Browsing by Subject "Social comparison"

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6

Curating the self on social media and perceptions of authenticity : an exploratory study
(2017-05) Marom, Danielle; Pounders, Kathrynn
This thesis examines the perception of authenticity of the self and others in a social media context. The field of communication, as well as other relevant fields such as Sociology and Advertising, holds Goffman’s work as a seminal theoretical framework that continues to guide modern scholarly inquiry. This work uses his theoretical framework to help explain self-presentation as it unfolds in computer-mediated communication (CMC) contexts, specifically in the case of Social Networking Sites (SNS). Using an online survey, this study recruited participants to complete measures that tap into the dependent and independent variables. Specifically, this study examines and explores authenticity and its relationships to social trust, social comparison, and overall self-presentation on social media. Perceptions of authenticity online appear to play an increasingly growing role in social media, and examining variables that appear related, such as social trust and social comparison, can help us understand how these perceptions are functional and relevant in today’s online world.
Essays on social media, social influence, and social comparison
(2013-08) Tang, Qian, active 2013; Whinston, Andrew B.
Social networking and social media technologies have greatly changed the way information is created and transmitted. Social media has made content contribution an efficient approach for individual brand building. With abundant user generated content and social networks, content consumers are constantly subject to social influence. Such social influence can be further utilized to encourage pro-social behavior. Chapter 1 examines the incentives for content contribution in social media. We propose that exposure and reputation are the major incentives for contributors. Besides, as more and more social media websites offer advertising-revenue sharing with some of their contributors, shared revenue provides an extra incentive for contributors who have joined revenue-sharing programs. We develop a dynamic structural model to identify a contributor's underlying utility function from observed contribution behavior. We recognize the dynamic nature of the content-contribution decision--that contributors are forward-looking, anticipating how their decisions impact future rewards. Using data collected from YouTube, we show that content contribution is driven by a contributor's desire for exposure, revenue sharing, and reputation and that the contributor makes decisions dynamically. Chapter 2 examines how social influence impact individuals' content consumption decisions in social network. Specifically, we consider social learning and network effects as two important mechanisms of social influence, in the context of YouTube. Rather than combining both social learning and network effects under the umbrella of social contagion or peer influence, we develop a theoretical model and empirically identify social learning and network effects separately. Using a unique data set from YouTube, we find that both mechanisms have statistically and economically significant effects on video views, and which mechanism dominates depends on the specific video type. Chapter 3 studies incentive mechanism to improve users' pro-social behavior based on social comparison. In particular, we aim to motivate organizations to improve Internet security. We propose an approach to increase the incentives for addressing security problems through reputation concern and social comparison. Specifically, we process existing security vulnerability data, derive explicit relative security performance information, and disclose the information as feedback to organizations and the public. To test our approach, we conducted a field quasi-experiment for outgoing spam for 1,718 autonomous systems in eight countries. We found that the treatment group subject to information disclosure reduced outgoing spam approximately by 16%. Our results suggest that social information and social comparison can be effectively leveraged to encourage desirable behavior.
Influence of social comparisons, big fish little pond effect, and social media on self-esteem and academic self-concepts
(2024-05) Yang, Yiwen (Ph. D. in educational psychology); Falbo, Toni; Suizzo, Marie-Anne P; Bright, Laura; Muenks, Katherine
The current study aims to contribute to knowledge by examining the effects of high school and college relative standings on the self-esteem and academic self-concepts of Texas college students. Texas is a special context for high school students where class rank is especially salient. Currently, high school graduates within the top 6% of their graduating class are automatically admitted to the University of Texas at Austin, as required by Texas law (House Bill 588). Given this admission policy that emphasizes high school graduation rank, social comparisons and relative standings are particularly important for Texas high school and college students. Social comparison and the big fish little pond (BFLP) effects are related psychological processes that are thought to influence the self-esteem and academic self-concepts of students. Social comparison effects are those that result when individual students compare themselves to other individual students. The BFLP effect, on the other hand, represents comparisons of the ranks of individual students within their social groups. Based on social comparison and BFLP theories, students’ class rank and perceived relative standings within peer groups are relevant to their self-esteem and academic self-concept. This study tested 11 hypotheses about high school factors, relative standings, and college self-evaluations outcomes. The results showed that college students who perceived themselves to rank relatively higher in peer groups and who had higher socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds reported better self-esteem and academic self-concepts. In addition, an indirect association was found between high school graduating class rank and college self-evaluations that was mediated by perceived college relative standing. Students from smaller high school graduating classes were found to have better self-esteem in college. Students who took more AP classes in high school were found to perceive themselves standing relatively higher in college. The current study also considered the influence of social media use on the effect of high school experiences on college self-esteem and academic self-concepts. Social media tie strength with high school peers and friends was expected to amplify the effects of high school factors on college outcomes. Consistent with this view, students who reported stronger social media ties with high school peers and friends had better self-evaluations in college. Social media tie strength also amplified the school size effect: Students from smaller high school had better self-esteem in college when they maintained strong ties with high school contacts on social media. Finally, the current study examined different combinations of high school and college relative standings using Latent Profile Analysis (LCA) in order to determine if groups of students varied in terms of their high school background, and also in terms of their self-esteem and academic self-concept in college. Results found students who ranked high in their high school graduating class, but low in college reported worse college self-esteem and academic self-concept than students in other latent groups. These students also reported lower SES on average.
There's nothing certain but the uncertain : uncertainty causing network events and how romantic couples discuss them
(2020-03-16) Hazzard, Jacob Irwin; Dailey, René M.; Vagelisti, Anita; McGlone, Matthew; Neff, Lisa
Romantic couples face a myriad of stressors, one of which is how certain they are about the status of their relationship. This study further explored how romantic couples discussed events that occurred within their social networks that may lead to increases in their uncertainty about their relationship. Participants were invited into a lab or a place of their convenience. They were given a prompt informing them a close couple of theirs was dissolving. They were then video-recorded discussing how this event would impact their relationship. The videos were coded for valence and directness strategies for each couple member and a series of regressions were conducted to test the hypotheses. This study found that being asked to ruminate about a hypothetical friend couple break up led to significantly higher levels of uncertainty. All other hypotheses were not supported. This study set the groundwork for network events and their impact on romantic couples’ uncertainty levels. Future directions are discussed, and potential models are suggested.
To seek inspiration or self-worth? : the impact of social media bridging ties on young females’ well-being
(2022-09-22) Lozano, Cinthia Melissa; Cunningham, Isabella C. M.; Eastin, Matthew; Coleman , Renita; Brown-Devlin, Natalie
The present dissertation investigates the effect of social media bridging ties on young females’ well-being including psychological well-being, self-esteem, and self-image. Particularly, study 1 tested the moderating effect of social comparison motives (self-improvement vs. self-evaluation) in the direct and indirect (through self-efficacy) relationship between bridging ties and the different measures of well-being. Study 2 tested the direct and moderating role of thin-ideals in predicting the different measures of well-being. An experiment with n= 474 participants in study 1 and a survey with n=296 participants were conducted to test the proposed hypotheses. Data analysis of study 1 indicates that bridging ties have no effect on well-being. The moderating effect of social comparison was not supported in the prediction of self-efficacy nor well-being. However, self-improvement had a positive effect on self-efficacy, self-esteem, and self-image. In contrast, self-evaluation was found to have a negative effect on self-efficacy, psychological well-being, self-esteem, and self-image. Study 2 showed that interaction with bridging ties in social media can be beneficial for young females, as it has a positive effect on psychological well-being and self-esteem. Thin ideals, on the contrary was found to negatively impact self-image.
Understanding social comparison, self-esteem and body image concerns of Instagram users : the impact of perceived ephemerality and permanency of Instagram content
(2021-05-10) Kim, Soomin; Oh, Jeeyun
Instagram, one of the fastest-growing social media networks, provides users with different features. Two primary Instagram features are Instagram posts and Instagram stories. Instagram post allows users to upload photos or videos and share them with their followers. The content stays on the users’ social media feed unless the content is deleted. Instagram story has an ephemeral nature as the content uploaded vanishes after 24 hours. This study was designed to examine individual's psychological constructs when using different Instagram messages. Social comparison, self-esteem, and body image concerns based on user's perception of ephemerality and permanency were examined. Instagram usage habits were examined as well, for both story and post. An online survey was distributed through the University of Texas at Austin’s advertising participant pool and linear regression was used through SPSS to find significant relationships. First, results demonstrated no significant relationship between the perceived permanency of Instagram posts, social comparison, self-esteem, and body image concerns as the content can be removed whenever the user desires. On the other hand, the perception of ephemerality on Instagram story negatively influenced social comparison and body image concerns while there was no significant relationship with self-esteem. Overall, the result of the present study aligns with previous research, as Instagram users who socially compare are likely to have lower self-esteem and have higher body image concerns.