No abstract

Bringing touch into VR experiences through haptics is considered increasingly important for user engagement and fostering feelings of presence and immersion, yet few qualitative studies have explored users' iVR touch experiences. This paper takes an embodied approach–bringing attention to the tactile-kinaesthetic body–to explore users' wholistic experiences of touch in iVR, moving beyond the cutaneous and tactile elements of “feeling” to elaborate upon themes of movement and kinetics. Our findings show how both touch connections and disconnections emerged though material forms of tactility (the controller, body positioning, tactile expectations) and through “felt proximities” and the tactile-kinaesthetic experience thus shaping the sense of presence. The analysis shows three key factors that influence connection and disconnection, and how connection is re-navigated or sought at moments of experienced disconnection: a sense of control or agency; identity; and bridging between the material and virtual. This extended notion of touch deepens our understanding of its role in feelings of presence by providing insight into a range of factors related to notions of touch – both physical and virtual–that come into play in creating a sense of connection or presence (e.g., histories, expectations), and highlights the potential for iVR interaction to attend to the body beyond the hands in terms of touch.

No abstract

Love is a worldwide known phenomenon that affects many aspects of human life, including considering a romantic partner with whom to bond. Thus, developing a reliable and valid measure of love experiences is crucial. One of the most popular tools to test love levels is Sternberg's 45-item Triangular Love Scale (TLS-45), which measures three love components: Intimacy, Passion, and Commitment. However, our literature review reveals that the majority of studies (64%) use a broad variety of shortened versions of the TLS-45. To achieve scientific consensus and improve the reliability, comparability, and generalizability of results across studies, here, we develop a short version of the scale–the TLS-15–which contains 15 items with a 5-point rather than 9-point response scale. In Study 1 (N = 7,332), we re-analyzed secondary data from a large-scale multinational study that validated the original TLS-45 to establish whether the scale could be truncated. In Study 2 (N = 307), we provided evidence for the three-factor structure of the TLS-15 and its reliability. Study 3 (N = 413) confirmed convergent validity and test-retest stability of the TLS-15. Study 4 (N = 60,311) presented a large-scale validation across 37 linguistic versions of the TLS-15 on a cross-cultural sample spanning every continent of the globe. The overall results provided support for the reliability, validity, and cross-cultural invariance of the TLS-15, which could be used as a measure of love components–separately or jointly as a three-factor measure.

Fatalism—belief that all events are predetermined and therefore inevitable—have been studied by researchers from different disciplines as it is a significant notion to explain various aspects of individual and social life (health behavior, economic capital, political activity, social participation, etc.).  However, the weakness of using only etic methods to understand this complex phenomenon is strongly emphasized. We fully share this viewpoint and think that it is far more appropriate to study fatalism with an interdisciplinary approach such as Contemporary Psychological Anthropology. The aim of the present study was to emphasize the theoretical and methodological opportunities of studying fatalism within this field (specifically, within cultural models school) and presenting the results of the empirical study on the Georgian cultural model of fatalism in the light of the opportunities discussed.  The theoretical apparatus of the cultural models' school allowed us to think of culturally shaped fatalism, not only as an element of objective culture beyond the mind but also as a part of the mind, namely, as a cognitive schema formed on the basis of shared experiences. To reveal components of this schema we used the in-depth interview as a data collection method and cultural analysis of discourse (specifically, metaphor analysis) as the data analysis method. Personal control, Deity, Destiny, Luck, and Helplessness emerged as the components of Georgian cultural schema according to this analysis. Keywords: Fatalism, Cultural Model, Emic Approach, Mutually Inclusive