Assessing Interpersonal Proximity Evaluation in the COVID-19 Era: Evidence From the Affective Priming Task
Social proximity has since ever been evaluated as positive. However, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically reduced our social relations to avoid spreading the contagion. The present study aims to investigate people's current assessment of social proximity by using an affective...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-06-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.901730/full |
| _version_ | 1817970039060430848 |
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| author | Elisa Scerrati Stefania D'Ascenzo Roberto Nicoletti Caterina Villani Luisa Lugli |
| author_facet | Elisa Scerrati Stefania D'Ascenzo Roberto Nicoletti Caterina Villani Luisa Lugli |
| author_sort | Elisa Scerrati |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Social proximity has since ever been evaluated as positive. However, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically reduced our social relations to avoid spreading the contagion. The present study aims to investigate people's current assessment of social proximity by using an affective priming paradigm (APP). We hypothesized that if our evaluation of social proximity is positive, then words with positive valence (e.g., relaxed) should be processed faster when preceded by images of social proximity than social distancing. On the contrary, if our evaluation of social proximity is turning negative, then words with a negative valence (e.g., sad) should be processed faster when preceded by images of social proximity than social distancing. To this end, we presented participants with prime images showing line drawings representing humans in situations of proximity or distancing and asked them to evaluate the valence (i.e., positive or negative) of a subsequent target word. In a follow-up session, the same participants evaluated the prime images as being positively or negatively valenced. Results showed that a large subset of participants who rated the prime images of social proximity as positive also processed positive words faster when these were preceded by images of social proximity than social distancing. Conversely, a smaller subset of participants who rated the prime images of social proximity as less positive processed negative words faster when these were preceded by images of social proximity than social distancing. These results suggest individual differences in the assessment of social proximity likely driven by the pandemic. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T20:29:07Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f53d6ab4caae419c9bb66ceee56d03af |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T20:29:07Z |
| publishDate | 2022-06-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-f53d6ab4caae419c9bb66ceee56d03af2022-12-22T02:31:15ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782022-06-011310.3389/fpsyg.2022.901730901730Assessing Interpersonal Proximity Evaluation in the COVID-19 Era: Evidence From the Affective Priming TaskElisa Scerrati0Stefania D'Ascenzo1Roberto Nicoletti2Caterina Villani3Luisa Lugli4Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Reggio Emilia, ItalyDepartment of Philosophy and Communication, University of Bologna, Bologna, ItalyDepartment of Philosophy and Communication, University of Bologna, Bologna, ItalyDepartment of Philosophy and Communication, University of Bologna, Bologna, ItalyDepartment of Philosophy and Communication, University of Bologna, Bologna, ItalySocial proximity has since ever been evaluated as positive. However, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically reduced our social relations to avoid spreading the contagion. The present study aims to investigate people's current assessment of social proximity by using an affective priming paradigm (APP). We hypothesized that if our evaluation of social proximity is positive, then words with positive valence (e.g., relaxed) should be processed faster when preceded by images of social proximity than social distancing. On the contrary, if our evaluation of social proximity is turning negative, then words with a negative valence (e.g., sad) should be processed faster when preceded by images of social proximity than social distancing. To this end, we presented participants with prime images showing line drawings representing humans in situations of proximity or distancing and asked them to evaluate the valence (i.e., positive or negative) of a subsequent target word. In a follow-up session, the same participants evaluated the prime images as being positively or negatively valenced. Results showed that a large subset of participants who rated the prime images of social proximity as positive also processed positive words faster when these were preceded by images of social proximity than social distancing. Conversely, a smaller subset of participants who rated the prime images of social proximity as less positive processed negative words faster when these were preceded by images of social proximity than social distancing. These results suggest individual differences in the assessment of social proximity likely driven by the pandemic.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.901730/fullpandemicsocial distancingprime imagestarget wordsaffective priminginterpersonal proximity |
| spellingShingle | Elisa Scerrati Stefania D'Ascenzo Roberto Nicoletti Caterina Villani Luisa Lugli Assessing Interpersonal Proximity Evaluation in the COVID-19 Era: Evidence From the Affective Priming Task Frontiers in Psychology pandemic social distancing prime images target words affective priming interpersonal proximity |
| title | Assessing Interpersonal Proximity Evaluation in the COVID-19 Era: Evidence From the Affective Priming Task |
| title_full | Assessing Interpersonal Proximity Evaluation in the COVID-19 Era: Evidence From the Affective Priming Task |
| title_fullStr | Assessing Interpersonal Proximity Evaluation in the COVID-19 Era: Evidence From the Affective Priming Task |
| title_full_unstemmed | Assessing Interpersonal Proximity Evaluation in the COVID-19 Era: Evidence From the Affective Priming Task |
| title_short | Assessing Interpersonal Proximity Evaluation in the COVID-19 Era: Evidence From the Affective Priming Task |
| title_sort | assessing interpersonal proximity evaluation in the covid 19 era evidence from the affective priming task |
| topic | pandemic social distancing prime images target words affective priming interpersonal proximity |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.901730/full |
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