Correlation Between Lack of Psychological Distance & Adolescent Romanticization of COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected the exhibition of artworks in museums and galleries. Many have displayed their collection online. In this context, experiencing an online exhibition is essential for visitors to appreciate and understand the artwork. Compared with offline exhibitions, visitors to online exhibitions are often unable to communicate their experiences with other visitors. Therefore, in this study, by facilitating communication via Zoom call, we established a system that allows two people to visit the museum together through the Google Arts and Culture (GA&C) website. To reduce the psychological distance between online visitors and help increase user engagement, we designed and developed a media device based on moiré pattern visualization of electroencephalography (EEG) signals. The participants were divided into two groups to visit the online museum, communicating remotely through Zoom. The objective of this study was to test whether a real-time EEG signal visualization device could help close the psychological distance between participants and whether it could increase user engagement with the online exhibition. Participants were randomly assigned to either the normal online exhibition experience (NOEE) group or EEG signal visualization device (ESVD) group. Participants in the NOEE group experienced four online exhibitions (Task1, Task2, Task3, and Task4) together (two participants per test unit). The conditions for participants in the ESVD group remained the same, apart from adding a media device to enable them to visualize EEG signals. A total of 40 university students participated in this study. Independent samples t-tests revealed that participants in the ESVD group perceived a significantly closer psychological distance between themselves and the participants on the opposite side than those in the NOEE group (t = −2.699; p = 0.008 < 0.05). A one-way ANOVA revealed that participants experienced Task3 with significantly closer psychological distance assessments than Task1 (p = 0.002 < 0.05), Task2 (p = 0.000 < 0.05), and Task4 (p = 0.001 < 0.05). Repeated ANOVAs revealed that participants in the ESVD group had higher overall user engagement than those in the NOEE group, with marginal significance (p = 0.056 < 0.1). Thus, this study shows that EEG visualization media devices can reduce the psychological distance between two participants when experiencing an online exhibition. Moreover, it can increase user engagement to some extent.

Subjective Distress about COVID-19 and Its Social Correlates: Empirical Evidence from Hubei Province of China

COVID-19 gives threats to public health and effects on individuals’s psychological condition. This study is aimed to describe the students’ psychological well-being during the pandemic COVID-19, as we’ll as the psychological distance and the social distancing. 305 students (M = 19,41 years old) participate at the google-form survey, 80% were female. Ryff’s Scale of Psychological Well-Being is administered, together with the questions concerning psychological-distance and social-distancing related to COVID-19. Applying SPSS ver. 25 for data analysis. the results reveal that in general, the psychological well-being of the participants is low. The dimensions of Autonomy and Self-Acceptance are in the medium level, whereas the other dimensions are low. Psychological well-being has no relationship with psychological distance and social distancing. These findings could be used for counselling or other interventions

Economic crises stress trade-offs between costs and sustainability for environmentally orientated firms impacting supply-chain management decisions. Inspired by the disruption to supply caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, we explore supplier selection during a financial crisis, studying the impact of psychological distance on the cost–environmental performance trade-off. Across three experiments (N = 420), we examine the choice between a low-cost and an environmental supplier at close and far psychological distances. Study 1 and Study 2 demonstrate that closer spatial and social distances, respectively, increase the preference for the environmental supplier. Study 3 extends these studies by showing that distance influences perceptions of the firm’s objectives, mediating supplier preference. In contrast, Study 4 shows that a far temporal distance increases the preference for selecting the environmental supplier, differing from spatial distance, due to a reversal in the appraisal of the firm’s objectives. Taken together, our results provide a greater understanding of the cognitive influences on sustainable procurement decision-making during the COVID-19 crisis.

While the COVID-19 pandemic has been found to undermine mental health, it is unclear how it may impact individuals’ motivation to tackle other global crises. There are at least two perspectives on how COVID-19 might psychologically impact how people respond to other global crises. The finite-pool-of-worry hypothesis suggests that worrying about one issue might diminish worry about other issues since individuals have a limited capacity of worry. Conversely, the affect-generalization hypothesis advocates that worry about an issue might generalize to other issues and increase general levels of worry. To test these competing hypotheses, the present research investigated how threats activated by the COVID-19 pandemic might affect individuals’ interest in and motivation to address climate change (Study 1) and the refugee crisis (Study 2) by assessing pro-environmental behavior and prosocial behavior toward refugees, respectively. The results showed that exposure to COVID-19 threats elevated anxiety levels, and trait anxiety, psychological distance, and future orientation moderated this effect. While COVID-19 threats did not influence pro-environmental and prosocial behavior and intentions, exploratory analyses uncovered that being psychologically closer to COVID-19 might predict an increase in pro-environmental and prosocial behavior and intentions, pointing to the affect-generalization hypothesis.

BackgroundThe long-established use of video consultation in mental health services has undergone significant historical development. This study reveals and discusses how video consultations influence youths’ presentation of self in video consultations and in different locations and contexts. This phenomenon will be examined in light of Goffman’s theory of frontstage and backstage in relation to the sense and impact of place, or placelessness, concidering mental health situations. The aim of this study was to explore whether and how therapy through a screen was experienced and to reveal challenges and opportunities that result from using digital tools to communicate in a therapeutic context. The study employed a hermeneutic-phenomenological approach to gain an understanding of youths' life-world experiences with video consultations in therapy. 33 qualitative interviews were performed with youths in the age between 16–23 years. The recruitment was carried out between mid-august 2021 and end of march 2022. All had participated in VC sessions with their therapist during the COVID-19 pandemic. The analysis followed an abductive approach, where iterative cycles between the empirical data and theoretical framework helped uncover both unexpected and novel insights into the youths' experiences with VC.ResultsThe findings revealed two main themes to guide our investigation: 1) therapy through a screen versus F2F therapy and 2) different physical contexts for therapy through a screen. The findings show that youths’ experiences with the use of video consultations in therapy are diverse and heterogeneous.ConclusionsFace-to-face communication may reduce ambiguity and uncertainty through the use of body language and eye contact. Face-to-face communication requires less cognitive effort to process and involves greater psychological distance than digital communication. The advantages of using video consultations include avoiding school days, avoiding long travel distances, connecting faster when needed, and having shorter conversations to catch up on challenges in collaboration. The implications of location and context may also impact youths’ presentation of self.

Research has investigated behavioral coping strategies for the negative emotions that public emergencies elicit. Accordingly, our current research explored how people coped with negative emotions in response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, from a cognitive perspective. Building on the theory of psychological distance and self-construal, we proposed that people who experienced fear, sadness and anxiety responded with independent-self construal, focusing on information that related to themselves and the novel virus (independent information). On the other hand, people who experienced fear, sadness and anger responded with interdependent-self construal, focusing on information that pertained to “us”, the virus and nature (interdependent information). We collected data from 1,142 participants at both the initial peak of the outbreak and when its spread had subsided. Based on this longitudinal data, we examined the effectiveness of these strategies, and our findings suggested that independent information was effective in decreasing fear and anxiety, while interdependent information effectively mitigated sadness. The findings could help researchers, practitioners, governments, and organizations to implement appropriate information strategies to regulate individuals’ negative emotions during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.