Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Attachment To Diagnostic Labels: Social Media, Over Identification, And Self-Efficacy For Personal Recovery, Robert Oehler

Student Research Submissions

This study explored the relationship between self-diagnosis, social media exposure, and how individuals interpret a diagnostic label. Different attitudes toward one’s diagnosis impact an individual’s attitudes toward therapy, compliance with care, and general psychological well-being. One such attitude is over-identification, how attached an individual is to their diagnostic label and how they see a diagnosis as a part of themselves, as this could have implications for their self-concept and attitudes toward therapy. We will ask the following questions: Firstly, do individuals with different diagnoses show meaningfully different levels of attachment to their diagnosis? Secondly, do individuals vary in their social …

The Media’S Influence On Disordered Eating And Body Dysmorphia In Males And Females, Alexis Kotanidis, Jamie Vitrano

Molloy Multidisciplinary Undergraduate Research Conference

The media typically refers to various means of communication that reach or influence people widely. This includes television, radio, newspapers, magazines, social media platforms, websites, podcasts, and more. Essentially, it has many ways through which information is transmitted to a large audience. The media plays a significant role in shaping public opinion, especially with regard to disordered eating and body dysmorphia in both men and women. Disordered eating refers to a wide range of irregular eating behaviors that may or may not meet the criteria for a specific eating disorder diagnosis such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, or binge-eating disorder. …

Maladaptive Social Media Use Motives, Emotional Well-Being, And Drinking Behaviors Among College Students, Rachel Ayala Guzman

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Young adult college students are one of the greatest at-risk populations for problematic alcohol-related behaviors (e.g., excessive use). Experiencing greater emotional distress (i.e., depression, anxiety, and stress) has been linked to problematic drinking, and rates of college students struggling with their mental health is higher than other populations. Social media has proliferated in recent years, potentially increasing the risk of experiencing negative emotional effects for avid users like college students. Literature is mixed regarding social media’s impact on emotional well-being and scant studies have investigated how motives of social media use (i.e., why people are using social media) may be …

Pornography: Social, Emotional And Mental Implications Among Adolescents, William K. Canady

National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference

This presentation will explain the historical development of pornography. It will highlight three segments: 1- Porn’s impact on brain development of reward pathways, ultimately increasing the appetite for more porn. 2- Porn can be a false substitute for real intimacy, resulting in decreased sexual satisfaction with a real person and increased verbal and physical aggression. 3- Porn promotes sex trafficking, promotes multiple sex partners and reduced STD prevention.

An Exploratory Study Of Anti-Black Racism In Social Media Behavior Intentions: Effects Of Political Orientation And Motivation To Control Prejudice, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Samantha A. Wilcox, Justine K. Brace, Melissa Anderson

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

Considering the widespread prevalence of racist content and opinions on social media, there is a pressing need to understand how users react to such content in ways that might lead them to be drawn into echo chambers of racism, hate speech, and potentially even violence. We conducted an online study to investigate how two individual differences—political orientation and motivation to control prejudice (MCP)—may predispose people to accept anti-Black racism expressed in social media messages. Non-Black participants viewed racist and egalitarian mock social media posts and reported how likely they would be to respond favorably and/or engage in supportive social media …

Tiktok Use, Flow, And Addictive Behaviors, Santiago Vigil

McNair Summer Research Program

Abstract

TikTok’s design exploits sensory preferences through continuous scrolling, providing a seamless infinite amount of content. Therefore, I hypothesized that TikTok creates a flow state where people are immersed in the app and may lead to addiction-like symptoms. TikTok use may also be associated with boredom proneness and anxiety. Via a self-report survey, participants indicated their use of social media apps, answered items measuring their psychological flow state on TikTok and Instagram (as a comparison), reported the frequency of behaviors indicating symptoms of addiction, and rated their self-esteem, boredom proneness, and general anxiety. Results showed 7 of the 9 flow …

Terror Management And The News: An Exploration Into The Effects Of Framing On Mortality Salience, Peter Montwill

Masters Theses, 2020-current

The present study explores the link between Terror Management Theory and the use of its principles within news media. Political news media in the digital age undergoes a variety of framing effects, more specifically episodic and thematic frames of stories. To induce mortality salience, college-aged participants were presented with stories framed from the perspective of an individual’s experience or a general theme of experiences regarding the controversial pro-life topic and a non-controversial hiking topic. These stories are presented in the style of Instagram posts to mirror how college-aged people consume news media. The stories also contain wording designed to induce …

Taking The Social Out Of Social Media: Social Media Induced Loneliness As A Mechanism For Elevated Depression During The Pandemic, Samara Rosen

Honors Theses

During the COVID-19 pandemic health protocols limited in-person interactions, interrupting the undergraduate experience and prompting students to find virtual ways to connect with their peers. A key goal of this study was to assess whether college students’ social media use was a viable replacement for in-person interactions during the pandemic, reducing risk for psychological difficulties that ordinarily accompany social isolation. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate loneliness as a potential mediator underlying the longitudinal relationship between social media use and depression. Self-report data were collected in November 2020 (T1), February 2021 (T2), and May 2021 (T3). The …

Appearance-Related Messages In Youtube Workout Videos: A Content Analysis, Ha Gyoung Chung, Caroline Joo, Jennifer A. Harriger

Seaver College Research And Scholarly Achievement Symposium

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, many individuals exercised in gyms or attended in-person workout classes. As the pandemic led to shutdowns, many turned to online workout programs to maintain activity levels. The purpose of this analysis was to examine the prevalence of appearance-related messages in 297 popular workout videos on YouTube. Among these videos, 64.3% of the main instructors were women. Instructors were likely to promote beauty ideals, as 100% of the instructors had features consistent with cultural beauty ideals (e.g., clear skin, white teeth, straight hair) and 90.3% had thin or athletic bodies. Additionally, 68.4% of the videos were …

You Don’T Know Me, But I Love You: Parasocial Relationships And Their Impacts, Joy Weru

Emerging Writers

From alphabet and numerical melodies to High School Musical songs. From platforms like Facebook and MySpace to TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Today’s younger generations have grown up on technology and social media, but like numerous things in life, there is a good and a bad to this constant consumption of social media and exposure of each other. Social media has and continues to offer a space for people to connect with their friends and loved ones when distance tries to pull them apart, but it can also drive a wedge between people online and in real life. Social …

Self-Diagnosis & Pathologizing Normality During The Information Age, Chelsey Eaton

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Self-diagnosis has become a concern for medical and mental health diagnoses. More people are engaging in self-diagnosis based on information that was obtained from the internet, including websites, social media platforms, and online forums. There are several reasons one may choose to self-diagnose. Some common reasons outlined in research are the desire to fit in with others who share similar characteristics and having a label to explain one’s experiences. Past research has shown that people frequently search for mental health information online, but they may not understand or may misinterpret the information that is found. This study aimed to address …

Inspirational Bullshit: The Good, The Bad, And The Vacuous, Esther Abel

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

There are myriad methods offered in the “self-help industry” and on social media promising to improve happiness. Some messages are evidence-based, often drawn from positive psychology research, and suggest actions requiring time and effort, while other messages may offer feel-good platitudes that are devoid of meaningful guidance; we label this latter type of content “inspirational bullshit.” Across two manuscripts, we investigate the predictors of liking different kinds of positive self-help content, from meaningless randomly-generated phrases to vacuous positivity to evidence-based advice. In the first manuscript, across three studies, bullshit receptivity (a tendency to judge pseudo-profound statements as profound) and people’s …

The Power Of Dissent: Mitigating False Polarization And Cross-Party Dislike In Online Interactions, Victoria Parker

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

While actual polarization is on the rise in the United States, perceived polarization (i.e., false polarization) is growing at an even faster rate, contributing to increased cross-party hostility. A meaningful amount of out-party dislike may be produced by partisans’ dramatic overestimates of the prevalence of extreme, undesirable views among political opponents. In the current research, we examine whether exposing people to out-party dissenters who challenge their copartisans’ extreme views might help reduce people’s misperceptions of their opponents’ extreme views, and possibly mitigate animosity. Across five studies (N = 3789), we explore how seeing public ingroup dissent (in the form of …

A Four-Level Meta-Analytic Review Of The Relationship Between Social Media And Well-Being: A Fresh Perspective In The Context Of Covid-19, Joax Wong, Xin Yi Poh, Frosch Quek, Verity Lua, Nadyannam M. Majeed, Andree Hartanto

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Social media, one of the most pervasive forms of technology, has been widely studied in relation to the mental health and well-being of individuals. However, the current literature on social media and well-being has provided mixed and inconclusive findings, thus creating a polarizing view of social media. These mixed findings continue to extend into the pandemic, with researchers debating over the effects of social media in the new norms of social isolation. In light of these inconclusive findings, the aim of our meta-analysis was to synthesize previous research data in order to have a holistic understanding of the association between …

An Object For Sexual Pleasure: Does Viewing Sexualized Media Predict Increases In Self And Partner Objectification Impacting Feelings Of Sexual And Romantic Closeness?, Kaitlyn Ligman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Exposure to sexually objectifying media has been linked to the objectification of the self and of one’s romantic partner (e.g., partner-objectification); yet the implications of this for romantic relationships have remained relatively unexamined. There is, however, reason to suspect that exposure to sexually objectifying media and engaging in objectification may have implications for romantic couples. When a woman frequently monitors her appearance this may undermine her ability to sexually connect with her partner and when a man views his partner as an object for sexual pleasure it may impede his ability to develop intimate feelings of relational closeness to his …

Understanding Aggression In Digital Environment: Relationship Between Shame And Guilt And Cyber Aggression In Online Social Network, Indro Adinugroho, Priska Kristiani, Nani Nurrachman

Makara Human Behavior Studies in Asia

Violence on the internet often occurs in Indonesia due to several aspects, such as political reason and entertainment purpose. It has emerged due to the rapid digital movement, which produces numerous digital applications that can widen the connection among humans from various backgrounds. Sometimes, different values and perceptions are the factors that incinerate violence on the internet, particularly verbal violence. In this study, we apply the term cyber aggression (CA), a form of structured and unstructured behavior to harm others online, to explain this phenomenon. The emergence of this new-kind of behavior must be addressed by the government and other …

The Impact Of #Metoo On Reasons For Sexual Assault Disclosure, Cheryl H. Tien

Doctoral Dissertations

Sexual assault is a long-standing widespread problem. Yet, despite the high prevalence of sexual assault, it is the most underreported crime of all crimes reported to the police (Bureau of Justice, 2018). The #MeToo movement has had a significant impact on the way in which sexual assault survivors disclose their experiences and the reasons they disclose. Disclosure appears to be an important factor in survivors’ healing from their assault, with increasing coping, greater attachment to others, and positive growth cited as effects of disclosure provided that the response to the disclosure is positive to the survivor (Ahrens & Aldana, 2012; …

Algorithmic Manipulation: How Social Media Is Shaping Our Theology, Ethan Jago

Eleutheria: John W. Rawlings School of Divinity Academic Journal

The average individual in Generation Z spends nine hours a day on social media and derives over 62% of the information retained from social applications such as YouTube and Instagram. Social media applications are designed to track and adapt a user's activity to custom-tailor their internet experience resulting in a controlled, one-sided view of the information flow custom-tailored to an individual's usage, which subtly changes the disposition concerning the interpretation of theological and biblical truths. The algorithm of social media responds adapts and directly impacts individuals in what they think, purchase, and places they visit. Social media is not neutral …

Future Parents: Associations Between Social Media Use, Parenting Styles, And Parenthood Desires, Kennedy Evins

Honors Theses

Research suggests that college students without children have opinions about parenting styles and practices, which may influence future parenting intentions and behaviors. In addition, research indicates that media exposure affects fertility desires in women. The present study explored how pre-parent college students view parenthood by examining the impact of social media use on perceptions of parenting, parenthood intentions, and anticipated parenting styles. One hundred nineteen (N = 119) college students completed measures that assessed social media use, perceptions of parenting, parenthood intentions, and anticipated parenting styles. Demographic variables such as parental status, race, age, and gender were also collected. …

Belongingness Needs, Personality, And The Influence Of Virtual Socialization, Katrina Johnson

Honors Theses

Social belongingness is a part of everyday life. The purpose of this study was to learn more about how personality and the use of virtual socialization interact with feelings of belongingness and subjective well-being. The findings of this study indicate that belongingness and well-being are significantly and positively correlated with extraversion. We also found that belongingness and social media used for maintaining friendships were significantly correlated. Further, in a regression analysis, extraversion consistently and significantly positively predicted perceived belongingness. These findings suggest that personality and modality of socializing interact with perceived belongingness.

Algorithms Vs. Human Nature: A Tale Of Selective Exposure, Dené E. M. Wamsley

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The public’s turn towards news websites and social media for news consumption has sparked anxiety over echo chambers, avoidance of opinion-challenging content, and potentially fragmentation and polarization among sociopolitical groups. Algorithms have specifically been blamed for increasing the ease of filtering out counter-attitudinal online content and potentially exacerbating selective exposure tendencies. However, longstanding classic psychological research has demonstrated the ubiquitous phenomenon of cognitive dissonance and selective exposure far before the internet became the primary tool for news consumption. Research investigating how algorithms directly influence online approach and avoidance behavior is unfortunately scarce. This dissertation work aimed to analyze the impact …

Pornography: Social, Emotional And Mental Implications Among Adolescents, William K. Canady

National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference

This presentation will explain the historical development of pornography. It will highlight four segments: 1- Porn’s impact on brain development of reward pathways, ultimately increasing the appetite for more porn. 2- Porn can be a false substitute for real intimacy, resulting in decreased sexual satisfaction with a real person and increased verbal and physical aggression. 3- Porn promotes sex trafficking, promotes multiple sex partners and reduced STD prevention. 4- A review of interventions available to assist clients in navigating a lifestyle away from pornography.

Social Media Use, Acculturation, And Self-Esteem Of Deaf And Hard-Of-Hearing Adults, Taylor A. Paglieri, Caroline Kobek Pezzarossi Ph.D, Deborah Schooler

JADARA

Social networking sites (SNSs) have become increasingly popular in modern society; however, research into the impacts of SNS use on Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (D/HH) individuals is lacking. Through an online survey completed by 217 D/HH adults, we examined the demographic predictors of SNS use and how frequent SNS use relates to self-esteem. Deaf acculturation, age, attending a mainstream school with support services, and education level were significant predictors of SNS use for D/HH adults. Furthermore, D/HH adults with increased Deaf acculturation and frequent SNS use reported higher self-esteem.

The Relationship Between Social Media Use And Depression And Anxiety Symptoms During Covid-19, Tene'sha L. Crews, Christina Sheerin

Undergraduate Research Posters

The rise of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has caused a global surge in exposure to disaster and crisis-related media. Increases in poor mental health outcomes such as anxiety and depression, are associated with increased exposure to such media content (Abbas et al., 2021; Riehm et al., 2020; Zhao & Zhou, 2020). In recent years, social media has become one of the most widely used sources for news; approximately 48% of adult Americans receive their news from social media (Pew Research Center, 2021). During the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in social media use due to social distancing and …

Uncertainty, Populist Deprivation Rhetoric, And Extremism, Crane Conso

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The present study investigates the influence of leadership messages on support for extremism using a social identity framework. Specifically, the study highlights the potential role of populist deprivation rhetoric and self-uncertainty in generating support for leaders and extremism. The study seeks to fill a gap in the existing research to understand the use of deprivation rhetoric as a direct process of populist leadership. Political extremism can serve to reduce feelings of uncertainty. Group relative deprivation results from a social comparison in which a person believes another individual or group is denying them something to which they feel entitled. Leaders can …

Parental Decisions On Sharing Their Children's Private Information On Social Media Among Families In Jakarta Area, Putri Wardhani, Laras Sekarasih

Makara Human Behavior Studies in Asia

The practice of publishing photos and videos containing children’s private information on social media—also known assharenting—is popular among parents in Jakarta. Embarking from the debate about privacy paradox in which it is believed that privacy concern does not predict someone’s behaviors in managing his/her private information online, this research tries to reveal the considerations underlying parental decisions when sharing their children’s private information through social media and their perceived risk toward their children’s online safety. Using qualitative approach, the researcher conducted interviews with 20 parents in Jakarta with at least one child younger 13 year old. The result suggests that …

Positive Body Image And Cognitive Processing Style, Brittney Dumas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Social media use among young people is ubiquitous and has been associated with body image concerns. Though prior work has overwhelmingly focused on “screen time,” increasing evidence highlights the role of subjective social media experiences in driving this association, rather than mere frequency of use. In the current study, body appreciation was tested as a trait-level variable that may protect women from the negative impact of appearance-focused fitspiration images, which have become common in social media platforms. Appearance schema activation and appearance-related self-discrepancy were examined as two social-cognitive processes in which self-protective tendencies may emerge. Fitspiration exposure predicted appearance schema …

Information Justice: The Histories And Futures Of Technology And Social Categories, Patrick Sweeney

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

My dissertation examines two controversies related to emergent uses of information from social media in psychological research and application. It focuses on controversies surrounding studies of face-based gaydar and the use of psychographic targeting by Cambridge Analytica in the 2016 US presidential election. Each controversy is analyzed in a case study that explores the issues specific to that study in relation to broader patterns across contexts to identify emergent trends in the use of information from social media in psychological research. Qualitative Content Analysis is used to analyze extant texts relevant to each case. In each study, findings related to …

Body Positivity Movement: Influence Of Beauty Standards On Body Image, Alissa Chiat

Antonian Scholars Honors Program

Throughout history, there has always been an idealized depiction of beauty. In each culture the ideal varies but the concept of exclusion is universal. The westernized portrayal of beauty is prevalent throughout and has become ingrained into the fabric of American society. In adolescence, the development of an individual’s body influences their sense of self. With the growing prevalence of social media usage young adults are being introduced to a barrage of images celebrating westernized ideals of beauty. Currently, three out of every four young adults ages 18-24, use at least one social media platform (Perrin & Anderson, 2019). Recently, …

"Phone Bad": A Mixed-Methods Exploratory Case Study Analysis Of Social Media And Ostracism, Emmeline Willey

Honors College

Foundational theories of social psychology were written before the existence of social media. As evolving technology has created an environment where users maintain constant social contact, there exists a need for research concerning how human social needs manifest in an online environment, and even moreso for how constant interconnectedness affects people. Previous research indicates a positive correlation between experienced ostracism and social media addiction. However, social media usage tends to be high among users who feel connected, as well as users who feel disconnected, thus indicating that the link between social media and social disconnection may be a ‘chicken-and-the-egg’ situation. …