Sabine Pahl

Valence, comparison focus and self-positivity biases: does it matter whether people judge positive or negative traits?

The present research questions whether mere valence affects self-other comparisons in the domain of trait characteristics. While some previous studies have reported greater positivity bias for the self when traits were positive than when traits were negative, we suggest that this is an ambiguous finding, because valence and content were confounded. When we unconfounded content and valence, valence had no effect on the magnitude of self-positivity bias displayed. We also replicate several findings for our unconfounded set of traits. Firstly, comparing others to the self, rather than comparing the self to others, lowered self-positivity for positive and negative traits (focus effect). Secondly, extremely positive and negative traits triggered greater positivity bias than did more moderately evaluated ones. Finally, we suggest that comparative self-positivity biases may be based on a general positivity bias.

Overcoming the Distance Perspective Taking With Future Humans Improves Environmental Engagement

The present research tested the effect of perspective taking with a human victim of environmental change on environmental engagement. Participants watched a slideshow portraying a future scenario of a young woman being affected by negative environmental changes. Taking the perspective of this individual increased a set of three behavior indicators (intentions, time spent engaging with information materials, and number of brochures collected) compared with two control groups. The present research provides evidence that perspective taking with other humans can be a powerful trigger of engagement with environmental issues. Thus, perspective taking could be used to engage people with psychologically distant issues such as climate change, for which the full consequences will only become visible at a much later point in time.

Towards a Marine Mindset: Visiting an aquarium can improve attitudes and intentions regarding marine sustainability.

ABSTRACT The oceans are crucial for human survival, yet they are under serious threat from humans, for example through overfishing and poor waste management. We investigated two questions. First, does a leisure visit to an aquarium improve visitor attitudes and intentions towards marine sustainability, specifically regarding overfishing and pollution? Second, does an information booklet handed out in addition to the visit have additional measurable impact? Aquarium visitors (n = 104) completed a questionnaire on marine sustainability attitudes and behavioral intentions before and after their visit. Half of the visitors also were given informational materials that offered behavioral solutions to the problem of overfishing. The aquarium visit significantly improved visitors’ overall attitudes and intentions. The information booklet additionally improved intentions significantly, but not attitudes. These findings show that a visit to an aquarium can help individuals develop what we term a marine mindset, a state of readiness to address marine sustainability issues. Implications, limitations, and ideas for further research are discussed.

Making Heat Visible Promoting Energy Conservation Behaviors Through Thermal Imaging

Householders play a role in energy conservation through the decisions they make about purchases and installations such as insulation, and through their habitual behavior. The present U.K. study investigated the effect of thermal imaging technology on energy conservation, by measuring the behavioral effect after householders viewed images of heat escaping from or cold air entering their homes. In Study 1 (n = 43), householders who received a thermal image reduced their energy use at a 1-year follow-up, whereas householders who received a carbon footprint audit and a non-intervention control demonstrated no change. In Study 2 (n = 87), householders were nearly 5 times more likely to install draught proofing measures after seeing a thermal image. The effect was especially pronounced for actions that addressed an issue visible in the images. Findings indicate that using thermal imaging to make heat loss visible can promote energy conservation.

Factors That Can Undermine the Psychological Benefits of Coastal Environments Exploring the Effect of Tidal State, Presence, and Type of Litter

The beneficial effects of blue environments have been well documented; however, we do not know how marine litter might modify these effects. Three studies adopted a picture-rating task to examine the influence of litter on preference, perceived restorative quality, and psychological impacts. Photographs varied the presence of marine litter (Study 1) and the type of litter (Studies 2 and 3). The influence of tide and the role of connectedness were also explored. Using both quantitative and qualitative methods, it was shown that litter can undermine the psychological benefits that the coast ordinarily provides, thus demonstrating that, in addition to environmental costs of marine litter, there are also costs to people. Litter stemming from the public had the most negative impact. This research extends our understanding of the psychological benefits from natural coastal environments and the threats to these benefits from abundant and increasing marine litter.

Perceived risk and benefit for self and others as predictors of smokers' attitudes towards smoking restrictions

Studies have investigated perceived own risk as a predictor of behavioural change, but only few have investigated perceived risk to others. However, many risks are distributed, affecting other people as much as the ‘agents’ of the behaviour in question. Further, research on health perceptions has focussed more on risk than benefit even though people generally choose to engage in behaviours because of benefits not risks. The present study investigated the acceptance of smoking restrictions in Germany, a country that at the time of conducting the research had few restrictions on smoking. Smokers (N = 147) rated the benefits and risks of smoking for themselves and others, and their attitudes towards smoking restrictions. We replicated comparative optimism and reality constraints concerning smoking risks. Additionally, we found that participants overestimated their own benefits compared to other smokers (‘comparative utility’). Importantly, own benefits but risks to others best predicted the acceptance of smoking regulations. Moreover, smokers who intended to quit differed from those who did not intend to quit. These findings are potentially important for policy makers aiming to broaden acceptance of regulations for risky behaviours: It may be more effective to remind people they are putting others at risk rather than themselves.

Improving Dental Experiences by Using Virtual Reality Distraction: A Simulation Study

Dental anxiety creates significant problems for both patients and the dental profession. Some distraction interventions are already used by healthcare professionals to help patients cope with unpleasant procedures. The present study is novel because it a) builds on evidence that natural scenery is beneficial for patients, and b) uses a Virtual Reality (VR) representation of nature to distract participants. Extending previous work that has investigated pain and anxiety during treatment, c) we also consider the longer term effects in terms of more positive memories of the treatment, building on a cognitive theory of memory (Elaborated Intrusions). Participants (n = 69) took part in a simulated dental experience and were randomly assigned to one of three VR conditions (active vs. passive vs. control). In addition, participants were distinguished into high and low dentally anxious according to a median split resulting in a 3×2 between-subjects design. VR distraction in a simulated dental context affected memories a week later. The VR distraction had effects not only on concurrent experiences, such as perceived control, but longitudinally upon the vividness of memories after the dental experience had ended. Participants with higher dental anxiety (for whom the dental procedures were presumably more aversive) showed a greater reduction in memory vividness than lower dental-anxiety participants. This study thus suggests that VR distractions can be considered as a relevant intervention for cycles of care in which people’s previous experiences affect their behaviour for future events.

The focus effect and self-positivity in ratings of self-other similarity and difference.

We conducted 2 studies investigating comparative ratings of similarity or difference and the thoughts underlying these ratings. Participants compared either the self with others (self-->other focus) or others with the self (other-->self focus). People expressed higher distinctiveness under self-->other focus than under other-->self focus (focus effect) when rating difference in Studies 1 and 2, and when rating similarity in Study 1. Analyses of verbal reports showed that people mentioned the self more than others under self-->other focus, but mentioned self and others to the same extent under other-->self focus. Moreover, Study 2 showed that participants spontaneously made more positive statements for the self under self-->other focus than under other-->self focus. This effect was significantly mediated by the number of self-references made. Implications for recent models of social judgment are discussed.

Marine Biota and Psychological Well-Being A Preliminary Examination of Dose–Response Effects in an Aquarium Setting

Exposure to natural environments can have calming and stress-reducing effects on humans. Moreover, previous studies suggest that these benefits may be greater in areas with higher species richness. Our study took advantage of a “natural experiment” to examine people’s behavioral, physiological, and psychological reactions to increases in levels of marine biota in a large aquarium exhibit during three stages of restocking: Unstocked, Partially stocked, and Fully stocked. We found that increased biota levels were associated with longer spontaneous viewing of the exhibit, greater reductions in heart rate, greater increases in self-reported mood, and higher interest. We suggest that higher biota levels, even in managed settings, may be associated with important well-being and health benefits, particularly for individuals not able to access the natural analogues of managed environments.

Temporal Distance and Person Memory: Thinking About the Future Changes Memory for the Past

Psychological distance has been shown to influence how people construe an event such that greater distance produces high-level construal (characterized by global or holistic processing) and lesser distance produces low-level construal (characterized by detailed or feature-based processing). The present research tested the hypothesis that construal level has carryover effects on how information about an event is retrieved from memory. Two experiments manipulated temporal distance and found that greater distance (high-level construal) improves face recognition and increases retrieval of the abstract features of an event, whereas lesser distance (low-level construal) impairs face recognition and increases retrieval of the concrete details of an event. The findings have implications for transfer-inappropriate processing accounts of face recognition and event memory, and suggest potential applications in forensic settings.