Leiden University Student Repository

Chernogorova, Albena (2022)

Seeking help in times of financial stress: The role of shame

Master thesis | Psychology (MSc)

When faced with financial struggles, people often find themselves unable to seek help in terms of financial advice, even when it is provided free of charge. One of the major reasons for this is the presence of shame and its related component - stigma. We conducted an experiment to test the effect of reducing shame and stigma on willingness to contact an organization and on coping styles. For this purpose, we created an intervention website with elements that reduce shame and stigma. The results showed that while participants in the intervention group were not more willing to contact the organization than the participants in the control group, the former engaged in active coping style more than the latter. Additionally, since perception of the organization is an important factor for people who might seek help from it, we measured the perceptions of competence, warmth, and morality of the organization in each condition. We found that the participants in the intervention condition...Show moreWhen faced with financial struggles, people often find themselves unable to seek help in terms of financial advice, even when it is provided free of charge. One of the major reasons for this is the presence of shame and its related component - stigma. We conducted an experiment to test the effect of reducing shame and stigma on willingness to contact an organization and on coping styles. For this purpose, we created an intervention website with elements that reduce shame and stigma. The results showed that while participants in the intervention group were not more willing to contact the organization than the participants in the control group, the former engaged in active coping style more than the latter. Additionally, since perception of the organization is an important factor for people who might seek help from it, we measured the perceptions of competence, warmth, and morality of the organization in each condition. We found that the participants in the intervention condition viewed the organization presented on the website as more warm and moral than those in the control condition.Show less

financial struggle

shame

help

advice

Author

Chernogorova, Albena

Faculty

Faculty of Social & Behavioural Sciences

Specialisation

Economic and Consumer Psychology

Supervisors

van Dijk, W.

ECTS Credits

20

Language

en