Involuntary loss of the extended self: Survey results on the loss of important possessions by a great earthquake.

Abstract

Investigated emotional reactions to involuntary loss of the extended self of "material possessions", the structure of "extended self", and its relation to the values attached to the possessions. Ss were 76 male and 133 female undergraduates from Kwansei Gakuin University who experienced the Hanshin Earthquake in Kobe, Japan , January 1995, and 50 male and 37 female undergraduates from the University of California at Northridge who experienced the Northridge Earthquake, January 1994. Ss were administered questionnaires asking them to describe what kind of favorite possessions they lost, their emotions when they lost them, the values they attached to the possessions, and to what extent they regarded the external objects as parts of themselves. The categories "functional value," "emotional value," "self-presentational value," and "symbolic value of relationship" were extracted from the values Ss attached to their lost possessions. Results show that: (1) most Ss showed a similar emotional reaction of "sadness" to the loss of important possessions, and (2) the more emotional value the Ss in Japan gave to their possessions and the more self-presentational value the Ss in the US gave to their possessions, the more the Ss regarded their possessions as parts of the extended self. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)