Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Social psychology|Psychology|Web studies'

An online survey was utilized where 31 participants answered questions about their Facebook usage and activities. In addition, information was provided about their partner and issues that stemmed from Facebook such as relationship strain and depressive symptoms. Moreover, time spent on Facebook was also examined. Results indicated a correlation between Facebook activities and levels of depression, meaning that participants reported experiencing depressive symptoms after engaging in Facebook activities and viewing their partner’s Facebook profile. In addition, the results revealed that there was no significant association between time spent on Facebook and levels of depression. In other words, those who reported spending more time on Facebook did not report experiencing increased depressive symptoms or relationship strain. The social comparison theory posits that if individuals cannot evaluate themselves using physical standards, they will attempt to do it using social standards, especially when they experience uncertainty about their attitudes and opinions. Results revealed that individuals were less likely to access Facebook when they were unsure of their own thoughts, feelings, and intuition about the relationship. The results of this study indicated that Facebook activities can negatively affect relationships and cause individuals to experience depressive symptoms. More attention should be paid to Facebook usage and to the activities and behaviors of its users. Despite the positive effects of utilizing social network sites, negative experiences can occur due to the nature of the environment.

Social network use is often accompanied by a seductive allure that compels people to showcase themselves in the best light possible. This allure may theoretically be possible due to the concept of social comparison, a notion that is measured in part by the Facebook “friend count,” a numerical value representing the user’s number of online friends in the Facebook community. As there is no known research measuring this effect on current states, to close this gap in the literature it is asserted here that a memorable loss of one of these friends can have negative consequences. This study attempted to gauge the effect of the loss of these friends, colloquially known as “being unfriended.” This piece posits that being unfriended will increase state shame and decrease state self-esteem. To that end, a quantitative, experimental study was employed using 41 male and female, college-enrolled participants from a Midwest junior college to determine vicissitudes to state shame and state self-esteem after being unfriended on Facebook. An independent measures t-test was used to compare group mean differences between those who could adequately remember being unfriended and those who had little to no recollection of a recent unfriending episode. Results of the statistical analysis revealed that participants in the treatment group had no statistically significant increase in shame or decrease in self-esteem than those in the control group. Additional research in this area is recommended to further investigate additional variables used in this study, overcome limitations, and to fully explore superfluous possibilities such as potential mediators.

Social media posts are used to examine what people experience in their everyday lives. A new method is developed for assessing the situational characteristics of social media posts based on the words used in these posts. To accomplish this, machine learning models are built that accurately approximate the judgments of human raters. This new method of situational assessment is applied on two of the most popular social media sites: Twitter and Facebook. Millions of Tweets and Facebook statuses are analyzed. Temporal patterns of situational experiences are found. Geographic and gender differences in experience are examined. Relationships between personality and situation experience were also assessed. Implications of these finding and future applications of this new method of situational assessment are discussed.

Mate Poaching is one strategy used for attracting a mate. Under principles of evolutionary theory, mating strategies are driven by inter-sexual selection and intra-sexual competition creating Sex specificity in the way strategies succeed or fail. The relatively recent emergence of the Internet raises questions about its interaction with evolutionary mechanisms that people use to attract a mate. The purpose of this study was to identify whether or not Mate Poaching exists within virtual Social Networking Sites (SNS), and whether or not poaching tactics used in a Face-to-Face Environment are still considered effective in a Virtual one. This study asked whether there was an association between the environment of Mate Poaching and the Sex of a poacher in three environments (Face-to-Face, Virtual, and Blended); the study also asks whether there is a significant interaction between the environment and Sex of a poacher on the Perceived Efficacy of three Mate Poaching tactics (Enhancing Physical Appearance, Demonstrating Resources, and Humor). The study consisted of a mixed design: Part one was a causal-comparative design answered with a modified Anonymous Romantic Attraction Survey (ARAS). Part two was an experimental design, randomly assigning participants to rate the Perceived Efficacy of 42 tactics from the Expanded Acts and Tactics from Schmitt and Buss (2001). The convenience sample (N=233) was drawn from adults 18 years or older who have had at least one romantic relationship in their lifetime, and were residents of the United States. The sample, consisting of 71 males and 162 females, was 84.1% heterosexual, and split evenly on marital status; ages ranged from 18 to 78, with a mean age of 40. Data were analyzed for part one with six chi-square tests of association, and part two with three two-way factorial ANOVAs. Part one found a significant association between Sex and Environment for “Have you ever poached?” in the Face-to-Face and Blended Environments. The Virtual Environment and all three (Face-to-Face, Virtual and Blended) Environments for “Have you frequently poached?” did not find a significant association with Sex. Part two found no significant interactions between Sex and environment on the Perceived Efficacy of the three tactics; there was a main effect of Sex on both Enhancing Physical Appearance and Demonstrating Resources, further confirming previous literature. There was no main effect of Sex or environment on the tactic of Humor, consistent with mixed results around this construct in the literature.

The purpose of this study was to determine if getting personal information from a social media page, specifically Facebook, affects the final selection decision. This study aimed to examine the effect personal information, specifically race and sexual orientation, has on ratings of hirability and salary offers for male candidates. The study used the data of 105 Mechanical Turk participants who participated in a survey for a monetary incentive. It was hypothesized that homosexual candidates would receive lower hirability ratings and salary offers than heterosexual candidates. Additionally, it was hypothesized that African American candidates would receive lower hirability ratings and salary offers than Caucasian candidates. Finally, it was hypothesized that African American homosexual candidates would receive lower hirability ratings and salary offers than their counterparts. No significant main effects or interactions were found. Additional findings are discussed.

Social networking services are used by a large segment of society; Facebook claims that 1 billion users are active on their website. The potential role for social networking in civic engagement is substantial, and this dissertation expands upon previous research in its examination of the relationship between social networking use and civic engagement. Prior research into the effect of social networking services on social capital creation is limited in terms of generalizability and predictive power. The dissertation explores the determinants of social networking service use, the impact that social networking services have on the creation of social capital, and how social networking website use modifies a respondent's level of generalized trust and political efficacy.

The sample utilized in this dissertation includes 2,303 respondents from the Social Side of the Internet Survey, conducted in November and December of 2010. The dissertation utilizes this data to examine social networking intensity as a hypothesized determinant of indirect and direct forms of social capital. Models explore the decision to utilize the internet, social networking services (SNS), and to join traditional groups, evaluating the hypothesis that SNS usage creates social capital through a different pathway than online or physical interactions. Results provide early support for this hypothesis, as the factors influencing the decision to utilize social networking are separate from those modifying online or group activity.

The explanatory power of social networking intensity is compared to demographic and group-centered conceptions of social capital generation. The data supports the conception that SNS intensity is a significant determinant of external political efficacy and social capital, but is unable to identify a relationship between social networking intensity and generalized trust.

By examining the role that social networking services play alongside factors such as age, education, internet use, gender, race, socioeconomic class, technology, and group association, the dissertation tests hypotheses important to political science sub-fields including American politics, civic engagement, and political theory. Future research examining social networking and civic engagement needs to consider how governmental representatives view the social capital generated by social networking services.

The ubiquity of social media has enhanced consumers’ ability to stay in touch as well as save and access information about others at will. This easy access to information on social media has the potential to change the way consumers seek and remember information. This dissertation sheds light on how information accessibility on social media shapes users’ cognitions. Using a professional social network context, we examine two types of information that consumers pay attention to – content (i.e., ‘who knows what’) and connections (i.e., ‘who knows who’) and how different types of social media influencers (content generators vs. content diffusors) strategically seek information under specific contingencies - when they are vs. are not connected to others (i.e., when information accessibility is high vs. low). We also suggest that individual differences in executive attention moderate this type of content seeking. Results across five studies reveal that content generators tend to focus on others’ content when they are not linked (vs. linked) but content diffusors tend to demonstrate the opposite, i.e., increased focus on content when they are linked (vs. not linked). Alternatively, when it comes to information about connections, content diffusors tend to focus on it when they are not linked (vs. linked) while content generators demonstrate no such active information seeking behavior. Interestingly, selective content seeking manifests only in users who rank high in working memory capacity – a factor that determines strategic attention control. Overall, this research shows that strategic content seeking happens on account of attention control processes and its outcome depends upon users’ social media roles. This thesis contributes to the emerging social media literature in marketing by outlining a new phenomenon, strategic content seeking, explicating its underlying cognitive mechanism and delineating relevant social and cognitive moderators.

Social networking websites can have a positive and negative, psychological impact on individuals who use them, especially if these individuals have previously experienced depressive symptoms. The Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) informs the curriculum in master's and doctoral level counseling graduate programs, yet the extent to which social networking websites and their psychological impacts is explored in these programs is unknown.

This is an exploratory, mixed methods study that explores the extent to which CACREP graduate programs address this topic and prepare mental health professionals to address this topic in their practice as well as exploring the extent to which, and how, mental health professionals are seeing social networking sites impact their clients. Thirty-two participants completed an online survey that consisted of open-ended and closed-ended questions. The data collected was analyzed through frequency distributions and by developing themes using in vivo coding. These themes were then used with the frequency distribution results to inform the findings in this study.

Conclusions were drawn from this study that CACREP programs are not formally addressing social networking websites psychological impacts on clients in their curriculum and mental health professionals shared that clients are being psychologically impacted by social networking websites. Mental health professionals are experiencing a need for education and/or training in this area in order to address this area with clients. Lastly, from this study there are several recommendations for additions to the CACREP curriculum in relation to social networking websites psychological impacts as well as suggestions for interventions to address these issues.

This study investigates how professional sports organizations are using social media to develop long-term relationships with supporters as well as to explore additional functionalities social media have within their marketing and communication strategies. This qualitative comparative case study uses relationship marketing as the base theory and semi-structure interviews as the method of data collection. The interviews were performed to key marketing and communication personnel of the Saint Louis Rams (Rams) of the National Football League (NFL) and the LA Galaxy (Galaxy) of the Major League Soccer (MLS) in order to gather valuable insight into this phenomenon.

This study employs a mixed method, sequential explanatory design strategy, one in which the interpretation of the quantitative data is weighted more heavily than that of the qualitative data, to record social media usage among Assyrian Christian Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who were held in the Asti 2 IDP camp in Ankawa, Iraq, from 2014 to 2017. Through a quantitative survey instrument and a series of oral interviews, this study explores the social media habits of 315 respondents, paying particular attention to types of social media applications used, attitudes of the IDPs towards the useful of SMA in making the world aware of their plight and resolving their displacement.

Using the Multidimensional Model of Racial Identity, this qualitative study examined the influence the News Feed function of Facebook had on multiracial community college students. Entering college at a time when racial identity development is heightened and social networking sites have changed the college experience, multiracial students are constantly engaging with peers. As multiracial students receive messages about their racial identity on social media, there is a need to understand the role these platforms have in shaping how multiracial students understand their identity.

Interview and audio recording data from seven community college students was organized along three main themes: participants’ use of Facebook, cultivation of News Feed content and intentional (re)actions to information, and overall influence on multiracial identity. Participants experienced negative emotional responses when reviewing race-related content and felt racially inadequate as a result of content from monoracial peers. Recommendations relate to student affairs practice and higher education policy.

This study examines the relationships between celebrities and their followers through social networking sites (SNS). A total of 239 participants completed the survey through MTurk. The results show that celebrities’ self-disclosure on SNS increases their Parasocial Interaction (PI) with fans. In addition, when a celebrity is perceived as trustworthy, s/he would have a higher PI with fans. Meanwhile, celebrities’ self-disclosure was not associated with trustworthiness. Furthermore, time spent on SNS was also not associated with PI.

This study also found that type of celebrity does not determine the degree of influence they have on the followers. People have almost same parasocial interaction with their favorite celebrity whether the celebrity is a singer, athlete, actor, or any other. Additionally, there is no specific social networking site on which people have a stronger PI with celebrities. PI with celebrities on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and the other platforms is almost the same.

This quantitative study examined the relationship between problematic Internet usage, self-efficacy, and proactive coping skills. This study compared demographic characteristics against three scales: Compulsive Internet Use Scale, General Self-Efficacy Scale, and Proactive Coping Subscale. A total of 146 Internet users over the age of 18 participated in this study. The results found a significant correlation between gender and, age, and ethnicity and proactive coping skills. There was also a significant relationship between age and compulsive Internet use. Compulsive Internet use was negatively correlated with proactive coping, suggesting improved proactive coping skills will lead to a lower level of compulsive Internet use.

ABSTRACT Since the late 1990s, access to Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have seen exponential growth throughout the globe, which the World Bank (2014) estimated to have reached 6.8 billion mobile subscribers, and 2.7 billion Internet users at the end of 2013. This growth is primarily fueled by expanding mobile wireless networks, decentralized telecommunication infrastructures, and innovative mobile and computer based applications. This unprecedented access to technology, coupled with globalization, is bringing multiple cultures closer together in the ever increasing transfer of labor between countries. International guest workers set out to create better lives for themselves and their families with their mobile phone in one hand and worldly possessions in another. Ultimately, these devices are allowing guest workers to connect with their home countries, in an exchange of information and ideas. International guest workers who live dual lives have one foot firmly planted in their home culture while trying to adapt to life in a new country and culture. This adaption, or acculturation, creates a tremendous amount of adjustment and stress. Acculturative stress can arise from financial difficulties, language barriers, discrimination, or extended detachment from one's family (Berry, 1997). Facebook and Skype can provide entertainment, locate employment, and bridge the emotional gaps that are created from the extended absence from one's friends and family. In this paper, we will examine the perception of acculturative stress and perceived social support from Latin American Guest Workers. This quantitative study will measure specifically the effects of Facebook and VoIP (Skype) on increasing the feelings of perceived social support while reducing the feelings associated with acculturative stress.

Addictive disorders are a public health crisis that affects our society by draining our workforce, health care, judicial, education, and law enforcement, resources. Adolescents are particularly susceptible to social influence—for better and for worse—and addiction. Through social media, today’s youth experience a whole new way of communicating. Not enough is known about adolescent perceptions of addiction, and messages of addiction they are exposed to on social media. Social Learning Theory and the Learning Theory of Addiction provided the framework for understanding how adolescents are at risk for developing unhealthy practices that create numerous psychological, social and physical problems in adulthood. Concurrent, mixed-methods, were used to explore adolescent perceptions of addiction and Instagram hashtags related to addiction. A content analysis of Instagram hashtags related to addiction and interview data from 11 adolescents aged 16-18 from a Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) club in New Jersey was collected and analyzed. The sample for phase one of this study was comprised of 819,155 Instagram posts, hashtagged #addiction, #recovery, #alcohol, and #drugs, collected on 5 dates over a month. Phase 2, adolescent interviews, included open-ended and Addiction Belief Survey (ABS) questions. The study’s findings led to the conclusion that the adolescents interviewed have uncertain, and at times prejudicial, understandings of addiction. They see social media as potentially helpful in the fight against addiction and feel protected from negative messages of addiction by a strong circle of friends and family. Addiction related posts on Instagram, though littered with unhealthy messages, reflect the belief that addiction is recoverable and avoidable through social support. Adolescent perceptions of addiction align with those expressed on Instagram in both healthy and unhealthy ways. Beliefs of addiction expressed by adolescents and on Instagram reflect recent findings in the scientific literature on the nature of addiction, stigma, social support, and wellness. Study recommendations include for school and government leadership to take a multi-pronged, community based, approach in supporting adolescents. Future research should focus on social media support for adolescents and adolescent social learning of addiction. Secondary school curricula and interventions that include social media should be created and improved using design-based research because it allows for evidence-based improvement.

The Internet has long been utilized by gay men and men who have sex with men (MSM) as a space for the seeking-out of deviant behaviors such as condomless sex and the use of popular "party drugs." Within criminal justice, however, there is a tendency to separate such deviant sex- and drug-related behaviors from culture; thus, these behaviors often become criminalized without recognizing the meaning they may have for the "offenders"; meaning that, in addition to being borne out of oppression and marginalization, is also borne out of stigmatizing experiences.

Through an exploration of gay culture, this thesis explores the underlying meanings of a subset of drug-seeking gay men who "party and play" (PnP). Such an analysis is important not only for criminal justice, but also for the field of cultural criminology, which seeks to inform both the criminal justice system and law enforcement professionals of the need for cultural sensitivity.

Collaborative helping via social networking conversation threads can pose serious challenges in emergency situations. Interfaces that support complex group interaction and sense-making can help. This research applies human-computer interaction (HCI), computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW), and collaboration engineering in developing an interactive design, the Mega-Collaboration Tool (MCT). The goal is to reduce the cognitive load of a group’s growing mental model, thus increasing the general public’s ability to organize spontaneous collaborative helping.

The specific aims of this research include understanding the dynamics of mental model negotiation and determining whether MCT can assist the group’s sense-making ability without increasing net cognitive load.

The proposed HCI theory is that interfaces supporting collaborative cognition motivate contribution and reduce information bias, thus increasing the information shared. These research questions are addressed: 1. Does MCT support better collaborative cognition? 2. Does increasing the size of the shared data repository increase the amount of information shared? 3. Does this happen because group members experience 1) a greater sense of strategic commitment to the knowledge structure, 2) increased intrinsic motivation to contribute, and 3) reduced resistance to sharing information?

These questions were affirmed to varying degrees, giving insight into the collaborative process. Greater content did not motive group members directly; instead, half of their motivation came from awareness of their contribution’s relevance. Greater content and organization improved this awareness, and also encouraged sharing through increased enthusiasm and reduced bias. Increased commitment was a result of this process, rather than a cause. Also, MCT increased collaborative cognition but was significantly hampered by Internet performance. This challenge indicates MCT’s system components should be redesigned to allow asynchronous interaction. These results should contribute to the development of MCT, other collaboration engineering applications, and HCI and information science theory.