Psychological Research of Social Media

Tatiana A. Indina NES talk

Mass media was a game-changer, bringing information, images, and culture to a broader segment of society and the world.

Psychological research on social media

The Impact of Social Media On: Personality Self-Presentation and Self-Image Cognitive and Emotional processes Human Relationships Learning and development across the lifespan Psychological aspects of using technology New arenas for expression and social modeling of new attitudes, skills, social roles, and personal identity

Why people use social media?

Stefan Hofmann, Boston University, Journal of Personality and Individual Differences 2012

Facebook satisfies 2 major needs: the need to belong the need for self-presentation.

Building social capital : Click to connect

Kennon Sheldon, PhD, of the University of Missouri. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2011

Spending a lot of time on Facebook correlated at the same time with high levels of feeling connected to other people and with high levels of disconnection. 2 different processes motivate Facebook use: People who are lonely and disconnected spend time on Facebook to cope with their loneliness. People who aren't lonely also spend time on Facebook to maintain social connections, leading them to spend even more time online.

Facebook ego boost

Amy Gonzales, PhD, and Jeffrey Hancock, PhD, Cornell University

Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, 2011

Students who were asked to look at their own Facebook page for just three minutes showed a boost in self-esteem compared with control groups who either looked in a mirror or simply sat in a room for three minutes. The ego lift is connected with self-select of the information in our Facebook profiles. Looking at that Photoshopped version of ourselves reinforces the version of ourselves who we want to be and can have a positive effect on our self-esteem.

Facebook use and narcissism

Chris Carpenter, PhD, of Western Illinois University Personality and Individual Differences,2012

People who updated their Facebook status frequently, tagged themselves often in photos and had many Facebook friends including people whom they didn't know in real life scored higher on a narcissistic personality inventory than people who used the site more judiciously. Those "socially disruptive" narcissists may expect time, attention and support from others, but don't reciprocate it themselves.

Social Networkings Good and Bad Impacts on Kids

Larry D. Rosen, PhD, Dominguez Hills, California State University,
Teens who use Facebook more often show more narcissistic tendencies while young adults who have a strong Facebook presence show more signs of other psychological disorders, including antisocial behaviors, mania and aggressive tendencies. Daily overuse of media and technology has a negative effect on the health of all children, preteens and teenagers by making them more prone to anxiety, depression, and other psychological disorders, as well as by making them more susceptible to future health problems. Facebook can be distracting and can negatively impact learning. Studies found that middle school, high school and college students who checked Facebook at least once during a 15-minute study period achieved lower grades. + Young adults who spend more time on Facebook are better at showing virtual empathy to their online friends. Online social networking can help introverted adolescents learn how to socialize behind the safety of various screens. At the same time Social networking can provide tools for teaching in compelling ways that engage young students.

Electronic Harassment and Cyberstalking

Elizabeth Carll, Dr. Yeo Ju Chung (APA)
People who are cyberstalked or harassed online experience higher levels of stress and trauma than people who are stalked or harassed in person Emotional responses to the stress and trauma experienced by victims may include high levels of ongoing stress, anxiety, fear, nightmares, shock and disbelief, helplessness, hyper-vigilance, changes in eating, and sleeping difficulties yberbullying makes students socially anxious, lonely, frustrated, sad and helpless Students reported that they were more negatively affected by cyberbullying when it was anonymous and in one-sided sites such as blogs and cyber boards

Blogging May Help Teens Dealing with Social Distress

Meyran Boniel-Nissim, PhD, of the University of Haifa, Israel.

Writing a personal diary and other forms of expressive writing are a great way to release emotional distress and just feel better Blogging enables free expression and easy communication with others Self-esteem, social anxiety, emotional distress and the number of positive social behaviors improved significantly for the bloggers when compared to the teens who did nothing and those who wrote private diaries
The Therapeutic Value of Adolescents Blogging About Social-Emotional Difficulties, Meyran Boniel-Nissim, PhD, and Azy Barak, PhD, University of Haifa; Psychological Services, Online Dec. 21

Jealousy in Facebook
Eszter Hargittai, PhD, Northwestern University

Socioeconomic status, race and ethnicity correlate with which social media site a person is most likely to use. (Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 2007)
Spending time on Facebook can increase jealousy in romantic relationships, even among people not predisposed to become jealous (CyberPsychology & Behavior. 2009)

Predicting personality with Facebook

Microsoft Research University of Cambridge

Personality traits can be predicted from the public information they share on Facebook. Big Five personality inventory scales has shown significant correlations with the patterns of online behavior (Openness, Extraversion, Neuroticism, Agreeableness, Consciousness)

Big Five, shyness, narcissism, loneliness and Facebook usage

An investigation done by Tracii Ryan and Sopia Xenos, studied 1400+ Australian internet users between the ages of 18 and 44 and came to some interesting conclusions. Facebook nonusers tend to be shyer, more conscientious and socially lonely than Facebook users. These people have smaller social networks and therefore have less incentive to join Facebook.

Social Network use and Need for Cognition

Bu Zhong, Marie Hardin and Tao Sun

North American university

Need for Cognition Scale (NFC) NFC students spend less time on social media and tend to add fewer friends to their networks While their low NFC peers tended to be heavy users of social media.

LIMITS AND EXTENSIONS OF EMOTIONAL CONTAGION Adam D. I. Kramer, Facebook, Inc. SPSP 2012

Study devoted to understanding of emotional contagion, the phenomenon via which people catch the emotions experienced by their communication partners, including: whether contagion require nonverbal cues; whether different emotions are contracted differently; who contracts which emotions; and how emotions spread via social media.

RIPPLES IN THE OCEAN: EMOTIONAL CONTAGION ON FACEBOOK Adam D. I. Kramer; Facebook, Inc.
Emotions can be contracted via entirely verbal (text-based) cues. As such, I describe two large-scale (N > 1m) computational text analysis studies of Facebook status updates to address two arguments against emotional contagion: 1) Status updates are undirected and distal, meaning that there is no social requirement to mirror anothers emotional state (which could modify emotion via other processes; Strack, 1988). 2) Via a three-day lagged control method, we account for common causes, in which the cause of an actors emotional state is instrumentally emotion-invoking in the observer. With these controls, I still find evidence for emotional contagion: When a friends update contains positive words, subjects own updates contained more positive (and fewer negative) words even three days later. Friends use of negative words predicted more use of negative representation on subjects Facebook page.

A FUNCTIONAL ROLE OF FACEBOOK: PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIAL NEEDS

Jason D. Ferrell Brittany M. Riggin, Ashley Montgomery, Alicia Limke; University of Texas at Austin, University of Central Oklahoma

The purpose was to determine motivations to use Facebook. Psychological and social needs predict concrete, observable Facebook behaviors. Socially excluded individuals login to Facebook faster than non-socially-excluded individuals.

PERSONALITY SHAPES REAL-WORLD AND ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORKS Benjamin Crosier1, Gregory Webster1, David Stillwell2, Michal Kosinski2, Tatiana Orozco Schember1, Corinne Novell1; 1Department of Psychology, University of Florida, 2The Psychometrics Centre, University of Cambridge

Examined the relationship between Big Five personality and social network structure in university Students. Personality influences the position people occupy in their egocentric social networks. Extraversion and conscientiousness emerged as powerful predictors of transitivity (links among triads of friends), brokerage (connecting different cliques), network density, and network centrality (importance or influence).

FACEBOOK: FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS? Ronald Laye1, Tim Walters1, Asli Kucukbumin1, Kelly Wong1, Aviva Laye-Gindhu2; 1University of the Fraser Valley, 2University of British Columbia

Examined the relationship between personality and number of Facebook friends to investigate if the larger numbers of Facebook friends >200) provide benefit. Participants with greater than 200 Facebook friends were higher in extraversion and selfesteem and lower in loneliness, social anxiety and neuroticism.

FACEBOOK STALKING: A DISCREET WAY FOR ANXIOUSLY ATTACHED INDIVIDUALS TO MONITOR THEIR ROMANTIC PARTNERS Jennifer C. Pink1, Lorne Campbell1; 1University of Western Ontario

Examined whether anxiously attached individuals use Facebook to gather relationship-relevant information. Found that highly anxious individuals were more likely to report they use Facebook both as a source of partnerrelevant information and to engage in electronic surveillance of their partners online and offline behavior.

THE NEW INTERNET VIRUS -FACEBOOK DEPRESSION?: THE ROLE OF GENDER AND FACEBOOK SOCIAL COMPARISON ON DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS Mai-Ly Nguyen1, Robert E. Wickham2, Linda K. Acitelli3; 1University of Houston

Revealed an association between time spent on Facebook and depressive symptoms for men and women. Results demonstrated that, for men only, making social comparisons on Facebook mediated the link between time spent on Facebook and depressive symptoms.

EGOTISM FROM THE INTERNET: USE OF FACEBOOK CAN PROMOTE NARCISSISM Robert Horton1, Josh Miracle1; 1Wabash College

Study investigated whether social networking websites facilitate narcissism. Ninety men performed Agentic actions on Facebook, performed Communal actions on Facebook, or perused ESPN.com. Participants who engaged in Agentic Facebook activity scored higher on NPI superiority and entitlement than did participants in the other two conditions.

PERSONALITY AND FACEBOOK POSTING BEHAVIORS Gwendolyn Seidman1; 1Albright College

The study explored how the content Facebook users regularly post is related to the Big 5 personality traits. Results suggest that neurotic individuals use Facebook as a way to connect with, learn about, and express themselves to others and conscientious individuals use Facebook more cautiously.

PARENTING PERFECTIONISM, ATTACHMENT, AND NEW MOTHERS' FACEBOOK USE

Mitchell Bartholomew1, Meghan Lee1, Sarah SchoppeSullivan1, Claire Kamp Dush1; 1The Ohio State University

The study examined how parenting perfectionism and attachment style were associated with the Facebook use experiences. Facebook provides an opportunity for new mothers to maintain and forge social connections, and to share photos and information about their children. Facebook enables parental perfectionism.

THE ALCOHOL IDENTITY IMPLICIT ASSOCIATIONS TEST (AI-IAT) AND ITS CONVERGENCE WITH A FACEBOOK PHOTO MEASURE OF ALCOHOL IDENTITY Brittany Bannon1, Heather Gray2, Debi LaPlante2, Nalini Ambady1; 1Tufts University, 2Cambridge Health Alliance: Harvard Medical School

A study of implicit measure of alcohol identity, measured by The Alcohol-Identity Implicit Associations Test (AI-IAT) on College students who filled AI-IAT and risky drinking practice questionnaires. The baseline AI-IAT predicted the presence of alcohol in students Facebook photographs 18 months later.

"CREEPING" OR JUST INFORMATION SEEKING?: GENDER AND RESPONSES TO JEALOUSY TRIGGERS ON FACEBOOK Amy Muise1, Emily Christofides2, Serge Desmarais2; 1University of Toronto, 2University of Guelph

In an experiment, we tested whether exposure to jealousy triggers leads to more information seeking on Facebook. Women spent the most time searching in the highest jealousy condition, whereas men spent the least time searching. The findings describe gender differences in jealousy responses and a relational impact of Facebook use.

YOUR FACEBOOK IS MY HOMEPAGE: AN ANALYSIS OF FACEBOOK USE AND JEALOUSY WITHIN ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS Lindsay Rice1, Nicole L. Muscanell1, Rosanna E. Guadagno1, Shannon Q. Murphy1; 1University of Alabama

The study examines whether photos on Facebook can cause romantic jealousy. Results indicated that the amount of photos and photo privacy settings can cause jealousy. Women reported more jealousy than men and it seems that there is an importance for women to appear on their romantic partners Facebook profile

LOOK WHAT I BOUGHT: AN EXPLORATION OF STATUS CONSUMPTION OF LIFE EXPERIENCES Qian Jiang1, Grant Donnelly1, Ryan T. Howell1; 1San Francisco State University

Examined the social media intensions of materialistic and experiential buyers. Participants listed a purchase they intended to make in the next two weeks and forecasted if they would share that purchase through social media. Experiential buyers intended to share their experiential purchases; Materialistic buyers intended share their material purchases.
Relation to their values

LIKE WHAT I BOUGHT? THE LINK BETWEEN COMPULSIVE BUYING AND SOCIAL MEDIA USE Amy Harrison Sanchez1, Grant Donnelly1, Vicky Jiang1, Ryan T. Howell1; 1San Francisco State University

The study examined the relationship between compulsive buying and social media use. Compulsive buying was positively related to increased posting about purchases and to how much participants valued receiving feedback on those posts. Social media provides a new way for compulsive buyers to display and receive positive feedback on purchases.

PSSSST, IS MY PERSONALITY SHOWING? EXPLORING FACEBOOK AND PERSONALITY Britni Brewer1; 1High Point University

The study examines the relationship between personality and Facebook behaviors. The results indicate self-reported behavior may not present the same relationships as seen with more objective measures. Does Facebook activity represent ones activity in real world?

EFFECTS OF ONLINE SELF-DISCLOSURE ON INTIMACY AND SATISFACTION WITHIN ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS Collin Baffa1, Omri Gillath2, Melanie Canterberry3, Emily Berman4; 1University of Kansas

The study examined the effect of social media self-disclosure on romantic intimacy and satisfaction. Online self-disclosure was found to be negatively associated with intimacy and satisfaction experienced by the discloser and his or her romantic partners intimacy.

WHY PEOPLE USE SOCIAL MEDIA: HOW ONLINE SOCIAL IDENTITY AND MOTIVATIONS INFLUENCE THE EXPERIENCE OF BEING CONNECTED
Donna Hoffman1, Thomas Novak1; 1University of California, Riverside

People use social media to pursue both social and content goals. Different goals lead to different levels of relatedness, further moderated by motivational orientation and the importance of ones social graphs to self-concept.

Some Benefits of Being an Activist: Measuring Activism and Its Role in Psychological Well-Being Malte Klar1, Tim Kasser2

Do activists lead happier and more fulfilled lives than the average person? Two online surveys using a sample of college students (N = 341) and a national sample of activists matched with a control group (N = 718) demonstrated that several indicators of activism were positively associated with measures of hedonic, eudaimonic, and social well-being. Furthermore, in both studies, activists were more likely to be flourishing (Keyes, 2002) than were nonactivists. A third study of college students (N = 296) explored the possible causal role of activism by measuring well-being after subjects either engaged in a brief activist behavior, a brief nonactivist behavior, or no behavior. Although well-being did not differ substantially between these three groups, the subjects who did the brief activist behavior reported significantly higher levels of subjective vitality than did the subjects who engaged in the nonactivist behavior.

Use of online media for political purposes in 2008 Election

Linda J. Skitka and Edward G. Sargis Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

The study examined college students' use of online media for political purposes in the 2008 election. Social media attention, online expression, and traditional Internet attention were assessed in relation to political self-efficacy and situational political involvement. Data showed significant positive relationships between attention to traditional Internet sources and political selfefficacy and situational political involvement. Attention to social media was not significantly related to political self-efficacy or involvement. Online expression was significantly related to situational political involvement but not political selfefficacy.

Online Media and Offline Empowerment in Democratic Transition: Linking Forms of Internet Use withPolitical Attitudes and Behaviors in Post-Rebellion Tunisia
Anita Breuer German Development Insitute Jacob Groshek University of Melbourne

Social media are reputed to have played a crucial role in mobilizing citizens against autocratic governments in the MENA region. In Tunisia, digital activists successfully used social media to organize the popular protests that ousted President Ben Ali in January 2011. However, the phase of mobilizing protest to overthrow an established authority is different from constructing apolitical order to replace that authority. Hence the question arises in what ways social media can contribute to democratic transitions beyond popular rebellion? The study focuses on the attitudinal factors that lie at the heart of culturalbehavioral approaches to democratization. A key element in the democratic consolidation of post-autocratic societies is the development of a participatory political culture which, among other factors, depends on citizens perceived political efficacy. Using data obtained from a web-survey among 610 Tunisian Internet users, we test the degree to which respondents political use of the Internet during the Tunisian uprising influenced their levels of internal political efficacy and whether this shift in attitudes is positively related to measurable changes in electoral participation from authoritarian to post-authoritarian rule.

Online Groups and Political Discourse: Do Online Discussion Spaces Facilitate Exposure to Political Disagreement?
Journal of Communication, 2009 To what extent do online discussion spaces expose participants to political talk and to cross-cutting political views in particular? Drawing on a representative national sample of over 1000 Americans reporting participation in chat rooms or message boards, researchers examined the types of online discussion spaces that create opportunities for cross-cutting political exchanges. findings suggest that the potential for deliberation occurs primarily in online groups where politics comes up only incidentally, but is not the central purpose of the discussion space.
Magdalena E. Wojcieszak1,*, Diana C. Mutz2

Political Use and Perceived Effects of the Internet: A Case Study of the Political Election
This study explores the relationship between the political use of the Internet and its perceived effects on political life through a secondary analysis of the PostElection Tracking Survey 2004 data (Pew Internet and American Life Project, 2004). The political use of the Internet was measured in three dimensions: using the Internet for political information, deliberation, and participation (Tsagarousianou, 1999). A structural equation model confirmed the cumulative relationship among the three dimensions of political use of the Internet, and all these three dimensions of online political activities positively predicted the perceived effects of the Internet on political life.

Motivated by Change: Political Activism of Young Women in the 2008 Presidential Campaign
Jane Booth-Tobin, Hahrie Han

Findings suggest that young women activists are more likely than men to be driven by a sense of wanting to make change and be part of a larger movement, rather then just being political

Digital Renaissance: Young Consumer and Citizen?

The research explores the relationship between Internet use among young people, their political consumption, and their political participation. The study widens the notion of online civic and political engagement and includes measures of active and passive forms of participation. The results demonstrate the importance of the Internet for political activities for young people. They also show that most online activities (ranging from news use, peer communication, and consumption to online service use) are positively related to political participation. The study shows that the young online consumer is also politically active.
Claes H. de Vreese Amsterdam School of Communications Research (ASCoR) at the University of Amsterdam

The Civic and Political Significance of Online Participatory Cultures among Youth Transitioning to Adulthood
Joseph Kahneab*, Nam-Jin Leec & Jessica T. Feezelld

Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 2013

The influence of nonpolitical online activity on civic and political practices. found that youth engagement in some forms of nonpolitical online activity can serve as a gateway to participation in civic and political life, including volunteering, community problem solving, protest activities, and political voice. find that relationships between participation in nonpolitical online participatory cultures on the one hand and civic and political participation on the other remain statistically significant for both datasets. While politically driven online participation is clearly also worthy of attention, findings indicate that it should not be seen as the only relevant bridge from online activity to civic and political engagement.

Intermedia Agenda-Setting and Political Activism: MoveOn.org and the Presidential Election

This study tested for intermedia agenda-setting effects among explicitly partisan news media coverage and political activist group, citizen activist, and official campaign advertisements on YouTubeall in support of the same candidate. Partial correlations revealed that the citizen activist issue agenda, as articulated in the contest ads, was most strongly related to the partisan media coverage, rather than to the issue priorities of the official ads on YouTube.

Collective Action in the Age of the Internet Mass Communication and Online Mobilization
Tom Postmes, Suzanne Brunsting University of Exeter University of Amsterdam

This study examines how the Internet transforms collective action. Empirical evidence from an online survey among environmental activists and nonactivists confirms that online action is considered an equivalent alternative to offline action by activists and nonactivists alike. However, the Internet may slightly alter the motives underlying collective action and thereby alter the nature of collective action and social movements.

Facebook Users' Political Participation

Jessica Vitak, Paul Zube, Andrew Smock, Caleb T. Carr, Nicole Ellison, and Cliff Lampe. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking. March 2011, 14(3): 107-114.

Do political activities on Facebook affect political participation among young voters, a group traditionally perceived as apathetic in regard to civic engagement? Do these activities represent another example of feel-good participation that has little real-world impact? Results from a conducted in the month prior to the election found that students tend to engage in lightweight political participation both on Facebook and in other venues. Furthermore, two OLS regressions found that political activity on Facebook (e.g., posting a politically oriented status update, becoming a fan of a candidate) is a significant predictor of other forms of political participation (e.g., volunteering for an organizing, signing a paper or online petition), and that a number of factorsincluding intensity of Facebook use and the political activity users see their friends performing on the sitepredict political activity on Facebook.

General conclusion
Social media does affect ones personality, values, motives, behavior, cognition and emotions as well as ones life satisfaction and well-being, relationships with romantic partner and friends, economic behavior, social and political participation. Social media can be a tool for study ones behavior and personality.

Thank you !