Ah Ram Lee, Ph.D. 2019, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications (UFCJC) alumna, is the lead author of “The Role of Psychological Proximity and Social Ties Influence in Promoting a Social Media Recycling Campaign” published in the Journal of Environmental Communication on Nov. 14.

Lee and co-authors UFCJC Public Relations Professor and Program Director Linda Hon, Jungyun Won, Ph.D. 2019,  CJC doctoral student Leping You, Toluwani Oloke, Ph.D. 2018, and Sining Kong, Ph.D. 2019, researched how to promote public engagement in pro-environmental actions. They examined two influencers of pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors, psychological proximity and social ties influence, in the context of a recycling campaign through Facebook.

Their results revealed that millennials who are influenced by their social ties rely less on their psychological proximity to determine their attitudes and offline behavioral intentions. They found that their social ties can have a critical influence.

In addition, Lee is the lead author on “How Age-Morphed Images Make Me Feel: The Role of Emotional Responses in Building Support for Seniors” to be published in Computers in Human Behavior, Vol. 107, (June 2020.)

Lee, Eunice Kim, Hon and doctoral student Yoo Jin Chung  examined the role of emotional responses to age-morphed images to determine individuals’ attitudes toward seniors and their support of senior-related issues.

They found that university students exhibited a greater level of personal distress when they saw an age-morphed image leading to an unfavorable attitude to seniors. Members of the general population who viewed an age-morphed image of another person showed more empathy when seeing their future image, which could lead to more favorable attitudes toward seniors and more behavioral and financial support for senior-related issues.

Posted: February 12, 2020
Category: Alumni News, College News, Science Communication News, Student News
Tagged as: Ah Ram Lee, Eunice Kim, Jungyun Won, Leping You, Linda Hon, Sining Kong, Toluwani Oloke, Yoo Jin Chung