Borae Jin

Fear of isolation (FOI) is a central concept in the spiral of silence theory, and prior research has conceptualized and measured it in varied ways. This study examined how relatively stable individual orientations (dispositional FOI and argumentativeness) and context-specific evaluative responses (situational FOI and debate success expectancy) relate to willingness to express opinions. In an online scenario-based experiment in South Korea, opinion climate was manipulated as either favorable or unfavorable to participants’ political preferences in an imagined workplace discussion (N = 480). Participants in the favorable condition reported lower situational FOI and higher debate success expectancy than those in the unfavorable condition. In the structural model, situational FOI was negatively associated with willingness to express opinions, whereas debate success expectancy and argumentativeness were positively associated; contrary to expectations, dispositional FOI also showed a positive association. These findings highlight the importance of distinguishing dispositional from situational FOI and considering expectations of discussion success alongside concerns about isolation when studying opinion expression.

This study examines how ideological and economic aspects of news media are related to journalists’ autonomy and cynicism, and whether organizational adaptation to digital environments moderates the effects of those ideological and financial influences. Using secondary data from journalists ( N = 1956) provided by the Korea Press Foundation, this study investigates the relationships among ideological differences between journalists and news organizations, advertising/public relations (ad/PR) work, journalists’ autonomy, and job cynicism. Findings suggest that both ideological incongruence and ad/PR work decreased journalistic autonomy, with the latter a stronger predictor than the former. Decreased autonomy, in turn, increased cynicism. Ad/PR work significantly predicted cynicism, but ideological incongruence did not influence cynicism. In addition, the more the news organization has adapted to the digital realm, the weaker the relations between ideological incongruence and autonomy and between autonomy and cynicism. However, as the adaptation level increased, the negative impact of ad/PR work on autonomy became stronger. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

The present study explored interaction between humans and artificial agents from a relational perspective. According to theories on interpersonal communication and relationships, criticism by known agents, as compared to unknown agents, could be less negative (the buffering effect of relationship) or more negative (the expectancy violation effect) to human-agent relationships. Using online survey tools, participants who had interacted with an agent were led to one of the same or different agent conditions, in which the same or a new agent gave negative comments (criticism) to participants. Participants evaluated the agent and the interaction with it before and after receiving the criticism. Results showed that a brief acquaintanceship with agents lessened the negative effects of criticism. Participants’ evaluations decreased to a lesser degree when the negative comments were given by the acquaintance agent rather than the stranger agent. Thus, the buffering effect of relationship was supported in human-agent relationships.

The aim of this study was to develop and validate a measure of social hope. Previous studies have extensively reported on personal hope and its outcomes. Although a few studies have suggested the concept of collective or social hope, there is no instrument to assess the construct. In this study, we created a 5‐item scale, drawing on Snyder's hope theory, and collected two sets of survey data online. Analysis of these data sets revealed that the new scale was structurally unidimensional and internally consistent. In association with Snyder's State Hope Scale, the Social Hope Scale showed convergent and discriminant validity. The social hope construct also exhibited theoretically meaningful relationships with political efficacy and self‐construal (concurrent validity). Finally, social hope was higher for those who had participated in certain types of social activism than it was for those who had not (predictive validity). These results suggest that the Social Hope Scale is a reliable and valid self‐report measure of hopeful thinking for society.

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate whether citizens censor their own expressions regarding large corporations in social networking sites (SNS) and how self-censorship is associated with the perceived power of, knowledge about and media exposure about large corporations.Design/methodology/approach: A nationwide survey was conducted in South Korea (N= 455). The data were analyzed with structural equation modeling.Findings: As exposure to news about large corporations increased, the degree of self-censorship regarding large corporations increased. This effect of media exposure on self-censorship was mediated by the amount of knowledge about large corporations and the perceived power of large corporations.Research limitations/implications: Although this study focused on the SNS context, the results of this study cannot provide the features of the self-censorship process that are distinct in SNS compared to other contexts. Although a causal model was provided based on theoretical reasoning, the nature of the data is correlational. Thus, one should be cautious when interpreting the results.Practical implications: The findings suggest that, while establishing privacy protection policies with regard to the SNS, policy makers need to consider how to prevent invasion of privacy and misuse of personal data by large corporations, interest groups and the unspecified public.Originality/value: This study extends the literature related to self-censorship by identifying the effects of economic power and the psychological factors involved in self-censorship.

In this study, we investigated how grit is related to the satisfaction of the basic needs and subjective well-being. Grit means dedication to long-term goals with enthusiasm, which is closely related to success in objective terms. Thus, we expected that grit would be positively related to satisfying the autonomy and competence needs, which would lead to greater subjective well-being (i.e., higher life satisfaction and lower depression). A survey of young adults (N = 455) revealed that grit is strongly related to both the autonomy and competence needs, and these needs mediated the effect of grit on subjective well-being. Grit, did not directly increase life satisfaction but weakly decreased depression. Further, the two basic needs played different roles in enhancing subjective well-being. Autonomy reduced depression, and competence increased life satisfaction.

Previous studies on hurtful communication revealed that perceived intent plays an important role in hurt feelings and distancing behaviors within relationships, and that higher relationship quality mitigates the negative outcomes of hurtful communication. This study replicated these findings in the context of texting communication among friends. As expected, intent was directly related to the degree of hurt and distancing, and satisfaction was negatively related to intent and distancing. In addition, satisfaction moderated the relationship between perceived intent and distancing effects on the friendship in question. The relationship between intent and distancing was direct and stronger for those who were in less satisfied friendships than in more satisfied friendships. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Using phase-oriented interviews (N = 65), this study explored how partners in on-again/off-again relationships negotiated the turning points of breakups and renewals in their relationships. The qualitative analysis revealed themes reflecting transition initiation (i.e., the communication or behavior instigating the transitions) as well as themes reflecting how partners enacted and managed the transitions (e.g., viewing transitions as provisional, resolving past problems and planning for new issues, and using external factors to maintain the transition). Navigating the relational transitions created a struggle for some partners, but the negotiation process elicited feelings of a fresh start for others. Collectively, the themes highlight factors related to communication as well as partners' subjective interpretations, which may be useful in further understanding how partners negotiate relational transitions.