connectedness mediates a relationship between interpersonal stress and psychological distress. The study also provides the first link between interpersonal stress, as measured by the Bergen Social Relationships Scale, and somatic symptoms, extending earlier research on the relationship between interpersonal stress and psychological distress.

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Commentaries and Rejoinder on

Social Psychology ◽

10.1027/1864-9335/a000206 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 45 (4) ◽

pp. 327-334 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Han Gong ◽

Douglas L. Medin ◽

Tal Eyal ◽

Nira Liberman ◽

Yaacov Trope ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Moral Judgment ◽

Psychological Distance ◽

Temporal Distance ◽

Moral Cognition ◽

Cultural Systems ◽

Moral Condemnation ◽

Construal Levels

In the hope to resolve the two sets of opposing results concerning the effects of psychological distance and construal levels on moral judgment, Žeželj and Jokić (2014) conducted a series of four direct replications, which yielded divergent patterns of results. In our commentary, we first revisit the consistent findings that lower-level construals induced by How/Why manipulation lead to harsher moral condemnation than higher-level construals. We then speculate on the puzzling patterns of results regarding the role of temporal distance in shaping moral judgment. And we conclude by discussing the complexity of morality and propose that it may be important to incorporate cultural systems into the study of moral cognition.

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Replication of Experiments Evaluating Impact of Psychological Distance on Moral Judgment

Social Psychology ◽

10.1027/1864-9335/a000188 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 45 (3) ◽

pp. 223-231 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Iris L. Žeželj ◽

Biljana R. Jokić

Keyword(s):

Moral Judgment ◽

Social Distance ◽

Psychological Distance ◽

Temporal Distance ◽

Construal Level ◽

Systematic Effect ◽

Replication Studies ◽

Opposite Conclusion ◽

Moral Transgressions ◽

Replication Of Experiments

Eyal, Liberman, and Trope (2008) established that people judged moral transgressions more harshly and virtuous acts more positively when the acts were psychologically distant than close. In a series of conceptual and direct replications, Gong and Medin (2012) came to the opposite conclusion. Attempting to resolve these inconsistencies, we conducted four high-powered replication studies in which we varied temporal distance (Studies 1 and 3), social distance (Study 2) or construal level (Study 4), and registered their impact on moral judgment. We found no systematic effect of temporal distance, the effect of social distance consistent with Eyal et al., and the reversed effect of direct construal level manipulation, consistent with Gong and Medin. Possible explanations for the incompatible results are discussed.

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