Social exclusion, self-affirmation, and health information avoidance

Howell, Jennifer L.; Shepperd, James A.

doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2016.05.005

“…These findings indicate that the affirmation of values can mute the physiological response to cognitive conflicts following from expectancy violations such as task error and perceptual anomalies. In contrast, studies have shown that self-affirmation has no buffer effect on the negative effects of ostracism (Dingwall, 2011;Howell & Shepperd, 2016; and see Williams, 2009). Consequently, if the pupillary reactivity in response to cues of ostracism similarly reflects a conflict detection process, then we should expect a muted pupillary response as a function of value affirmation, which would support the hypothesis that pupillary reactivity following ostracism cues reflects an underlying conflict detection mechanism.…”

Section: Studymentioning

confidence: 97%

The social pain of Cyberball: Decreased pupillary reactivity to exclusion cues

Sleegers

¹

,

Proulx

²

,

Beest

³

2017

Journal of Experimental Social Psychology

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“…On the one hand, severe perils may prompt greater avoidance of risk information to the extent that people view the peril as overly threatening, demanding more coping resources than they have available. As we noted earlier, research in health finds that people display greater avoidance when they have few resources or when the resource demands are high (Howell et al, ; Howell & Shepperd, , ). On the other hand, severe perils may prompt less avoidance of risk information to the extent that people view the peril as too important to ignore.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 68%

“…Second, people are more likely to avoid information about a threat if they lack resources to address the threat. For example, studies show that people with fewer resources to cope with bad news display greater avoidance of health information (Howell, Crosier, & Shepperd, ; Howell & Shepperd, , ). Preparing for an environmental peril, such as an approaching hurricane, requires time and money to shop for supplies, prepare one's home, and plan an evacuation route.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Financial resources and decisions to avoid information about environmental perils

Losee

¹

,

Shepperd

²

,

Webster

³

2019

J Applied Social Pyschol

Self Cite

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Environmental perils pose threats that require mitigation. Mitigation requires knowledge of the threat. Ironically, people may opt to avoid information about an environmental peril, especially if they lack resources to respond and the mitigation burden is high or costly. Three experiments (N = 845) examined how available resources and the resource burden of responding to an environmental peril affect the perceived of burden of taking action, and how perceiving burden, in turn, affects avoidance of information about the threat. Experiments 1a and 1b revealed that lower perceived likelihood of taking action and low income predicted a greater tendency to avoid hurricane risk information among Florida residents. Experiment 2 examined receptivity to information about home radon levels and manipulated the burden required to make repairs ($200 vs. $2,000). Having low income and learning repairs were costly corresponded with greater perceived burden of taking action, which predicted a lower likelihood to repair and greater information avoidance. These findings demonstrate that facing a high mitigation burden and lacking resources can lead to remaining uninformed about risks posed by environmental perils. Remaining uninformed is problematic because it may increase people's vulnerability to damage from these threats. However, these findings also identify a potential pathway for intervention. Reminding people of resources they may be unaware of will likely increase their likelihood of preparation and decrease information avoidance.

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“…": 1 = not able to pay the bill; 2 = able to pay, but with difficulty; or 3 = able to pay comfortably. We scored the financial security measure using recommend procedures (Shepperd et al, 2017). Higher scores indicated greater financial security.…”

Section: Resourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Financial Resources and Decisions to Avoid Information about Environmental Perils

Losee¹,

Shepperd²,

Webster³

2018

Preprint

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Environmental perils pose threats that require mitigation. Mitigation requires knowledge of the threat. Ironically, people may opt to avoid information about an environmental peril, especially if they lack resources to respond and the mitigation burden is high or costly. Three experiments (N = 845) examined how available resources and the resource burden of responding to an environmental peril affect the perceived of burden of taking action, and how perceiving burden, in turn, affects avoidance of information about the threat. Experiments 1a and 1b revealed that lower perceived likelihood of taking action and low income predicted a greater tendency to avoid hurricane risk information among Florida residents. Experiment 2 examined receptivity to information about home radon levels and manipulated the burden required to make repairs ($200 vs. $2,000). Having low income and learning repairs were costly corresponded with greater perceived burden of taking action, which predicted a lower likelihood to repair and greater information avoidance. These findings demonstrate that facing a high mitigation burden and lacking resources can lead to remaining uninformed about risks posed by environmental perils. Remaining uninformed is problematic because it may increase people's vulnerability to damage from these threats. However, these findings also identify a potential pathway for intervention. Reminding people of resources they may be unaware of will likely increase their likelihood of preparation and decrease information avoidance.

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Social exclusion, self-affirmation, and health information avoidance

Cited by 32 publications

References 59 publications

The social pain of Cyberball: Decreased pupillary reactivity to exclusion cues

The social pain of Cyberball: Decreased pupillary reactivity to exclusion cues

Financial resources and decisions to avoid information about environmental perils

Financial Resources and Decisions to Avoid Information about Environmental Perils

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