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Generalizing disposability: Residential mobility and the willingness to dissolve social ties
Author(s) -
GILLATH OMRI,
KEEFER LUCAS A.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
personal relationships
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.81
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1475-6811
pISSN - 1350-4126
DOI - 10.1111/pere.12119
Subject(s) - dispose pattern , interpersonal ties , conceptualization , social psychology , psychology , strong ties , computer science , artificial intelligence , programming language
Four studies examined whether residential mobility ( RM ) leads people to view objects as disposable and, in turn, view social ties as disposable. Study 1 showed that tendencies to dispose of objects and social ties are related. Study 2 demonstrated that a history of RM increases the willingness to dispose of objects and, through that, dispose of social ties. Study 3 showed that increasing the sense of RM increases the willingness to dispose of objects and, through this, dispose of social ties. Study 4 showed that the relational aspect of RM is crucial in affecting relational disposability. Our findings extend research on RM and support Lewin's (1936) conceptualization of mobility being associated with ease of disposing social ties.