Extension of the emotional and physical selves into a medium: An investigative and experimental examination

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K17289
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Social psychology
• Research Institution: University of Tsukuba
• Principal Investigator: Fuji Kei 筑波大学, 人間系, 准教授 (50581584)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: インターネット / 感情 / 社会的共有 / 仮想現実 / ソーシャルメディア

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research project examined the psychological effects of sharing emotional experiences via social media (the extension of "emotion" into a medium) and eliciting bodily sensations via virtual reality (extension of the "body" into a medium).
Results of a longitudinal web survey suggested that sharing negative events on social media could postpone and increase negative emotions related to the events, rather than diminish them. Furthermore, a series of experiments revealed that object presentation and moving experiences in the virtual world could alter the individual’s cognitive processing through the elicitation of real bodily sensations.

Free Research Field

社会心理学