Psychological interaction between an object and its related space via self

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K17909
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Experimental psychology; Cognitive science
• Research Institution: Chuo University (2022); Hiroshima University (2017-2021)
• Principal Investigator: Ariga Atsunori 中央大学, 文学部, 教授 (20609565)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 心理空間 / 自己の拡張

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Research has shown that possessions function as an extended self, but there has been no empirical study on the characteristics of the psychological space formed around them. Therefore, this study aimed to elucidate the "psychological space formed by humans and things". Throughout the study period, the following findings were revealed: (1) when predicting a human's psychological space, participants tended to overestimate the influence of peripheral external factors, (2) there was a tendency to focus attention near possessions (the psychological space thought to be formed by possessions), and this tendency had a time course, and (3) the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic was also observed in the extension of self to things.

Free Research Field

認知心理学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

自己の拡張に関する古典的な観察・考察はこれまで見られるものの，拡張された自己が形成する心理空間の解明を目指した実証研究はこれまで存在しない。この点に本研究の学術的意義がある。さらに，本研究の成果は，国際社会の中でヒトとモノがインタラクティブに動いていく場面(例えば，ホテルのスタッフが顧客から所持品を預かって扱うときなどのサービスの提供場面)において，人々が快適に行動するための客観的な指標の設計に役立つ。このように本研究の成果は，学術的なインパクトを持つだけでなく，社会的意義も有する。