Being pressed for time leads to treating others as things: Exploring the relationships among time scarcity, agentic and communal orientation and objectification.

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 8105534 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 2044-8309 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 01446665 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Br J Soc Psychol Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: <2012-> : Chichester : Wiley-Blackwell
Original Publication: Letchworth Herts : British Psychological Society

Interpersonal Relations*; Humans ; Female ; Male ; Adult ; Young Adult ; Social Perception ; Social Behavior ; Adolescent ; Social Interaction ; Middle Aged

Time scarcity has become one of the most ubiquitous phenomena in daily life worldwide. Five studies (total valid N = 1332) examined whether time scarcity elicits people's agentic orientation and dampens their communal orientation, thus increasing the likelihood of objectification towards others. Results suggested that people who perceived time scarcity were more likely to exhibit objectification towards others regardless of whether time scarcity was measured (Studies 1 and 3) or manipulated using either a scenario (Study 2a) or a recall task (Studies 2b and 4). Furthermore, agentic and communal orientations mediated the link between time scarcity and objectification (Studies 3 and 4). Additionally, the current research provided a nuanced understanding of these effects by differentiating the people being objectified into acquaintances and close friends (Study 2b) and by taking into consideration the trait-level prosociality of participants (Study 4). Results suggested that the effect persisted when people interacted with others who were close to them, and it was also applicable to people who were highly prosocial by nature. Overall, our findings highlighted the serious interpersonal consequence of time scarcity and highlighted the crucial role of value orientation in understanding this effect.
(© 2024 British Psychological Society.)

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72271031 National Natural Science Foundation of China; 71971028 National Natural Science Foundation of China

Keywords: agentic orientation; communal orientation; objectification; time scarcity

Date Created: 20240206 Date Completed: 20240712 Latest Revision: 20240712

20240712

10.1111/bjso.12729

38317579