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This study examined individual factors contributing to online shaming, a recent phenomenon where people engage in social policing by shaming transgressions using the Internet technology. It focused on the effects of socioeconomic status (SES) and the belief in a just world (BJW). A sample of 245 city employees in Nanjing, China participated in the study. Participants read an online post about a real-life transgression and reported their willingness to engage in online shaming. Their subjective SES and BJW were assessed. Participants with higher SES exhibited a greater tendency to engage in online shaming than those with lower SES, and participants with stronger BJW were more likely to engage in online shaming. BJW further mediated the relationship between SES and online shaming. The findings have important practical implications in the Internet era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Micro-blogging sites such as Twitter and its Chinese equivalent Weibo are characterized by fragmentation in information communication (FIC). Yet little is known about information comprehension in the micro-blogging context and the mechanism underlying any possible influence. Using E-Prime ® to simulate information communication at Weibo, we conducted two experiments to investigate the effect of Weibo's structural features, namely, irrelevant information interference and feedback, on information comprehension. We found that participants' online information comprehension was negatively affected after browsing (reposting and passing) Weibo messages through the feedback function, and that this negative effect further extended to an offline reading task. Furthermore, meditation analysis showed that cognitive overload mediated the negative effect of reposting on information comprehension. The findings provide important insights into the influence of Internet technology on reading and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social pain is ubiquitous and has deleterious effects on people's health. Thus, identifying how to promote social pain recovery is important. Across three studies (N = 989), we examined whether a self-administered online awe-intervening approach could help people recover from social pain. With participants from the United States and China, we found that the online awe-intervening approach helped people recover from social pain associated with both cyber-social exclusion (Study 1) and real-life social exclusion events (Studies 2 and 3). Moreover, we found a significant mediating effect of the global sense of connectedness (Studies 2 and 3). We further demonstrated that the awe-intervening approach's effect on social pain recovery and the mediating effect of the global sense of connectedness were distinct from general positive emotions, exposure to nature, self-diminishment, and distraction (Study 3). Taken together, our findings endorse the online awe-intervening approach as an effective social pain reliever. • Online awe-intervening approach promotes social pain recovery. • Extended awe's benefits from intrapersonal to interpersonal problems. • Global connectedness mediated this effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nostalgia, a sentimental longing for one's past, as a buffer against psychological threats has been well-established across various domains. However, whether nostalgia could alleviate cyberbullying's adverse effects has never been investigated. We have conducted two studies (N = 471) to examine nostalgia as a buffer against cyberbullying victimization on social media. We found that people who have been cyberbullied more frequently reported a lower level of psychological well-being. Notably, they also reported more proneness to feel nostalgic, which led to a higher level of psychological well-being (Study 1). We complemented these findings with an experiment in which we simultaneously manipulated cyberbullying victimization and nostalgia and assessed the psychological well-being associated with being cyberbullied (Study 2). Nostalgia induction increased psychological well-being in the wake of cyberbullying victimization. Therefore, nostalgia is a psychological resource that can be harnessed to buffer cyberbullying. • Being cyberbullied was negatively related to psychological well-being (PWB). • Being cyberbullied was positively related to nostalgia. • Being cyberbullied and PWB relationship was strengthened when we controlled for nostalgia. • Nostalgia increased PWB in the wake of being cyberbullied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]