Phubbing and Social Intelligence: Role-Playing Experiment on Bystander Inaccessibility

No evidence for adult smartphone use affecting attribution of communicative intention in toddlers: Online imitation study using the Sock Ball Task

Adults infer others' communicative intentions, or lack thereof, from various types of information. Young children may be initially limited to attributions based on a small set of ostensive signals. It is unknown when richer pragmatic inferences about communicative intentions emerge in development. We sought novel type of evidence for such inferences in 17-to-19-month-olds. We hypothesized that toddlers recognize adults' smartphone use in face-to-face interactions as incongruous with ostension and would rely on this interpretation when inferring the communicative intention of a model in a new imitation task conducted entirely online, dubbed the Sock Ball Task. In Experiment 1 with a between-subject design, we tested the hypothesis by assessing toddlers' (N = 48) imitation of sub-efficient means and the goal-outcome presented by a model, who interrupted her ostensive demonstration either by using a smartphone or by fiddling with her wristwatch, depending on the condition. We expected toddlers to imitate the sub-efficient means more faithfully in the wristwatch condition than in the smartphone condition. But there was no significant effect of condition on imitation of neither means nor goal. Thus, our hypothesis was not borne out by the results. In Experiment 2, using a within-subject design, we first assessed toddlers' (N = 24) performance in a no-demonstration baseline and then again after a no-disruption ostensive demonstration. In all three conditions with ostensive demonstration (Experiment 1: smartphone, wristwatch; Experiment 2: no-disruption), toddlers produced the demonstrated sub-efficient means significantly above the baseline level. In the no-disruption condition, goals were also imitated significantly above the baseline level. We conclude that the Sock Ball Task is a valid research tool for studying toddler imitation of novel means actions with objects. We end by discussing suggestions for improving the task in future studies.

Parental Psychological Aggression and Phubbing in Adolescents: A Moderated Mediation Model

OBJECTIVE

The present study aimed to examine the mediated moderation effect underlying the association between parental psychological aggression and phubbing, as well as the mediating role of anxiety and moderating role of sex and grade.

METHODS

Based on a cross-sectional study, a total of 758 Chinese junior high school students had completed measures on socio-demographic characteristics, parental psychological aggression, anxiety and phubbing. Structural equation modeling was adopted to examine the mediating effect of anxiety on the association between parental psychological aggression and phubbing. Multigroup analyses were conducted to explore whether the path coefficients differed by sex and grade.

RESULTS

Mediation analysis indicated that anxiety could mediate the association between parental psychological aggression and phubbing. The indirect effect of parental psychological aggression on phubbing via anxiety was 0.12. Multigroup analyses revealed that the higher mediation effect of anxiety was more likely to be reported by boys and students from grade eight.

CONCLUSION

Findings of the present study may inform prevention and intervention programs for phubbing in adolescents exposed to parental psychological aggression, by decreasing the anxiety and adopting selective strategies for different sex and grade groups.

Smartphone Moves: How Changes in Embodied Configuration with One’s Smartphone Adjust Conversational Engagement

Smartphones are often spontaneously used for personal purposes and during face-to-face gatherings. New terms like “phubbing” and “technoference” describe negative consequences of this behavior, but analysis of the actual everyday social situations where smartphones feature has largely been neglected. This article shows how simultaneous smartphone and conversational engagements are shaped by participants’ embodied conduct. A naturally occurring three-party conversation in a Finnish café is analyzed in detail to show how changes in embodied user–smartphone configuration impact ongoing conversation. User–smartphone configuration consists of the smartphone’s location, its physical relation to its user’s hands, and its screen direction in relation to the user’s head. User-smartphone configuration can manifest a change in an interactive footing in conversation, function as a turn-holding device, and organize a change in the conversational state. New methods and concepts for studying smartphone use in social situations are introduced. “Smartphone positions” refers to the embodied user–smartphone configurations that are oriented as manifestations of degrees of user–device engagement. “Smartphone moves” are the changes in smartphone positions, and they carry sequential relevance. Increased smartphone engagement is seen as decreased conversational engagement and vice versa. Making interactive resources available for one engagement manifests as an accountable event of disengagement from another. Engagement and disengagement are argued to be a continuum rather than a contrast pair.

Prevalence of phubbing by student pharmacists at two colleges of pharmacy

INTRODUCTION

Problematic smartphone use has been associated with numerous factors of mental health including depression, stress, and anxiety. Most of the research in this area has focused on the effects to the smartphone user. One relatively new phenomenon in this area of research is phone snubbing ("phubbing") and its effect on others. The purpose of this pilot study was to determine the prevalence of phubbing behavior among a group of student pharmacists.

METHODS

The validated Generic Scale of Phubbing (GSP) was administered to a convenience sample of student pharmacists at two different doctor of pharmacy programs. The scale is scored from 15 to 105, with higher scores indicating a greater degree of phubbing behavior.

RESULTS

Of 555 eligible students, 262 (47.2%) responded to the survey. Scores were similar to, but lower than, scores from other studies. Institution was a significant factor in predicting GSP score. Gender and age group, when taking into account institution, were not significant predictors of GSP scores. Overall, the data in our study showed good internal consistency with a Cronbach's alpha for the combined group of 0.86.

CONCLUSIONS

As a relatively new phenomenon, limited data are available about the long-term effects of phubbing on mental health. Our research showed comparable, but lower levels of phubbing behavior to previous studies and establishes a baseline measurement for which further research can be added.