Relational closeness- not parasociality- determines the intensity of grief responses to celebrity death.

This study interrogates the common assumption that parasocial grief, or grief for celebrities, is always less intense than grief for people in social relationships. An online 2 (Parasocial or Social) × 2 (Close or Distant) experiment with participants recruited on MTurk (N = 271) examined differences in people's anticipated grief responses after imagining the hypothetical death of either a celebrity or a person in their social network, who they considered to be either close or a more distant acquaintance. The results revealed that closeness, but unexpectedly not parasociality, affected people's imagined grief. Specifically, for both close others (i.e., parasocial and social friends) and mere acquaintances (i.e., parasocial and social connections who are less familiar), higher levels of closeness were associated with more intense grief. It did not matter whether participants reported on the death of a celebrity or not. These findings provide evidence that parasocial grief is comparable to grief for deaths in social relationships.

Normative Influence of the Stars: The Relative Indirect Effects of Celebrity Exemplars on Vaping Norm Perceptions Through Liking, Parasocial Relationship Strength, and Wishful Identification.

Although the influence of celebrities on public health-related attitudes and behaviors is well established, the specific role that celebrity examples play in shaping health-related social norm perceptions is not well understood. To examine the effect of celebrities on social norm perceptions, young adults were randomly assigned to read news articles about vaping that either featured one of four film stars using a vape pen or did not contain any celebrity exemplar. The presence or absence of a celebrity exemplar did not affect readers' perceptions of vaping social norms. However, three types of audience involvement with the celebrities - liking, parasocial relationship strength, and wishful identification, were examined as mediators of the relative effects of the different celebrities on vaping norm perceptions. The results suggest that celebrities who people like more and those who they wishfully identify with less can wield a greater influence on social norms. PSR strength did not mediate indirect effects of celebrity on social norm perceptions. These findings indicate that celebrities can shape public perceptions of social norms through some types of involvement.

Ending as Intended: The Educational Effects of an Epilogue to a TV Show Episode about Bipolar Disorder.

Entertainment persuasion theory was applied to investigate how an epilogue to a dramatic episode with an educational subtext about bipolar disorder affected viewer processing and response. In an experiment, viewers (N = 89) were randomly assigned to watch the episode either with or without an epilogue. Exposure to the epilogue increased recognition of the subtext. It also increased counterarguing against the subtext, but only among viewers less involved with the episode's story. The epilogue decreased social distance for people with bipolar disorder and decreased their belief that bipolar disorder is not treatable. These findings speak to the utility of epilogues as a tool to both reinforce intended entertainment-education messages and to combat misinformation. This function is particularly useful for entertainment portrayals of stigmatized conditions, which are at greater risk of being misunderstood. To avoid viewer reactance, epilogues should be paired with highly involving narratives.

Mental Health-Related Outcomes of Robin Williams' Death: The Role of Parasocial Relations and Media Exposure in Stigma, Help-Seeking, and Outreach.

This study explores responses to the death of actor/comedian Robin Williams, focusing on the role of celebrity attachment and exposure to media coverage following his suicide. A total of 350 respondents recruited on Mechanical Turk completed an online survey. Participants who had a stronger parasocial relationship with Williams reported lower social distance from people with depression, greater willingness to seek treatment for depression, and more frequent outreach to other people with depression or suicidal thoughts following his death. Exposure to media coverage of suicide/depression - both informational and stigmatizing - was associated with more frequent outreach to others, but only informational coverage was related to greater willingness to seek treatment. Stigmatizing media exposure was related to greater depression stereotypes. Seeing more media stories celebrating Williams' life and career was associated with reduced depression stigma but also with less willingness to seek treatment for depression and less outreach to others. Implications of the findings for media and mental health are discussed.

Examining Perceived Distance and Personal Authenticity as Mediators of the Effects of Ghost-Tweeting on Parasocial Interaction.

A number of high-profile public figures hire ghost-tweeters to post to their social media accounts on their behalf, but no research has examined how this social media practice can affect followers' feelings of connection to the public figures. College students (n = 132) participated in an online experiment to examine the effect of ghost-tweeting practices on parasocial interaction (PSI) with social media figures. Tweet authorship (use of a ghost-tweeter or not) was manipulated. Ghost-tweeting resulted in reduced PSI. Perceptions of distance, but not personal authenticity mediated this effect. However, authenticity and distance did serially mediate the relationship between ghost-tweeting and PSI. These findings shed light on the process of PSI with celebrities and other media figures on social network sites.

Viewing Our Aged Selves: Age Progression Simulations Increase Young Adults' Aging Anxiety and Negative Stereotypes of Older Adults.

This experiment tests the effect of an old-age progression simulation on young adults' (N = 139) reported aging anxiety and perceptions about older adults as a social group. College students were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: self-aged simulation, stranger-aged simulation, or a control group. Compared with the control group, groups exposed to an age progression experienced more negative affect, and individuals in the self-aged condition reported greater aging anxiety. In accordance with stereotype activation theorizing, the self-age simulation group also perceived older adults as less competent and expressed more pity and less envy for older adults. Compared to the stranger-aged group, participants who observed their own age progression were also the more likely to deny the authenticity of their transformed image.These findings highlight potential negative social and psychological consequences of using age simulations to affect positive health outcomes, and they shed light on how virtual experiences can affect stereotyping of older adults.

Portrayal of Mental Illness on the TV Series Monk: Presumed Influence and Consequences of Exposure.

This study of responses to the TV series Monk, about a detective with obsessive-compulsive disorder, examines perceptions and behaviors related to mental illness. A total of 172 respondents completed an online survey. A parasocial bond with Monk was associated with lower stereotypes of mental illness and less social distance. Predictors and outcomes of perceived influence of the series on self and others were also examined. Perceived (positive) influence of the series on others' attitudes was predicted by respondents' favorable evaluation of the series's depiction of mental illness, as well as greater perceived exposure to and favorable evaluations among family and friends. Perceived influence on others also was associated with greater willingness to disclose mental health treatment, but only among people without personal or family experience with mental illness. In contrast, perceived influence of the series on self was predicted only by respondents' own evaluations of the series, and was related to willingness to seek mental health treatment-but only among those who had personally dealt with mental illness.

Individual differences in in-person and social media television coviewing: the role of emotional contagion, need to belong, and coviewing orientation.

The popularity of social media television coviewing is growing, but little is known about why people engage in these connected viewing experiences or how they differ from in-person coviewing. This study investigated how engaging in in-person and social media coviewing is predicted by individual differences: emotional contagion, need to belong, and three dimensions of a coviewing orientation scale created for this research (need for company, need for solitude, and audience monitoring). On Amazon Mechanical Turk, 451 people were recruited for an online survey. The mean age was 34.64 years (SD=13.16 years), and 52% of the sample was female. Emotional contagion predicted in-person coviewing only. Need to belong predicted several mediated co-viewing activities. Need for solitude negatively predicted in-person coviewing, but need for company positively predicted in-person coviewing. Results indicate that viewers have different motivations for engaging in various coviewing activities. Findings also suggest that social media coviewing can provide valuable opportunities for social connection among viewers who watch television in physical solitude.

When patients are impatient: the communication strategies utilized by emergency department employees to manage patients frustrated by wait times.

Studies have documented the frustrations patients experience during long wait times in emergency departments (EDs), but considerably less research has sought to understand ED staff responses to these frustrations. In-depth interviews were conducted with 18 ED social workers, patient navigators, and medical staff members at a large urban hospital regarding their experiences and interpersonal strategies for dealing with frustrated patients. Staff indicated that patients often attribute delays to neglect and do not understand why their health problem is not prioritized. They voiced several strategies for addressing wait time frustrations, including expressing empathy for patients, making patients feel occupied and wait times seem more productive, and educating patients about when health issues should be treated through primary care. All staff members recognized the need for engaging in empathic communication with frustrated patients, but social workers and patient navigators were able to dedicate more time to these types of interactions.

Gifts of giving: the role of empathy and perceived benefits to others and self in young adults' decisions to become organ donors.

Trait empathy and self-interest exert a strong influence on different prosocial behaviors, but their role in the promotion of organ donation registration is unclear. A survey examined how perceived benefits of organ donation for others and the self affect people's willingness to register as donors. Perceived other-benefits did not predict registration. Those with lower risk and greater self-benefit perceptions were more willing to donate. Empathic concern predicted donation willingness and moderated the effect of other-benefit perceptions, such that other-benefit perceptions predicted donation willingness among those with greater empathic concern. Applications of these findings to organ donation promotion are discussed.

How community members and health professionals conceptualize medical emergencies: implications for primary care promotion.

Access to continuous care through a primary care provider is associated with improved health outcomes, but many communities rely on emergency departments (EDs) for both emergent and non-emergent health problems. This article describes one portion of a community-based participatory research project and investigates the type of education that might be needed as part of a larger intervention to encourage use of a local primary care clinic. In this article we examine how people who live in a low-income urban community and the healthcare workers who serve them conceptualize 'emergency medical condition'. We conducted forum and focus group discussions with 52 community members and individual interviews with 32 healthcare workers. Our findings indicate that while community members share a common general definition of what constitutes a medical emergency, they also desire better guidelines for how to assess health problems as requiring emergency versus primary care. Pain, uncertainty and anxiety tend to influence their choice to use EDs rather than availability of primary care. Implications for increasing primary care use are discussed.

The role of message frame, perceived risk, and ambivalence in individuals' decisions to become organ donors.

The decision to become an organ donor involves considering both self-relevant risks and the needs of others. This study applied prospect theory to examine how news exemplar message frames that focus on the possible survival or death of a potential organ transplant recipient affect participants' willingness to become organ donors. Perceived personal risk and ambivalence were examined as moderating variables. Results indicate that risk, rather than ambivalence, played an instrumental role in participants' decisions to donate. Although no main effects or interactions related to message frame emerged in initial analyses, a supplemental analysis revealed an interaction such that there was a modest persuasive advantage for the loss-framed message among low-risk participants. Findings suggest that vivid exemplar message frames, compared to other types of more explicit organ donor appeals, may be associated with unique decisions about organ donation.

Zero valent iron remediation of a mixed brominated ethene contaminated groundwater.

The suitability of a granulated zero valent iron (ZVI) permeable reactive barrier (PRB) remediation strategy was investigated for tribromoethene (TriBE), cis-1,2-dibromoethene (c-DBE), trans-1,2-dibromoethene (t-DBE) and vinyl bromide (VB), via batch and large-scale column experiments that were subsequently analysed by reactive transport modelling. The brominated ethenes in both batch and large-scale column experiments showed rapid (compared to controls and natural attenuation) degradation in the presence of ZVI. In the large-scale column experiment, degradation half-lives were 0.35 days for TriBE, 0.50 days for c-DBE, 0.31 days for t-DBE and 0.40 days for VB, under site groundwater flow conditions, resulting in removal of brominated ethenes within the first 0.2 m of a 1.0 m thick ZVI layer, indicating that a PRB groundwater remediation strategy using ZVI could be used successfully. In the model simulations of the ZVI induced brominated ethene degradation, assuming a dominant reductive beta-elimination pathway via bromoacetylene and acetylene production, simulated organic compound concentrations corresponded well with both batch and large-scale column experimental data. Changes of inorganic reactants were also well captured by the simulations. The similar ZVI induced degradation pathway of TriBE and TCE suggests that outcomes from research on ZVI induced TCE remediation could also be applied to TriBE remediation.