Hypothetical Distance Research Articles

Exploring perceived learning effectiveness in virtual reality health communication through the lens of construal level theory

BackgroundVirtual reality is increasingly being used for health communication. This study aimed to propose and test an integrated model of the determinants of perceived learning effectiveness in virtual reality (VR) within health communication. It proposes that psychological distance negatively affects immersion, flow, and presence, positively affecting perceived learning effectiveness.MethodsThe Fuzzy Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory Method (F-DEMATEL) and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used to test the proposed model. Data for the F-DEMATEL study were collected from 20 participants, whereas data for the SEM study were collected from 1104 participants, with 775 included in the final analysis.ResultsThe results of the F-DEMATEL study revealed that the three dimensions of psychological distance, emotional distance, spatial distance, and social distance are causal factors. In contrast, temporal, technical, and hypothetical distance are effect factors. The SEM results confirmed the negative effects of psychological distance on flow and presence and the positive effects of immersion and presence on perceived learning effectiveness. In addition, the mediating role of presence was confirmed.ConclusionsThe results suggest that interrelationships among the factors can enhance the perceived learning effectiveness of health communication from VR. The crucial role of ensuring low psychological distance and high engagement in VR communication is also confirmed, providing crucial implications for VR communication practitioners.

Comparing virtual reality vs. augmented reality in promoting COVID-19 self-testing, vaccination, and preventive behaviors.

Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) are innovative technologies that can serve as effective tools for creating health interventions by altering psychological distance. Based on construal level theory and the reality-virtuality continuum, we designed, tested, and compared VR and AR campaigns to encourage proactive measures against COVID-19. 143 participants were randomly assigned to one of three messages: VR, AR, and a CDC video, and completed surveys before, immediately, and one week following message exposure. VR and AR increased preventive intentions and behaviors against COVID-19 both in the short and long run. VR was particularly effective as it also increased risk perceptions, more preventive intentions in the short term, and more preventive behaviors, including social distancing and mask wearing, in the long term. VR was more efficient than AR in enhancing risk perceptions and preventive intentions right after being exposed to the messages as well as promoting behaviors such as avoiding crowds, maintaining social distance from others, and wearing a mask in indoor public areas one week later. Moreover, among the three conditions, VR was the only intervention that generated actual behavior change after one week, which indicated potential long-term advantages of VR compared to other mediums. VR decreased social, spatial, and hypothetical distances to a greater degree than AR. VR was more effective than video. However, AR was not more persuasive than video. Insights gained from the findings extend beyond the pandemic phase, offering practical applications for employing VR and AR technologies in health campaigns.

Evaluation of the Geographical Accessibility of Genome-Matched Clinical Trials on a National Experience.

Molecular-driven oncology allows oncologists to identify treatments that match a cancer's genomic profile. Clinical trials are promoted as an effective modality to deliver a molecularly matched treatment. We explore the role of geographical accessibility in Italy, and its impact on patient access to clinical trials. We retrospectively reviewed molecular data from a single-institutional case series of patients receiving next-generation sequencing testing between March 2019 and July 2020. Actionable alterations were defined as the ones with at least one matched treatment on Clinicaltrials.gov at the time of genomic report signature. We then calculated the hypothetical distance to travel to reach the nearest assigned clinical trial. We identified 159 patients eligible for analysis. One hundred and one could be potentially assigned to a clinical trial in Italy, and the median distance that patients needed to travel to reach the closest location with a suitable clinical trial was 76 km (interquartile range = 127.46 km). Geographical distribution of clinical trials in Italy found to be heterogeneous, with Milan and Naples being the areas with a higher concentration. We then found that the probability of having a clinical trial close to a patient's hometown increased over time, according to registered studies between 2015 and 2020. The median distance to be travelled to the nearest trial was generally acceptable for patients, and trials availability is increasing. Nevertheless, many areas are still lacking trials, so efforts are required to increase and homogenize the possibilities to be enrolled in clinical trials for Italian patients with cancer.

Emotional Appraisal, Psychological Distance and Construal Level: Implications for Cognitive Reappraisal

Construal-level theory emphasizes that representing events at greater spatial, temporal, social, or hypothetical distance results in processing information at high construal levels (more conceptual, abstract). We posit that psychological distance and construal level are somewhat separable constructs, and can have different effects on emotion, and therefore, emotion regulation. We argue that psychological distance influences emotional appraisal, such that increasing distance results in lower emotion intensity, which can be leveraged to down-regulate emotions. However, we consider construal level a mindset, which can occur with either high or low psychological distance. Furthermore, we argue that compared with psychological distance, construal level has a more nuanced relationship with emotion, and changing construal level for the purpose of changing emotion also requires considering the construal level of one's emotion-regulation goals.

When cause familiarity leads to positive attitudes toward brands in a cause–brand alliance: a cross-cultural study during the COVID-19 pandemic

PurposeBuilding on construal level theory and applying the hypothetical distance dimension, this cross-cultural study (individualistic vs collectivistic culture) aims to explore the effects of cause familiarity on individuals' attitudes toward a brand and how cause–brand fit mediates this relationship. Furthermore, this study explores how perceived betrayal moderates the relationship between cause–brand fit and attitude toward a brand.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative research design was adopted. Data collection was performed through snowball sampling of French and Turkish participants (N = 455). The collected data were then analyzed using the PROCESS macro for SPSS.FindingsThe results reveal a significant effect of cause familiarity on attitude toward the brand, wherein one's attitude toward fit in a cause–brand alliance serves as a mediator in this relationship. The results also indicate that perceived betrayal moderates the relationship between cause–brand fit and attitude toward a brand. However, when it comes to facing a global pandemic, culture has no significant effect on consumers' perceptions and attitudes toward cause–brand alliances.Originality/valueThis research investigates the enhancement of attitudes toward a brand through an alliance with a familiar cause and explains this relationship via attitudes toward fit in such an alliance. Moreover, it provides novel insights into perceived betrayal as a variable that can lead to a more pronounced relationship between attitude toward fit and attitude toward a brand.

Personal and Professional Mitigation Behavioral Intentions of Agricultural Experts to Address Climate Change

Mitigation activities, whether at the personal level relating to lifestyle or on the professional level, especially in the agriculture sector, are widely encouraged by scientists and policymakers. This research empirically analyses the association between agricultural experts’ perceptions about climate change and their intention to implement climate change mitigation. Based on survey data, individuals’ reported intention to implement personal and professional mitigation behavior is explained using a conceptual model. The structural equation modeling results suggest that the new ecological paradigm (NEP), institutional trust, and risk salience indirectly influence climate change mitigation intentions. The findings indicate that risk perception, personal efficacy, responsibility, belief in climate change occurring, and low psychological distance trigger a significantly greater intention to support personal and professional mitigation behaviors. However, the research framework is much stronger at predicting the intention to mitigate climate change in professional affairs compared to personal activities. The findings suggest that hypothetical distance factors only have a moderating effect on the relationship between higher climate change environmental values, institutional trust, risk salience, and mitigation intention. This paper analytically explores the regulating role of risk perception, hypothetical distance, personal efficacy, and responsibility between institutional trust, risk salience, and the NEP as independent concepts and intention to personal and professional mitigation behaviors as dependent variables. The findings of the study have important implications for encouraging personal and professional mitigation behaviors.

The Effect of Inconsistent Online Reviews on Customers' Purchase Intention in E-commerce: a Psychological Distance Perspective

Inconsistent online reviews, which affect customers' purchase intention, are gaining increasing attention. In this paper we analyzed the mechanism of inconsistent online reviews that are posted by the same reviewer on customers' purchase intention. Our research was based on a psychological distance theory perspective, specifically in three dimensions: temporal distance, social distance, and hypothetical distance. Our findings were as follows: First, inconsistent online reviews had a significant negative effect on customers' purchase intention, and product type (experience vs. search) played a moderating role. Second, when customers faced inconsistent online reviews, temporal, social, and hypothetical distance significantly affected their purchase intention but this differed according to product type. The effect of temporal distance was more significant for a search product than it was for an experience product; however, social distance and hypothetical distance had more significant effects for the experience product. Our research conclusions enrich the literature on online reviews and provide suggestions for sellers on e-commerce platforms to manage inconsistent reviews according to product type.

Metaphor and board writing matter: The mediating roles of psychological distance and immersion in video lectures

The present study investigated the influence of metaphor and board writing on students’ learning performance, continuance intention, and recommendation intention through the mediating effects of psychological distance and immersion. Four aspects of psychological distance—temporal, spatial, social, and hypothetical distance—and immersion are introduced to identify the mechanism. Through a two (with versus without metaphor) by two (with versus without board writing) between-subject experimental design, 193 participants were randomly assigned to one of four sets of video lectures on the gradient descent method, followed by an online questionnaire. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was employed to validate the research model. The results demonstrate that metaphor has a significant effect on all four aspects of psychological distance and immersion, while board writing has an impact only on hypothetical distance. Social distance mediates the relationship between metaphor and learning performance, recommendation intention, and continuance intention; hypothetical distance mediates the interplay between metaphor, board writing, and learning performance; and immersion mediates the link between metaphor and recommendation intention.

Psychological Distance to Science as a Predictor of Science Skepticism Across Domains.

This article presents and tests psychological distance to science (PSYDISC) as a domain-general predictor of science skepticism. Drawing on the concept of psychological distance, PSYDISC reflects the extent to which individuals perceive science as a tangible undertaking conducted by people similar to oneself (social), with effects in the here (spatial) and now (temporal), and as useful and applicable in the real world (hypothetical distance). In six studies (two preregistered; total N = 1,630) and two countries, we developed and established the factor structure and validity of a scale measuring PSYDISC. Crucially, higher PSYDISC predicted skepticism beyond established predictors, across science domains. A final study showed that PSYDISC shapes real-world behavior (COVID-19 vaccination uptake). This work thus provides a novel tool to predict science skepticism, as well as a construct that can help to further develop a unifying framework to understand science skepticism across domains.

It’s the Thoughts That Count: How Psychological Distance and Affect Heuristic Influence Support for Aid Response Measures During the COVID-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT Guided by construal level-theory, this research seeks to understand the effect of perceived psychological distance on emotions and risk perception associated with the COVID-19 pandemic in its early stage. Survey data were collected from a nationally representative U.S. adult sample (N = 1009) in April 2020. Results reveal that social distance was negatively related to emotions and risk perception. However, hypothetical distance was not significantly related to these variables. Emotions and risk perception also mediated the relationship between social distance and support for aid response measures; theoretically, we demonstrate that people evaluate risks contingent on their emotions when making decisions. This research contributes to extant literature on psychological distance and its utility in communication messaging design during public health crises.

Effective airbnb advertising during COVID-19 pandemic: Message format and hypothetical distance

Airbnb hosts encounter difficulty in choosing an approach to advertising during unprecedented times caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This study explores effective Airbnb advertising messages with a particular focus on hypothetical distance based on construal level theory. A 2 (message format: abstract vs. concrete) × 2 (hypothetical distance: low vs. high likelihood of travel) between-subject experiment was conducted. Data collection was conducted in the US during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings revealed that the ‘abstract’ message results in a higher intention to stay when hypothetical distance is ‘low’, whereas the ‘concrete’ message results in a higher intention to stay when hypothetical distance is ‘high’. In addition, the mediating role of message relevance in the relationship between message format and intention to stay was also found. These findings provide meaningful theoretical contributions and have practical implications for tourism and hospitality research.

Principal component analysis in long term assessment of total viable plate count of municipal water distribution network system in healthcare facility

The microbial quality of water is a critical safety aspect that should not be overlooked, especially when considering human consumption in the facilities for healthcare and the treatment of health compromised populations. The present work aimed to study a municipal network for city water within a healthcare facility microbiologically. The implementation of multivariate analysis was conducted over collected data to decipher trends of the microbiological count of samples from different points-of-use. The statistical study involved an Eigenvalue determination, score graph, loading plot study and outlier diagram. Data showed clustering tendency with aberrant values could be observed. The first component appeared to be associated with bioburden density in the water. While the other component showed a link to the relative locations of the distribution points in the facility and the length of the water lines from the source feeding city water to a great extent. The two components explained more than 55% of the variations in data. A property that highlighted a strong agreement between the order of points-of-use in the loading plot with that of ratio factor which was obtained from the Total Viable Count over the hypothetical distance of sampling port from the reference feeding entrance. Thus, there was evidence of variation in the microbial quality affected by the biological stability of the water distribution system that needed attention and an improvement plan for better control of microbial content in city water to prevent possible excursions in the future. The study showed a valuable perspective approach for the quantitative examination of the microbiological stability of the municipal water distribution network system.

Ascertaining the Inconsistency of AEC Students' Perceptions and Behaviors Regarding Sustainability by Mixed Methods.

University students in architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) are the main force and future leaders of the construction industry, and their values shape the model and direction of the industry’s future development. The construction industry is the largest contributor of waste and greenhouse gas emissions. However, there is an inconsistency between AEC university students’ perceptions and behaviors regarding sustainability, which has received little attention. This study attempts to shed light on the root causes of the inconsistency from the psychological perspective, incorporating construal level (CL) theory and psychological distance (PD) theory into situational settings of the experiment. We recruited 556 AEC students from 20 different universities to participate in data collection. Research findings revealed that PD has a significant influence on AEC students’ recycling behavior with variance in the effect of different dimensions, even though CL has no significant impact. Furthermore, findings show that spatial distance poses the greatest impact on AEC student recycling behavior, followed by information distance, temporal distance, experience distance, hypothetical distance, and social distance. This study contributes to the body of knowledge by introducing CL and PD into sustainability perception and behavior research in construction and has practical implications for universities with sustainability curricula in AEC.

Psychological distance towards COVID-19: Geographical and hypothetical distance predict attitudes and mediate knowledge

While different antecedents have been examined to explain peoples’ reactions towards COVID-19, there is only scarce understanding about the role of the subjective closeness and distance to the pandemic. Within the current study, we applied the concept of psychological distance to understand the distance towards COVID-19 and investigated its (1) connection with preventive attitudes and proactive behaviors, (2) context-specific antecedents, and its (3) mediating effect of knowledge on attitudes. Using an online sample from a German quantitative cross-sectional study (N = 395, M = 32.2 years, SD = 13.9 years, 64.3% female) in July 2020, a time with a general low incidence of people infected with Sars-CoV2, we measured relevant socio-psychological constructs addressing COVID-19 and included further information from external sources. Based on a path model, we found geographical distance as a significant predictor of cognitive attitudes towards COVID-19. Furthermore, hypothetical distance (i.e., feeling to be likely affected by COVID-19) predicted not only participants’ affective, cognitive, and behavioral attitudes, but also the installation of a corona warning-app. While several variables affected the different dimensions of psychological distance, hypothetical and geographical distance mediated the effect of knowledge on attitudes. These results underline the role of geographical and hypothetical distance for health-related behaviors and education. For example, people will only comply with preventive measures if they feel geographically concerned by the disease, which is particularly challenging for fast-spreading global diseases such as COVID-19. Therefore, there is a need to clearly communicate the personal risks of diseases and address peoples’ hypothetical distance.

Keeping One’s Distance: Mask Wearing is Implicitly Associated With Psychological Distance

Mask wearing plays a vital role in the fight against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Despite its ubiquity in everyday social life, it is still unknown how masked faces are mentally represented. Drawing on construal-level theory, we test the hypothesis that masked faces and unmasked faces are implicitly associated with psychological distance and proximity in memory, respectively. Four preregistered, high-powered experiments (N = 354 adults) using the Implicit Association Test lend convergent support to this hypothesis across all four dimensions of psychological distance: social distance, spatial distance, temporal distance, and hypothetical distance. A mini meta-analysis validates the reliability of the findings (Hedge’s g = 0.46). The present work contributes to the growing literature on construal-level effects on implicit social cognition and enriches the current discussion on mask wearing in the pandemic and beyond.

Alternative possibility of GW190521: Gravitational waves from high-mass black hole-disk systems

We evolve high-mass disks of mass $15$-$50M_\odot$ orbiting a $50M_\odot$ spinning black hole in the framework of numerical relativity. Such high-mass systems could be an outcome during the collapse of rapidly-rotating very-massive stars. The massive disks are dynamically unstable to the so-called one-armed spiral-shape deformation with the maximum fractional density-perturbation of $\delta \rho/\rho \gtrsim 0.1$, and hence, high-amplitude gravitational waves are emitted. The waveforms are characterized by an initial high-amplitude burst with the frequency of $\sim 40$-$50$ Hz and the maximum amplitude of $(1$-$10)\times 10^{-22}$ at the hypothetical distance of 100 Mpc and by a subsequent low-amplitude quasi-periodic oscillation. We illustrate that the waveforms in our models with a wide range of the disk mass resemble that of GW190521. We also point out that gravitational waves from rapidly-rotating very-massive stars can be the source for 3rd-generation gravitational-wave detectors for exploring the formation process of rapidly-spinning high-mass black holes of mass $\sim 50$-$100M_\odot$ in an early universe.

Self- versus other-directed outcomes, Machiavellianism, and hypothetical distance in COVID-19 antipandemic messages

Public health information with a fear appeal is often used to promote people's positive health intentions. Anchored by the extended parallel process model and trait activation theory, in this study we examined the effects of self- versus other-directed outcomes, Machiavellianism, and hypothetical distance on the effectiveness of fear-appeal information in the context of COVID-19. In an online survey of 303 people in Wuhan, China, we found that respondents high in Machiavellianism reported stronger antipandemic intentions in response to a self-directed compared to an other-directed outcome message. This effect was actualized through the trait of Machiavellianism, moderated by hypothetical distance, and mediated by perceived severity. Our findings have implications for the effective development and delivery of public health information for specific groups, and for encouraging more detailed exploration of personality in relation to epidemiology.

Optimization of a NdFeB permanent magnet configuration for in-vivo drug delivery experiments

We propose a new concept of magnetic focusing for targeting and accumulation of functionalized superparamagnetic nanoparticles in living organs through composite configurations of different permanent magnets. The proposed setups fulfill two fundamental requirements for in vivo experiments: 1) reduced size of the magnets to best focusing on small areas representing the targeted organs of mice and rats and 2) maximization of the magnetic driving force acting on the magnetic nanoparticles dispersed in blood. To this aim, several configurations of permanent magnets organized with different degrees of symmetry have been tested. The product B·gradB proportional to the magnetic force has been experimentally measured, over a wide area (20 × 20 mm2), at a distance corresponding to the hypothetical distance of the mouse organ from the magnets. A non-symmetric configuration of mixed shape permanent magnets resulted in particularly promising to achieve the best performances for further in vivo experiments.

Impact of VR on impulsive desire for a destination

This study proposes a research model to analyze and evaluate — through affective and cognitive processes based on construal level theory and telepresence — the impact of head-mounted displays (HMD) VR on a tourism product that has experiential and hedonic characteristics. A laboratory experiment using 89 student samples compared HMD VR and video. The HMD VR produced 47% higher telepresence than video. The higher level of telepresence, in turn, through the affective process, shortened participants’ hypothetical distance by 45%, intensified affection by 62%, and increased their impulsive desire by 75%. Although dual path affective and cognitive processes both affected impulsive desire, the affective process seemed to have the stronger effect in the case of the tourism product.

Are all distances created equal? Insights from developmental psychology.

Gilead et al.'s theory presupposes that traversing temporal, spatial, social, and hypothetical distances are largely interchangeable acts of mental travel that co-occur in human ontogeny. Yet, this claim is at odds with recent developmental data suggesting that children's reasoning is differentially affected by the dimension which they must traverse, and that different representational abilities underlie travel across different dimensions.