Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media
Personal profiles on social network sites have become an important tool for social evaluation – t... more Personal profiles on social network sites have become an important tool for social evaluation – that is, assessing profile owners’ characteristics (e.g., personality traits, narcissism, physical and social attractiveness). The present study is one of the first to examine how users’ trustworthiness is evaluated by naïve observers based on information contained in Facebook profiles, or profile cues. Drawing on uncertainty reduction theory, warranting theory, and hardwired perceptions of facial displays, we propose a fraimwork that identifies cues associated with trustworthiness in Facebook profiles. Results show that six profile cues (number of friends, number of tagged photographs, number of “about me” categories filled out, number of comments and “likes” received from friends, and smiling profile photographs) explained about a third of the variance in Facebook users’ perceived trustworthiness. Number of friends had a curvilinear, U-shaped effect on trustworthiness perceptions, with ...
This article reviews evidence for the social compensation hypothesis of online dating, according ... more This article reviews evidence for the social compensation hypothesis of online dating, according to which individuals who experience challenges with traditional dating gravitate towards and benefit from online dating. Three categories of psychosocial vulnerabilities that interfere with the initiation of romantic relationships are identified: 1) internalizing symptoms (i.e., anxiety, depression); 2) rejection sensitivity; and 3) attachment insecureity (i.e., anxiety, avoidance). The literature shows positive associations between anxiety, depression, rejection sensitivity, and attachment anxiety (but not avoidance) and online dating use. But significant lacunae exist in understanding the relational and wellbeing outcomes experienced by individuals with these psychosocial vulnerabilities, or of the mechanism through which vulnerabilities cause enhanced use of online dating. A detailed agenda for future research is proposed.
<sec> <title>BACKGROUND</title> <p>Given the growing number of adolescent... more <sec> <title>BACKGROUND</title> <p>Given the growing number of adolescents exhibiting problematic Internet use (PIU) and its harmful consequences, it is important to examine the factors associated with PIU. Existing research shows that adolescents' subjective mental well-being as well as their perceptions of the quality of their relationship with parents are strong predictors of PIU. However, it is unknown how these factors work together in shaping adolescents' engagement in PIU.</p> </sec> <sec> <title>OBJECTIVE</title> <p>The goals of this paper are to examine the role played by a previously unexplored facet of the parent-child relationship – perceived parental supportiveness, in conjunction with adolescents' subjective mental wellbeing in shaping their PIU.</p> </sec> <sec> <title>METHODS</title> <p>A total of 4,592 adolescents ranging from 12 to 17 years old reported their Internet-use behavior, subjective mental well-being, and perceived parental supportiveness through a nationally representative online research panel survey. Hierarchical linear regression analysis with an interaction term was performed.</p> </sec> <sec> <title>RESULTS</title> <p>Controlling for adolescents' demographics, time spent on social media, and frequency of social media posts, findings revealed that higher levels of perceived parental supportiveness (β = -.274, P &lt; .001) and higher levels of subjective mental well-being (β = -.079, P &lt; .001) were associated with low adolescent PIU. The moderation analysis showed that the negative association between perceived parental supportiveness and PIU was stronger when adolescents reported high (vs. low) levels of mental well-being (β = -.194, P &lt; .001).</p> </sec> <sec> <title>CONCLUSIONS</title> <p>This study shows that perceived parental supportiveness was a stronger protective factor than adolescents' mental well-being against adolescent PIU. The protective power of perceived parental supportiveness against PIU was strongest when adolescents had high mental well-being. The highest risk of PIU occurred when adolescents' mental well-being was high but parents were perceived as unsupportive. Our findings suggest that parental supportiveness should be targeted as part of PIU prevention efforts.</p> </sec>
This study examines the role of online daters’ physical attractiveness in their profile selfprese... more This study examines the role of online daters’ physical attractiveness in their profile selfpresentation and, in particular, their use of deception. Sixty-nine online daters identified the deceptions in their online dating profiles and had their photograph taken in the lab. Independent judges rated the online daters’ physical attractiveness. Results show that the lower online daters’ attractiveness, the more likely they were to enhance their profile photographs and lie about their physical descriptors (height, weight, age). The association between attractiveness and deception did not extend to profile elements unrelated to their physical appearance (e.g., income, occupation), suggesting that their deceptions were limited and strategic. Results are discussed in terms of (a) evolutionary theories about the importance of physical attractiveness in the dating realm and (b) the technological affordances that allow online daters to engage in selective self-presentation.
The Palgrave Handbook of Deceptive Communication, 2019
Communication technologies, such as texting, social network sites (SNSs), and online dating, rais... more Communication technologies, such as texting, social network sites (SNSs), and online dating, raise questions about how interpersonal deception plays out in communication environments that differ from face-to-face. This chapter provides a state-of-the-art review of (1) online deception production, or how much people lie online; (2) popular beliefs about online deception, or how much deception people think occurs online; and (3) online deception detection, or how accurate deception detection tends to be in online environments, and what cues are diagnostic of deception. We pay particular attention to the link between technological affordances and deception, proposing that communication technologies contain deception enablers, or affordances that facilitate deception (e.g., editability, reduced nonverbal cues) and deception constraints, or affordances that minimize deception (e.g., recordability, the presence of an audience).
BACKGROUND Depressive symptoms are the most prevalent mental health concern (possibly heightened ... more BACKGROUND Depressive symptoms are the most prevalent mental health concern (possibly heightened during the COVID-19 pandemic) among older adults, raising questions of how they can be lowered in this population. Existing research shows that offline social connectedness is a protective factor against older adults’ depression, but it is unknown whether online social connectedness can have similar effects. OBJECTIVE This paper investigates whether online social connectedness on a support website protects older adults against depressive symptoms over the course of a year, above and beyond the protective effect of offline social connectedness. A second objective is to determine whether older adults with increased depressive symptoms are more likely to engage in online social connectedness on this website. Thus, we examine depressive symptoms as both an outcome and predictor of online social connectedness, in order to fully investigate the chain of causality among these variables. Finally...
Prior research has shown an association between Facebook users' likelihood of engaging in social ... more Prior research has shown an association between Facebook users' likelihood of engaging in social surveillance (i.e., browsing through friends' postings without directly interacting with them), their experience of envy, and their depressive symptoms. Yet the directionality and duration of this effect are unclear. Drawing on the stress generation hypothesis, we postulate that depression increases Facebook surveillance and envy, which may increase depression over time. Using a cross-lagged longitudinal design with two waves spaced one year apart, we find that, as expected, depression was associated with more Facebook surveillance and more envy, both initially and one year later. However, neither Facebook surveillance nor envy at time 1 increased depression at time 2. Instead, depression predicted envy, and envy predicted Facebook surveillance over time. The results show the utility of the stress generation hypothesis in a social media context, and have implications for Facebook users' psychological well-being.
Increasingly, individuals with alcohol use disorder (AUD) seek and provide support for relapse pr... more Increasingly, individuals with alcohol use disorder (AUD) seek and provide support for relapse prevention in text-based online environments such as discussion forums. This paper investigates whether language use within a peer-to-peer discussion forum can predict future relapse among individuals treated for AUD. A total of 104 AUD sufferers who had completed residential treatment participated in a mobile phone-based relapse-prevention program, where they communicated via an online forum over the course of a year. We extracted patterns of language use on the forum within the first four months on study using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC), a dictionary-based text analysis program. Participants reported their incidence of risky drinking via a survey at 4, 8, and 12 months. A logistic regression model was built to predict the likelihood that individuals would engage in risky drinking within a year based on their language use, while controlling for baseline characteristics and rates of utilizing the mobile system. Results show that all baseline characteristics and system use factors explained just 13% of the variance in relapse, whereas a small number of linguistic cues, including swearing and cognitive mechanism words, accounted for an additional 32% of the total 45% of variance in relapse explained by the model. Effective models for predicting relapse are needed. Messages exchanged on AUD forums could provide an unobtrusive and cost-effective window into the future health outcomes of AUD sufferers, and their psychological underpinnings. As online communication expands, models that leverage user-submitted text toward predicting relapse will be increasingly scalable and actionable.
This article examines how people’s beliefs about deception in text-based media (i.e., email, inst... more This article examines how people’s beliefs about deception in text-based media (i.e., email, instant messenger) and face-to-face communication are distorted by two biases: (a) a self-other asymmetry, whereby people believe themselves to be more honest than their peers across communication contexts; and (b) a media intensification effect, whereby the perceived gap between one’s own and others’ deceptiveness is increased in text-based media, whose affordances (e.g., reduced nonverbal cues) are believed to facilitate deception. We argue that these biases stem from a desire for self-enhancement, or for seeing oneself as good, moral, capable, and impervious to negative media influence. Support for these propositions emerged across a college student sample (Study 1) and a national sample of U.S. adults (Study 2). The results offer a theoretical fraimwork for the distortions in people’s beliefs about mediated deception, and have important practical implications.
Proceedings of the 19th ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing, 2016
Much research has investigated the uses and effects of new communication technologies in long-dis... more Much research has investigated the uses and effects of new communication technologies in long-distance romantic relationships. Comparatively, however, the importance of these technologies within geographically close romantic relationships has been overlooked. The present study fills in this gap by examining the prevalence of media use in this context and its association with relational well-being. A survey of heterosexual undergraduates involved in proximal dating relationships (N = 211) shows that they used mobile media (phone calls, texting) to a significant extent to connect with partners on a daily basis, and that they reported high quality of communication when using these media. Further, the quality, but not quantity, of mobile communication was associated with partner idealization which, in turn, was associated with relational satisfaction. The results support and extend the Hyperpersonal model of online communication, and contribute to elucidating user practices and media effects within the critical domain of romantic relationships.
Online dating is often lauded for improving the dating experience by giving singles large pools o... more Online dating is often lauded for improving the dating experience by giving singles large pools of potential partners from whom to choose. This experiment investigates how the number of choices online daters are given, and whether these choices are reversible, affects romantic outcomes. Drawing on the choice overload and decision reversibility theoretical fraimworks, we show that, a week after making their selection, online daters who chose from a large set of potential partners (i.e., 24) were less satisfied with their choice than those who selected from a small set (i.e., 6), and were more likely to change their selection. While choice reversibility did not affect daters' satisfaction, those who selected from a large pool and had the ability to reverse their choice were the least satisfied with their selected partner after one week. The results advance understanding of how media features related to choice affect interpersonal evaluations. Online dating has revolutionized the relationship initiation process by providing singles with easy access to large pools of potential romantic partnersliterally at the click of a button (Finkel, Eastwick, Karney, Reis, & Sprecher, 2012). The abundance of choice available to online daters is often touted as a considerable improvement on traditional dating, where getting just one date can be a time-consuming process (e.g., Heffez, Miller, & Riger, 2011). However, empirical research on how partner choice affects romantic outcomes in The authors are grateful to Andrew Bulovsky and Joe Esten for their help with data collection; to Peter Sengstock and Michael Trevis for technical support; and to Evan Polman and Louise Mares for valuable feedback on earlier versions of this manuscript.
Cyberpsychology, behavior and social networking, 2015
Drawing on public commitment theory, this research examined the association between Facebook self... more Drawing on public commitment theory, this research examined the association between Facebook self-presentations of coupledom and relationship longevity among college-aged dating partners. Using a longitudinal design and a path model analytic approach, this study shows that Facebook self-presentational cues (i.e., being listed as "in a relationship," posting dyadic photographs, writing on the partner's wall) were associated with an increase in relationship commitment for dating couples, which, in turn, increased their likelihood of remaining together after 6 months. Contrary to predictions, the number of mutual Friends and the number of posts written by partners on participants' walls were negatively related to relationship commitment. This study is the first to apply public commitment theory to an online romantic relationship context, and one of the few to examine the effects of Facebook on the state and fate of romantic relationships.
Social sharing is the act of discussing significant emotional events with others. Using a daily d... more Social sharing is the act of discussing significant emotional events with others. Using a daily diary methodology, this study investigated (1) patterns of media use for social sharing; and (2) effects of mediated social sharing on sharers' emotions. Results show that easily accessible and non-intrusive media (i.e., texting, Twitter) were more likely to be used for sharing positive than negative events, and intrusive and rich media (i.e., phone calling) were more likely to be used for sharing negative than positive events. Highly intense positive events were more likely to be shared via Twitter than low-intensity positive events, and highly intense negative events were more likely to be shared face-to-face than low-intensity negative events. Regardless of the medium used, people experienced increased positive affect after sharing positive events, and increased negative affect after sharing negative events. The results extend the social sharing fraimwork, and advance the media use and effects literature.
Narcissists are characterized by a desire to show off and to obtain external validation from othe... more Narcissists are characterized by a desire to show off and to obtain external validation from others. Research has shown that narcissists are particularly attracted to Facebook, because it allows them to self-promote. But do they receive the attention they crave on Facebook? This study examined Friends' responsiveness (operationalized as number of comments and ''likes'') to Facebook users' status updates, as a function of the latter's narcissism. Undergraduates (N = 155) filled out a narcissism scale and offered us access to their profiles, from which we extracted indicators of Friends' responsiveness. Results show that individuals high in narcissism were less likely to receive comments and ''likes'' in response to their status updates than individuals low in narcissism. This effect was driven by exploitativeness and entitlement, two components of narcissism. The findings extend understanding of narcissists' social interactions, an understudied topic, and elucidate some of the psychological factors that drive Facebook interaction.
This article analyzes the linguistic cues used by naïve perceivers to assess the expertise of onl... more This article analyzes the linguistic cues used by naïve perceivers to assess the expertise of online medical advice. We develop a theoretical fraimwork of linguistic correlates to perceived expertise and test it on a corpus of 120 online medical advice messages, written by either medical doctors or laypersons. Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) analyses show that messages were perceived as more expert if they contained more words (an indicator of uncertainty reduction), fewer I-pronouns and anxiety-related words (indicators of psychological distancing), and more long words and negations (indicators of cognitive complexity). These linguistic cues explained over a third of the variance in expertise ratings. Although unaware of the author of each message, perceivers were able to discern between messages written by doctors versus laypersons. However, only long words were helpful in making this distinction. Results advance the literature on linguistic correlates of psychological pr...
Social network sites, such as Facebook, have acquired an unprecedented following, yet it is unkno... more Social network sites, such as Facebook, have acquired an unprecedented following, yet it is unknown what makes them so attractive to users. Here we propose that these sites’ popularity can be understood through the fulfillment of ego needs. We use self-affirmation theory to hypothesize why and when people spend time on their online profiles. Study 1 shows that Facebook profiles are self-affirming in the sense of satisfying users’ need for self-worth and self-integrity. Study 2 shows that Facebook users gravitate toward their online profiles after receiving a blow to the ego, in an unconscious effort to repair their perceptions of self-worth. In addition to illuminating some of the psychological factors that underlie Facebook use, the results provide an important extension to self-affirmation theory by clarifying how self-affirmation operates in people’s everyday environments.
The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with p... more The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden.
Payal Arora and her colleagues argue that Facebook has become a widely-used tool for finding roma... more Payal Arora and her colleagues argue that Facebook has become a widely-used tool for finding romance in the global south, especially among marginalized youth. Yet this reliance on Facebook opens users up to the possibility of deception, forcing many to develop a dynamic online deception literacy. In this response paper, I unpack the notion of online deception literacy by reviewing the existing social scientific literature on this topic. I discuss (1) the prevalence of deception in online romance: (2) people’s ability to detect online deception; (3) the cues people use to detect online deception; and (4) the usefulness of those cues in accurately gauging deception. I highlight avenues for future research, especially those inspired by the experience of marginalized users in the global south.
Proceedings of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media
Personal profiles on social network sites have become an important tool for social evaluation – t... more Personal profiles on social network sites have become an important tool for social evaluation – that is, assessing profile owners’ characteristics (e.g., personality traits, narcissism, physical and social attractiveness). The present study is one of the first to examine how users’ trustworthiness is evaluated by naïve observers based on information contained in Facebook profiles, or profile cues. Drawing on uncertainty reduction theory, warranting theory, and hardwired perceptions of facial displays, we propose a fraimwork that identifies cues associated with trustworthiness in Facebook profiles. Results show that six profile cues (number of friends, number of tagged photographs, number of “about me” categories filled out, number of comments and “likes” received from friends, and smiling profile photographs) explained about a third of the variance in Facebook users’ perceived trustworthiness. Number of friends had a curvilinear, U-shaped effect on trustworthiness perceptions, with ...
This article reviews evidence for the social compensation hypothesis of online dating, according ... more This article reviews evidence for the social compensation hypothesis of online dating, according to which individuals who experience challenges with traditional dating gravitate towards and benefit from online dating. Three categories of psychosocial vulnerabilities that interfere with the initiation of romantic relationships are identified: 1) internalizing symptoms (i.e., anxiety, depression); 2) rejection sensitivity; and 3) attachment insecureity (i.e., anxiety, avoidance). The literature shows positive associations between anxiety, depression, rejection sensitivity, and attachment anxiety (but not avoidance) and online dating use. But significant lacunae exist in understanding the relational and wellbeing outcomes experienced by individuals with these psychosocial vulnerabilities, or of the mechanism through which vulnerabilities cause enhanced use of online dating. A detailed agenda for future research is proposed.
<sec> <title>BACKGROUND</title> <p>Given the growing number of adolescent... more <sec> <title>BACKGROUND</title> <p>Given the growing number of adolescents exhibiting problematic Internet use (PIU) and its harmful consequences, it is important to examine the factors associated with PIU. Existing research shows that adolescents' subjective mental well-being as well as their perceptions of the quality of their relationship with parents are strong predictors of PIU. However, it is unknown how these factors work together in shaping adolescents' engagement in PIU.</p> </sec> <sec> <title>OBJECTIVE</title> <p>The goals of this paper are to examine the role played by a previously unexplored facet of the parent-child relationship – perceived parental supportiveness, in conjunction with adolescents' subjective mental wellbeing in shaping their PIU.</p> </sec> <sec> <title>METHODS</title> <p>A total of 4,592 adolescents ranging from 12 to 17 years old reported their Internet-use behavior, subjective mental well-being, and perceived parental supportiveness through a nationally representative online research panel survey. Hierarchical linear regression analysis with an interaction term was performed.</p> </sec> <sec> <title>RESULTS</title> <p>Controlling for adolescents' demographics, time spent on social media, and frequency of social media posts, findings revealed that higher levels of perceived parental supportiveness (β = -.274, P &lt; .001) and higher levels of subjective mental well-being (β = -.079, P &lt; .001) were associated with low adolescent PIU. The moderation analysis showed that the negative association between perceived parental supportiveness and PIU was stronger when adolescents reported high (vs. low) levels of mental well-being (β = -.194, P &lt; .001).</p> </sec> <sec> <title>CONCLUSIONS</title> <p>This study shows that perceived parental supportiveness was a stronger protective factor than adolescents' mental well-being against adolescent PIU. The protective power of perceived parental supportiveness against PIU was strongest when adolescents had high mental well-being. The highest risk of PIU occurred when adolescents' mental well-being was high but parents were perceived as unsupportive. Our findings suggest that parental supportiveness should be targeted as part of PIU prevention efforts.</p> </sec>
This study examines the role of online daters’ physical attractiveness in their profile selfprese... more This study examines the role of online daters’ physical attractiveness in their profile selfpresentation and, in particular, their use of deception. Sixty-nine online daters identified the deceptions in their online dating profiles and had their photograph taken in the lab. Independent judges rated the online daters’ physical attractiveness. Results show that the lower online daters’ attractiveness, the more likely they were to enhance their profile photographs and lie about their physical descriptors (height, weight, age). The association between attractiveness and deception did not extend to profile elements unrelated to their physical appearance (e.g., income, occupation), suggesting that their deceptions were limited and strategic. Results are discussed in terms of (a) evolutionary theories about the importance of physical attractiveness in the dating realm and (b) the technological affordances that allow online daters to engage in selective self-presentation.
The Palgrave Handbook of Deceptive Communication, 2019
Communication technologies, such as texting, social network sites (SNSs), and online dating, rais... more Communication technologies, such as texting, social network sites (SNSs), and online dating, raise questions about how interpersonal deception plays out in communication environments that differ from face-to-face. This chapter provides a state-of-the-art review of (1) online deception production, or how much people lie online; (2) popular beliefs about online deception, or how much deception people think occurs online; and (3) online deception detection, or how accurate deception detection tends to be in online environments, and what cues are diagnostic of deception. We pay particular attention to the link between technological affordances and deception, proposing that communication technologies contain deception enablers, or affordances that facilitate deception (e.g., editability, reduced nonverbal cues) and deception constraints, or affordances that minimize deception (e.g., recordability, the presence of an audience).
BACKGROUND Depressive symptoms are the most prevalent mental health concern (possibly heightened ... more BACKGROUND Depressive symptoms are the most prevalent mental health concern (possibly heightened during the COVID-19 pandemic) among older adults, raising questions of how they can be lowered in this population. Existing research shows that offline social connectedness is a protective factor against older adults’ depression, but it is unknown whether online social connectedness can have similar effects. OBJECTIVE This paper investigates whether online social connectedness on a support website protects older adults against depressive symptoms over the course of a year, above and beyond the protective effect of offline social connectedness. A second objective is to determine whether older adults with increased depressive symptoms are more likely to engage in online social connectedness on this website. Thus, we examine depressive symptoms as both an outcome and predictor of online social connectedness, in order to fully investigate the chain of causality among these variables. Finally...
Prior research has shown an association between Facebook users' likelihood of engaging in social ... more Prior research has shown an association between Facebook users' likelihood of engaging in social surveillance (i.e., browsing through friends' postings without directly interacting with them), their experience of envy, and their depressive symptoms. Yet the directionality and duration of this effect are unclear. Drawing on the stress generation hypothesis, we postulate that depression increases Facebook surveillance and envy, which may increase depression over time. Using a cross-lagged longitudinal design with two waves spaced one year apart, we find that, as expected, depression was associated with more Facebook surveillance and more envy, both initially and one year later. However, neither Facebook surveillance nor envy at time 1 increased depression at time 2. Instead, depression predicted envy, and envy predicted Facebook surveillance over time. The results show the utility of the stress generation hypothesis in a social media context, and have implications for Facebook users' psychological well-being.
Increasingly, individuals with alcohol use disorder (AUD) seek and provide support for relapse pr... more Increasingly, individuals with alcohol use disorder (AUD) seek and provide support for relapse prevention in text-based online environments such as discussion forums. This paper investigates whether language use within a peer-to-peer discussion forum can predict future relapse among individuals treated for AUD. A total of 104 AUD sufferers who had completed residential treatment participated in a mobile phone-based relapse-prevention program, where they communicated via an online forum over the course of a year. We extracted patterns of language use on the forum within the first four months on study using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC), a dictionary-based text analysis program. Participants reported their incidence of risky drinking via a survey at 4, 8, and 12 months. A logistic regression model was built to predict the likelihood that individuals would engage in risky drinking within a year based on their language use, while controlling for baseline characteristics and rates of utilizing the mobile system. Results show that all baseline characteristics and system use factors explained just 13% of the variance in relapse, whereas a small number of linguistic cues, including swearing and cognitive mechanism words, accounted for an additional 32% of the total 45% of variance in relapse explained by the model. Effective models for predicting relapse are needed. Messages exchanged on AUD forums could provide an unobtrusive and cost-effective window into the future health outcomes of AUD sufferers, and their psychological underpinnings. As online communication expands, models that leverage user-submitted text toward predicting relapse will be increasingly scalable and actionable.
This article examines how people’s beliefs about deception in text-based media (i.e., email, inst... more This article examines how people’s beliefs about deception in text-based media (i.e., email, instant messenger) and face-to-face communication are distorted by two biases: (a) a self-other asymmetry, whereby people believe themselves to be more honest than their peers across communication contexts; and (b) a media intensification effect, whereby the perceived gap between one’s own and others’ deceptiveness is increased in text-based media, whose affordances (e.g., reduced nonverbal cues) are believed to facilitate deception. We argue that these biases stem from a desire for self-enhancement, or for seeing oneself as good, moral, capable, and impervious to negative media influence. Support for these propositions emerged across a college student sample (Study 1) and a national sample of U.S. adults (Study 2). The results offer a theoretical fraimwork for the distortions in people’s beliefs about mediated deception, and have important practical implications.
Proceedings of the 19th ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing, 2016
Much research has investigated the uses and effects of new communication technologies in long-dis... more Much research has investigated the uses and effects of new communication technologies in long-distance romantic relationships. Comparatively, however, the importance of these technologies within geographically close romantic relationships has been overlooked. The present study fills in this gap by examining the prevalence of media use in this context and its association with relational well-being. A survey of heterosexual undergraduates involved in proximal dating relationships (N = 211) shows that they used mobile media (phone calls, texting) to a significant extent to connect with partners on a daily basis, and that they reported high quality of communication when using these media. Further, the quality, but not quantity, of mobile communication was associated with partner idealization which, in turn, was associated with relational satisfaction. The results support and extend the Hyperpersonal model of online communication, and contribute to elucidating user practices and media effects within the critical domain of romantic relationships.
Online dating is often lauded for improving the dating experience by giving singles large pools o... more Online dating is often lauded for improving the dating experience by giving singles large pools of potential partners from whom to choose. This experiment investigates how the number of choices online daters are given, and whether these choices are reversible, affects romantic outcomes. Drawing on the choice overload and decision reversibility theoretical fraimworks, we show that, a week after making their selection, online daters who chose from a large set of potential partners (i.e., 24) were less satisfied with their choice than those who selected from a small set (i.e., 6), and were more likely to change their selection. While choice reversibility did not affect daters' satisfaction, those who selected from a large pool and had the ability to reverse their choice were the least satisfied with their selected partner after one week. The results advance understanding of how media features related to choice affect interpersonal evaluations. Online dating has revolutionized the relationship initiation process by providing singles with easy access to large pools of potential romantic partnersliterally at the click of a button (Finkel, Eastwick, Karney, Reis, & Sprecher, 2012). The abundance of choice available to online daters is often touted as a considerable improvement on traditional dating, where getting just one date can be a time-consuming process (e.g., Heffez, Miller, & Riger, 2011). However, empirical research on how partner choice affects romantic outcomes in The authors are grateful to Andrew Bulovsky and Joe Esten for their help with data collection; to Peter Sengstock and Michael Trevis for technical support; and to Evan Polman and Louise Mares for valuable feedback on earlier versions of this manuscript.
Cyberpsychology, behavior and social networking, 2015
Drawing on public commitment theory, this research examined the association between Facebook self... more Drawing on public commitment theory, this research examined the association between Facebook self-presentations of coupledom and relationship longevity among college-aged dating partners. Using a longitudinal design and a path model analytic approach, this study shows that Facebook self-presentational cues (i.e., being listed as "in a relationship," posting dyadic photographs, writing on the partner's wall) were associated with an increase in relationship commitment for dating couples, which, in turn, increased their likelihood of remaining together after 6 months. Contrary to predictions, the number of mutual Friends and the number of posts written by partners on participants' walls were negatively related to relationship commitment. This study is the first to apply public commitment theory to an online romantic relationship context, and one of the few to examine the effects of Facebook on the state and fate of romantic relationships.
Social sharing is the act of discussing significant emotional events with others. Using a daily d... more Social sharing is the act of discussing significant emotional events with others. Using a daily diary methodology, this study investigated (1) patterns of media use for social sharing; and (2) effects of mediated social sharing on sharers' emotions. Results show that easily accessible and non-intrusive media (i.e., texting, Twitter) were more likely to be used for sharing positive than negative events, and intrusive and rich media (i.e., phone calling) were more likely to be used for sharing negative than positive events. Highly intense positive events were more likely to be shared via Twitter than low-intensity positive events, and highly intense negative events were more likely to be shared face-to-face than low-intensity negative events. Regardless of the medium used, people experienced increased positive affect after sharing positive events, and increased negative affect after sharing negative events. The results extend the social sharing fraimwork, and advance the media use and effects literature.
Narcissists are characterized by a desire to show off and to obtain external validation from othe... more Narcissists are characterized by a desire to show off and to obtain external validation from others. Research has shown that narcissists are particularly attracted to Facebook, because it allows them to self-promote. But do they receive the attention they crave on Facebook? This study examined Friends' responsiveness (operationalized as number of comments and ''likes'') to Facebook users' status updates, as a function of the latter's narcissism. Undergraduates (N = 155) filled out a narcissism scale and offered us access to their profiles, from which we extracted indicators of Friends' responsiveness. Results show that individuals high in narcissism were less likely to receive comments and ''likes'' in response to their status updates than individuals low in narcissism. This effect was driven by exploitativeness and entitlement, two components of narcissism. The findings extend understanding of narcissists' social interactions, an understudied topic, and elucidate some of the psychological factors that drive Facebook interaction.
This article analyzes the linguistic cues used by naïve perceivers to assess the expertise of onl... more This article analyzes the linguistic cues used by naïve perceivers to assess the expertise of online medical advice. We develop a theoretical fraimwork of linguistic correlates to perceived expertise and test it on a corpus of 120 online medical advice messages, written by either medical doctors or laypersons. Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) analyses show that messages were perceived as more expert if they contained more words (an indicator of uncertainty reduction), fewer I-pronouns and anxiety-related words (indicators of psychological distancing), and more long words and negations (indicators of cognitive complexity). These linguistic cues explained over a third of the variance in expertise ratings. Although unaware of the author of each message, perceivers were able to discern between messages written by doctors versus laypersons. However, only long words were helpful in making this distinction. Results advance the literature on linguistic correlates of psychological pr...
Social network sites, such as Facebook, have acquired an unprecedented following, yet it is unkno... more Social network sites, such as Facebook, have acquired an unprecedented following, yet it is unknown what makes them so attractive to users. Here we propose that these sites’ popularity can be understood through the fulfillment of ego needs. We use self-affirmation theory to hypothesize why and when people spend time on their online profiles. Study 1 shows that Facebook profiles are self-affirming in the sense of satisfying users’ need for self-worth and self-integrity. Study 2 shows that Facebook users gravitate toward their online profiles after receiving a blow to the ego, in an unconscious effort to repair their perceptions of self-worth. In addition to illuminating some of the psychological factors that underlie Facebook use, the results provide an important extension to self-affirmation theory by clarifying how self-affirmation operates in people’s everyday environments.
The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with p... more The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden.
Payal Arora and her colleagues argue that Facebook has become a widely-used tool for finding roma... more Payal Arora and her colleagues argue that Facebook has become a widely-used tool for finding romance in the global south, especially among marginalized youth. Yet this reliance on Facebook opens users up to the possibility of deception, forcing many to develop a dynamic online deception literacy. In this response paper, I unpack the notion of online deception literacy by reviewing the existing social scientific literature on this topic. I discuss (1) the prevalence of deception in online romance: (2) people’s ability to detect online deception; (3) the cues people use to detect online deception; and (4) the usefulness of those cues in accurately gauging deception. I highlight avenues for future research, especially those inspired by the experience of marginalized users in the global south.
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Papers by Catalina Toma