Observational studies have found that the frequency of mobile communication with close ties increases in times of emergency. However, the mechanisms underlying such increases are not well understood. Drawing upon terror management theory, this study predicted that increased mortality salience due to disaster promotes mobile voice calling to close ties. By analyzing digitally traced behavioral data, Study 1 found that mobile voice calls to close ties increased after the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011, especially in areas where there were severe tremors. Study 2 employed a field experiment and demonstrated that psychologically priming respondents to recall the earthquake led to an increase in the number of outgoing mobile voice calls to close ties, but not to non-close ties. The theoretical implications for mobile communication in time of disaster are discussed.
AbdollahiA.PyszczynskiT.MaxfieldM.LusyszczynskaA. (2011). Posttraumatic stress reactions as a disruption in anxiety-buffer functioning: Dissociation and responses to mortality salience as predictors of severity of posttraumatic symptoms. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 3, 329–341. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021084
2.
AcarA.MurakiY. (2011). Twitter for crisis communication: Lessons learned from Japan’s tsunami disaster. International Journal of Web Based Communities, 7, 392–402. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJWBC.2011.041206
3.
ArndtJ.GreenbergJ.CookA. (2002). Mortality salience and the spreading activation of worldview-relevant constructs: Exploring the cognitive architecture of terror management. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 131, 307–324. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.131.3.307
4.
BoaseJ.LingR. (2013). Measuring mobile phone use: Self-report versus log data. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 18, 508–519. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcc4.12021
5.
BunceS.PartridgeH.DavisK. (2012). Exploring information experience using social media during the 2011 Queensland floods: A pilot study. The Australian Library Journal, 61, 34–45. https://doi.org/10.1080/00049670.2012.10722300
6.
BurkeB. L.MartensA.FaucherE. H. (2010). Two decades of terror management theory: A meta-analysis of mortality salience research. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 14, 155–195. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868309352321
7.
CampbellS. W.KelleyM. J. (2006). Mobile phone use in AA networks: An exploratory study. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 34, 191–208. https://doi.org/10.1080/00909880600574104
8.
CampbellS. W.KwakN. (2010). Mobile communication and social capital: An analysis of geographically differentiated usage patterns. New Media & Society, 12, 435–451. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444809343307
9.
CohenA.LemishD. (2005). When bombs go off the mobiles ring: The aftermath of terrorist attacks. In NyiriK. (Ed.), A sense of place. The global and the local in mobile communication (pp. 117–128). Passagen.
10.
CoxC. R.ArndtJ.PyszczynskiT.GreenbergJ.AbdollahiA.SolomonS. (2008). Terror management and adults’ attachment to their parents: The safe haven remains. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94, 696–717. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.94.4.696
11.
FlorianV.MikulincerM.HirschbergerG. (2002). The anxiety-buffering function of close relationships: Evidence that relationship commitment acts as a terror management mechanism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 527–542. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.82.4.527
12.
GreenbergJ.PyszczynskiT.SolomonS.RosenblattA.VeederM.KirklandS.LyonD. (1990). Evidence for terror management theory II: The effects of mortality salience on reactions to those who threaten or bolster the cultural worldview. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, 308–318. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.58.2.308
13.
GreenbergJ.PyszczynskiT.SolomonS.SimonL.BreusM. (1994). Role of consciousness and accessibility of death-related thoughts in mortality salience effects. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 627–637. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.67.4.627
14.
HartJ.ShaverP. R.GoldenbergJ. L. (2005). Attachment, self-esteem, worldviews, and terror management: Evidence for a tripartite security system. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88, 999–1013. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.88.6.999
HirschbergerG.FlorianV.MikulincerM. (2002). The anxiety buffering function of close relationships: Mortality salience effects on the readiness to compromise mate selection standards. European Journal of Social Psychology, 32, 609–625. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.110
17.
HirschbergerG.FlorianV.MikulincerM. (2003). Strivings for romantic intimacy following partner complaint or partner criticism: A terror management perspective. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 20, 675–687. https://doi.org/10.1177/02654075030205006
18.
KatzJ. E.RiceR. E. (2002). The telephone as a medium of faith, hope, terror, and redemption: America, September 11. Prometheus: Critical Studies in Innovation, 20, 247–253. https://doi.org/10.1080/08109020210144882
19.
KavanaughA.SheetzS. D.QuekF.KimB. J. (2011). Cell phone use with social ties during crises: The case of the Virginia Tech tragedy. International Journal of Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management, 3, 18–32. https://doi.org/10.4018/jiscrm.2011040102
20.
KobayashiT.BoaseJ. (2012). No such effect? The implications of measurement error in self-report measures of mobile communication use. Communication Methods and Measures, 6, 126–143. https://doi.org/10.1080/19312458.2012.679243
21.
KobayashiT.BoaseJ. (2014). Tele-cocooning: Mobile texting and social scope. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 19, 681–694. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcc4.12064
22.
LandauM. J.SolomonS.GreenbergJ.CohenF.PyszczynskiT. (2004). Deliver us from evil: The effects of mortality salience and reminders of 9/11 on support for President George W. Bush. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 1136–1150. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167204267988
23.
Lev-OnA. (2012). Communication, community, crisis: Mapping uses and gratifications in the contemporary media environment. New Media & Society, 14, 98–116. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1461444811410401
24.
LingR. (2008). New tech, new ties. MIT Press.
25.
LingR.BjellandJ.SundsøyP. R.CampbellS. W. (2014). Small circles: Mobile telephony and the cultivation of the private sphere. The Information Society, 30, 282–291. https://doi.org/10.1080/01972243.2014.915279
26.
MikulincerM.FlorianV. (2002). The effects of mortality salience on self-serving attributions-evidence for the function of self-esteem as a terror management mechanism. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 24, 261–271. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15324834BASP2404_2
27.
MikulincerM.FlorianV.HirschbergerG. (2003). The existential function of close relationships: Introducing death into the science of love. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 7, 20–40. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327957PSPR0701_2
MiritelloG.MoroE.LaraR.Martínez-LópezR.BelchamberJ.RobertsS. G.DunbarR. I. (2013). Time as a limited resource: Communication strategy in mobile phone networks. Social Networks, 35, 89–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socnet.2013.01.003
NeubaumG.RösnerL.Rosenthal-von der PüttenA. M.KrämerN. C. (2014). Psychosocial functions of social media usage in a disaster situation: A multi-methodological approach. Computers in Human Behavior, 34, 28–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2014.01.021
PalenL.ViewegS.LiuS. B.HughesA. L. (2009). Crisis in a networked world: Features of computer-mediated communication in the April 16, 2007, Virginia Tech event. Social Science Computer Review, 27, 467–480. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894439309332302
34.
PetrovčičA.FortunatiL.VehovarV.KavčičM.DolničarV. (2015). Mobile phone communication in social support networks of older adults in Slovenia. Telematics and Informatics, 32, 642–655. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2015.02.005
35.
ProcopioC. H.ProcopioS. T. (2007). Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans? Internet communication, geographic community, and social capital in crisis. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 35, 67–87. https://doi.org/10.1080/00909880601065722
36.
PyszczynskiT.GreenbergJ.SolomonS. (1999). A dual-process model of defense against conscious and unconscious death-related thoughts: An extension of terror management theory. Psychological Review, 106, 835–845. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.106.4.835
37.
QuY.HuangC.ZhangP.ZhangJ. (2011, March19–23). Microblogging after a major disaster in China: A case study of the 2010 Yushu earthquake [Conference session]. ACM 2011 Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, Hangzhou, China. https://doi.org/10.1145/1958824.1958830
38.
SundsøyP. R.BjellandJ.CanrightG.Engo-MonsenK.LingR. (2012, August26–29). The activation of core social networks in the wake of the 22 July Oslo bombing [Conference session]. 2012 International Conference on Advances in Social Networks Analysis and Mining, Istanbul, Turkey. https://doi.org/10.1109/ASONAM.2012.99
39.
TakanoM.FukudaI. (2017). Limitations of time resources in human relationships determine social structures. Palgrave Communications, 3, Article 17014. https://doi.org/10.1057/palcomms.2017.14
40.
Taubman-Ben-AriO.FindlerL.MikulincerM. (2002). The effects of mortality salience on relationship strivings and beliefs: The moderating role of attachment style. British Journal of Social Psychology, 41, 419–441. https://doi.org/10.1348/014466602760344296
41.
WakimotoR. (2011). Reconstruction of the subjective temporal distance of past interpersonal experiences after mortality salience. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37, 687–700. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167211400422
42.
WeiR.LoV. H. (2006). Staying connected while on the move: Cell phone use and social connectedness. New Media & Society, 8, 53–72. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444806059870
43.
WismanA.KooleS. L. (2003). Hiding in the crowd: Can mortality salience promote affiliation with others who oppose one’s worldviews?Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84, 511–526. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.84.3.511
44.
XiaY. (2011). Mobile phones’ role following China’s 2008 earthquake. In KatzJ. E. (Ed.), Mobile communication: New dimensions of social policy (pp. 87–102). Transaction Publishers.
YenC. L.ChengC. P. (2010). Terror management among Taiwanese: Worldview defence or resigning to fate?Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 13, 185–194. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-839X.2010.01328.x
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
