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This research explored whether people hold double standards in a public crisis. We proposed that during the COVID‐19 pandemic, people required others to strictly follow self‐quarantine rules and other preventive behaviours, whereas they themselves would not, demonstrating double standards. Moreover, this effect would be moderated by the perceived threat from the pandemic. Using data collected in the United States and China, three studies (N = 2180) tested the hypotheses by measuring (Study 1) and manipulating the perceived threat (Studies 2 and 3). We found that people generally applied higher standards to others than to themselves when it came to following the self‐quarantine rules. This effect was strong when a relatively low threat was perceived, but the self–other difference disappeared when the perceived threat was relatively high, as the demands they placed on themselves would increase as the perceived threat intensified, but their requirements of others would be constantly strict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]