Emotional Disclosure and Social Judgment

Negative emotions can negatively bias social judgment. However, these emotions can be tempered when expressed, suggesting that emotional disclosure might enable fairer evaluations. Three projects confirmed this prediction. Subjects who disclosed about a past betrayal, compared to those who suppressed, felt closer to their betrayers—the first step toward forgiveness. Disclosing the emotions evoked by viewing an assault, compared with suppressing those feelings, reduced victim blaming. Disclosure did not reduce blaming of victimizers, indicating that disclosure addresses specific emotions rather than calms general arousal. A recent study showed that disclosing a personal travail of any kind promotes acceptance of COVID-19 facts among political conservatives. Collectively, these results indicate that expressing troubling thoughts and feelings can enhance social judgment. © The Author(s) 2023.

Characteristics of victim blaming related to COVID-19 in South Korea.

This study aimed to determine the characteristics of the victim-blaming tendency of patients with coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) and the worry of being blamed because of COVID-19 infection. This study utilized two methodologies based on the theory of defensive attribution and information processing. First, a media analysis was conducted to determine the characteristics of the two representative COVID-19 victim blaming cases (the Itaewon Club case and the Omicron-infected pastor case). The results show that from the viewpoint of defensive attribution theory, the victim blaming of patients infected with COVID-19 is related to social identity and moral violations committed by the patients. The Korean public emphasized their social identity and believed that the patients were different from them from an ego-defensive viewpoint. Second, we conducted three longitudinal online panel surveys (N1 = 1569; N2 = 1037; N3 = 833). The samples were selected by stratified random sampling based on sex, age, and 17 metropolitan regions in Korea. The results showed that as the number of COVID-19 cases increased, the respondents' level of risk perception decreased significantly. As the information processing theory explains, people who are familiar with the frequent risks of COVID-19 are less worried about being blamed by others. Meanwhile, the regression analysis found that victim blaming of the pastor was significantly related to the respondent's religion. We can conclude that the Korean people may blame the victims of COVID-19 because they believe that the victims are very different from an ego-defensive viewpoint. Furthermore, the trust variable appeared to be important: the more the respondents trusted the government, the more they blamed the victims of COVID-19. We term this phenomenon the "trust paradox."

Religious coping and young adult’s mental well-being during Covid-19: Testing a double moderated mediation model

The literature describes religious coping as an important predictor of mental well-being. Present study is aimed at extending this knowledge by assessing whether specific religious coping regulates specific cognitive emotional responses to improve well-being during Covid pandemic, an extreme international event with significant impacts on individuals and communities. A sample of young adults responded to self-report measures of negative and positive religious coping, positive reappraisal, self-blaming, and mental well-being. Results revealed that positive religious coping was a positive predictor of mental well-being and positive reappraisal mediated this positive link. Also, gender and physical health status significantly interacted with positive reappraisal to predict mental well-being in these mediational associations. More specifically, indirect effects of positive reappraisal were positive and significant for men and for participants with better physical health compared with women and those with poor physical health. However, negative religious coping was not a significant correlate of mental well-being but a positive correlate of self-blame. Results suggest that positive religious coping facilitates positive regulation of emotions for improved mental well-being in young adults and particularly young men.

Taking control of violence against doctors

Violence against healthcare professionals is a serious but understudied global problem and one that lacks evidence-based solutions. The current research offers a novel explanation and intervention for addressing this issue: We propose that low feelings of control among patients and their family members play an important role in shaping doctor-patient relationships. To regain a sense of control, we suggest that patients attribute responsibility to doctors for their suffering, which may in turn lead to aggressive behavioural intentions against one's doctors. We conducted three studies to understand whether individuals with low perceived control blame doctors more, and whether threats to their sense of control cause participants to attribute more responsibility to doctors. Study 1 found that feelings of lack of control were an important predictor of attributing responsibility for negative illness-related incidents to doctors in a manner consistent with blame. Study 2 specified that the chaotic and unpredictable nature of illness, and not just its negative valence, is what drives attributions of increased responsibility to doctors. Study 3, which utilized a field setting in hospitals, found that an experimental intervention to increase feelings of control decreased frustration against (Study 3a/3b) and intention to harm doctors (Study 3b). These findings suggest that increasing feelings of control among patients can improve patient-doctor relationships. We also discuss the role of control and scapegoating during the COVID-19 pandemic. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Attention to negative information and PTSSs during the COVID-19: A moderated mediational model.

Post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSSs) have been a common negative psychological response during the COVID-19 pandemic. Previous theories emphasized the unique effects of cognitive and family factors on PTSSs and overlooked their combined role, which suggested that the mechanisms underlying PTSSs were not fully understood. To fill this gap, this study aimed to examine the associations between attention to negative information, blaming others, parent-child relationship and PTSSs, as well as the combined role of these factors on PTSSs. During the COVID-19 pandemic, 1153 college students completed self-report questionnaires. Results indicated that attention to negative information increased PTSSs, both directly and via blaming others. Moreover, parent-child relationship buffered both the exacerbating effect of attention to negative information on blaming others and the effect of blaming others on worsening PTSSs. The current study integrates existing theories, expands the field of trauma research through considering the effect of cognitive and family factors on PTSSs, and provides theoretical support for interventions to relieve PTSSs.