For physical nouns, usage is more straightforward since it's the distance from the speaker that determines whether to use this/that or these/those - 'this book here'/'that book over there' - but with abstract nouns there is a less clear sense of distance.
Usually, the pronoun refers to something that has just been mentioned and 'this/these' are more often used since there is 'no distance' between the noun and the pronoun. If you try googling phrases like 'because of this/that', 'in these/those circumstances', 'under these/those conditions' you will find a preference for this/these - note 'preference' since both are fine in most cases.
One point to add: when talking about things that happened in the past we generally use that/those because the event is 'distant' in time:
"Back in those days couples stayed together and worked through their problems, buttoday everyone would rather get a divorce"