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Facebook Use in Relation To Gender, Introversion-Extroversion, and Sense of Belonging Among College Students. A dissertation presented.
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Facebook Use in Relation To Gender, Introversion-Extroversion, and Sense of Belonging Among College Students A dissertation presented by Laurie Dickstein-Fischer, MS Submitted to The Department of Counseling and Applied Educational Psychology In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy In the field of Counseling Psychology Northeastern University Boston, Massachusetts June 2012
ii Table of Contents Acknowledgements ..........................................................................................................v Chapter 1: Literature Review Abstract ................................................................................................................ 1 Social Networking Sites ....................................................................................... 3 Impression Management in the Digital Age ........................................................ 5 Friendship and Facebook .................................................................................... 8 Negative Effects of Social Networking Sites ........................................................ 8 Social networking related anxiety ............................................................ 9 Privacy and Facebook .............................................................................. 12 Implications for Practice and Research .............................................................. 13 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 16 References ............................................................................................................. 20 Chapter 2: Facebook Use in Relation To Gender, Introversion-Extroversion, and Sense of Belonging Among College Students Abstract ................................................................................................................ 29 Introduction.......................................................................................................... 30 Social Capital Theory .............................................................................. 33 Gender ...................................................................................................... 39 Introversion and Extroversion.................................................................. 42 Sense of Belonging .................................................................................. 45 Purpose of Study ...................................................................................... 46 Hypotheses ............................................................................................... 47
iv Appendices Appendix A: Informed Consent ............................................................................ 94 Appendix B: Demographic Questionnaire ........................................................... 96 Appendix C: Facebook Usage Questionnaire ...................................................... 97 Appendix D: Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Revised-Short-scale .............. 100 Appendix E: Sense of Belonging Instrument (SOBI-P) ........................................ 101
v Acknowledgements The love and support of my family and friends made this accomplishment happen. I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my family, friends, and faculty members at Northeastern University. I want to thank all the members of my dissertation committee who have shown me wisdom, support, guidance and optimism. To my advisor, Dr. Chung, this would not have been possible without you. I will always remember how supportive you have been of my creative process and encouraging me. Mostly, I cherish your unyielding encouragement and commitment to my success. Dr. Briesch, your warm and inviting personality has been a breath of fresh air. You have been nothing but supportive and gracious. Dr. Franko, a tremendous asset to our profession has set an example that I can only hope to follow. This has been a labor of love, which would not have been possible with out the support of my husband and best friend Gregory Fischer. Greg, you have held my hand and supported me unconditionally throughout this process. You have been patient, supportive, and loving throughout my doctoral career. My mother who has been my cheerleader and support system my entire life. Her unwavering love, faith, support and belief in me gave the strength to finish my doctoral degree. Whenever I needed someone to talk to or felt discouraged, you were always there for me. My father who gave me my interest into the field of psychology has always been there for me. He has always encouraged me to push myself towards academic success. Our long walks and conversations have always helped to center me. I also want to thank my two sisters; Allison and Amy and the Fischer Family for providing me with love and support throughout this process.
Literature Review Abstract Technology has afforded individuals with the luxury to be connected at all times. The creation of social networking sites has enabled individuals all over the world to connect to one another, communicate, develop and maintain friendships. After a review of the historical background into the genesis of online social networking, the success of Facebook is elaborated with regard to how it has changed the social fabric of people around the world. Friendship and political advocacy on Facebook is explored as well as the positive and negative consequences of engaging in social networking sites. Social networking sites present clinicians with numerous ethical challenges and professional opportunities. Ethical and research implications relating to mental health providers are also explored.
Literature Review Online social networking sites are used by millions of people, in order to facilitate communication and connections with other users (Clark & Roberts, 2010). Technological advances have allowed people to talk to one another thousands of miles apart, via emails, text messages, and wireless communication. Unprecedented technological advances have marked the 21st century and it is important to understand the history behind them. The telegraph was one of the earliest advances in technology that revolutionized communication (Bargh & McKenna, 2004). Operators sent messages through wires that transported information across long distances (Standage,1998). The telephone created a social network in the 1880s, helping family and friends maintain relationships traversed by distances (Bargh & McKenna, 2004; Croft, 1997). The radio continued the evolution in communication by broadcasting information to many people at once. Unlike previous technologies, the radio did not require cables to function. It enabled messages to go where wires were not possible (Bargh & McKenna, 2004). Similarly, research during World War II led to the first mobile phone, improving on the radio by adding portability to connectivity (Croft, 1997). Scientists in the early 1960s designed an experimental network allowing computers to communicate with each other. The Internet as we know it today has its roots in the original Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET), which first came online in 1969. This network was developed as a way for researchers to collaboratively use computing resources at remote sites (Kiesler,1997). In a way, this network connecting university researchers across the country was the
worldwide. As of December 2011, Facebook reported 845 million active users with daily continual growth (Facebook, 2011 & 2012). Facebook is one of the fastest growing social networking sites. It was created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg, a student at Harvard University (Leow, 2009). Originally called “The Facebook,” the site started as an online directory connecting students at Harvard, and required users to have a harvard.edu e-mail address, creating a private community feel. Facebook began accepting other universities into its social network, but restricted access to those with a university address (Boyd & Ellison, 2008). Today, Facebook connects members of high school networks, colleges, businesses, and commercial organizations (Facebook, 2011). Facebook allows users to create and display personal information such as name, address, phone number, hobbies, interests, and photos on their profile, and allows users to control what personal information is shown. Users can search for and maintain “friends” who can comment on each other’s pages, and view each other’s profiles. “Friends” on Facebook are defined as anyone the user allows to view their profile by accepting a friend request or by another user accepting theirs. The decision to “friend” is determined on an individual basis, as each user decides what criteria a connection must meet in order to be accepted as their friend on Facebook. For that reason, the definition of “friend” is different for every user based on their individual judgments of what criteria another user must meet in order to view their profile. Facebook is growing at a rate of 700,000 users a day (Grossman, 2010). Facebook is an inexpensive and convenient way to communicate with a social network (Leow, 2009). Lampe, Ellison, and Steinfield (2006) found that college
students in particular are heavy users of Facebook. Facebook use has increased rapidly from 20 minutes a day reported by Ellison et al. (2007) to 70 minutes daily reported by Klingensmith (2010). Although the majority of Facebook users are college students, the characteristics of the users are expanding (Grossman, 2010). Forty-five percent of Facebook users are over the age of 26, but the fastest growing group of Facebook users is women over the age of 55. In 2009, the number of female users over 55 increased by 175.3% in only 120 days (Smith, 2009). Bargh and McKenna (2004) found that communicating with others over the Internet helps maintain close ties with family and friends. Facebook in particular assists individuals in searching for established friends and acquaintances due to the availability of users’ personal information and photos (Ellison et al., 2007). Impression Management in the Digital Age In 1902 Charles Horton Cooley “introduced the term looking glass self to suggest that other people serve as a mirror in which we see ourselves” (Kassin, Fein, & Markus, 2008, p. 55). Mead (1934) expanded on the work of Cooley, suggesting that individuals come to know themselves by imagining what others think of them and incorporating those perceptions into their self-concept. Facebook users have the ability to edit their identity, changing how they are portrayed to others and their sense of self. Facebook promotes the concept of deindividuation, which allows users to take risks and experiment with their different selves. Although Facebook provides a new mechanism for presenting one’s best self, the idea that humans have multiple selves is an archaic concept.
self that was socially desirable by their network. Zhao et al. concluded that “Facebook users sought to make certain implicit identity claims aimed at generating desired impressions on their viewers especially in terms of the depth and extent of their social ties” (Zhao et al., 2008, p. 1825). Users also tried to manage their impression by having the “right” list of friends, filtering information posted to their profile or wall by choosing to delete or keep messages (Zhao et al., 2008). Other studies have shown that users also filter which friends they choose to “accept” to create a desired image of themselves through having the “correct” amount of friends (Tong, Van Der Heide, Langwell, & Walther, 2008) and physical attractive photos of themselves and their peers on user’s Facebook profile (Walther, Van Der Heide, Kim, Westerman, & Tong, 2008). The ability to select what information to share about oneself on Facebook has important implications for introverted people who have been shown to use the Internet as a compensatory tool with which to socialize (Amichai-Hamburger, Kaplan, & Dorpatcheon, 2008). Bargh and McKenna (2004) suggested that the Internet offers control over how one presents oneself. Introverted users may feel that the Internet is a more secure environment through which to socialize because of the absence of nonverbal cues and physical appearance, thereby satisfying their need for social interaction in a more comfortable way. Congruent with this idea, the “poor get richer” theory of Internet use explains that introverts can use the Internet to meet their social needs by compensating themselves for the difficulties they experience in offline social interactions (Amichai-Hamburger, Wainapel, & Fox, 2002 ; Amichai- Hamburger et al., 2008).
Friendship and Facebook Facebook is used to reconnect with old friends and establish new relationships. Bargh and McKenna (2004) found that communicating with others over the Internet helps maintain close ties with family and friends who are too far to visit. Additionally, the Internet facilitates the formation of new relationships. In a study by Lampe et al. (2006), users of Facebook reported using the site to reconnect with old friends. College students who are unable to see their hometown friends are now able to stay in communication. Joining “groups” on Facebook can be a catalyst for the formation of new friendships for marginalized users. Bargh and McKenna (2004) found that online groups, because of the shared interests and values of the members, can be a positive environment to create new friendships and close relationships. By making connections with similar others, members can find support, empowerment, and validation (Bargh & McKenna, 2004). Negative Effects of Social Networking Sites Some unintended consequences of Facebook usage are cyber-bullying. Cyber-bullying is defined as “an individual or a group willfully using information and communication involving electronic technologies to facilitate deliberate and repeated harassment or threat to another individual or group by sending or posting cruel text and/or graphics using technological means” (Dilmac, 2009, p. 1308). In 2009, 58% of students in grades 4-12 reported that someone said something mean or hurtful to them online. Thirty-five percent of students reported being threatened online, and
new phenomenon that is occurring is social networking related anxiety, defined by feeling pressure to always know what is occurring in the lives of one’s social network. A study conducted by Schwartz (2010) found Facebook intensity, or high usage of Facebook, frequency of status updates, and update intensity to be negatively related to self-esteem. Schwartz (2010) asked 218 undergraduate students questions to determine their overall Facebook usage, time spent on Facebook, meaningfulness of Facebook usage, frequency and meaningfulness of status updates, and number of relationships formed on Facebook. In addition, participants were given self-report measures of self-esteem, narcissism, and loneliness in order to determine if there was any relationship between Facebook usage and these variables. The study revealed that Facebook intensity, or high usage of Facebook, frequency of status updates, and update intensity to be negatively related to self-esteem, suggesting that users with lower self-esteem tend to use Facebook more intensely than users with high self- esteem. Klingensmith (2010) found high usage of Facebook to be positively related to feelings of loneliness, shyness, and “friendsickness,” which is described as the distress one experiences at the loss of old friends. Klingensmith (2010) investigated the relationship between Facebook usage and homesickness. A sample of undergraduate students were given an online questionnaire, which included the Homesickness scale, Facebook scale, Friendsickness scale, the Sense of Belonging Instrument, and the College Adjustment Index in order to determine the relationship between Facebook use, friendsickness, homesickness, and sense of belonging to the college environment. Paul and Brier (2001) define homesickness as the distress caused by physical separation from the home environment and friendsickness as
feelings of great loss for pre-college friends. High levels of Facebook use and frequency of status updates were positively related to higher levels of friendsickness, loneliness, and shyness for undergraduate users. Users with higher levels of shyness, loneliness, and a lower sense of belonging experienced more adverse effects from high Facebook use, such as feelings of being left out, than users with higher self- esteem. Results suggest that although Facebook may help keep college users connected to their family and pre-college friends, having constant connection with these contacts while maintaining physical distance from home, users may miss home even more. Facebook anxiety may lead users to feel excluded and feel envious of other users’ lifestyles. Facebook users often fail to realize that Facebook allows individuals to shape what other people think of them on a continuous basis. Users who had high usage of Facebook reported anxiety and stress about feelings of responsibility to friends who are online and anxiety about managing one’s online social life (Therapy Today, 2011). Having a successful social life online can be measured by a user’s popularity indicated by his/her number of friends, having frequent activity on Facebook, and posting entertaining comments or material on one’s own page or others. Tong et al. (2008) coined the term "sociometric popularity" to demonstrate how people perceive others on Facebook as popular if they have more friends. They define sociometric popularity as "the number of friends or connections one has, which may be reflected in the coefficient of friends displayed on the profiles of Facebook users" (Tong et al., 2008, p. 535). Tong had 153 undergraduate students evaluate mock Facebook profiles with varying numbers of friends and found that users were
Although Facebook continually updates options to provide users with the ability to manage their privacy, research has shown that many users are unaware of these functions and do not implement privacy features on their profile. In a study by Debatin et al. (2009), users reported that they were unaware of their privacy settings and did not use controls to protect their profile, indicating that many users are uneducated about how to protect themselves, or what risks they take in continually uploading personal information. The perceived benefits of Facebook use appear to outweigh the risks to privacy. Most users overlook the real dangers they face by continually uploading personal information to the Internet. Users face real risks of identity theft, stalking, and misuse of personal information by potential employers (Acquisti & Gross, 2005; Taraszow et al., 2010). Users should consider whom they accept as “friends” to their network because the “friends only” privacy feature in reality does not limit access to just friends, but many other people that the user may not know well or at all. Implications for Practice and Research Privacy associated with online social networking websites also has significant implications with regard to the clinical practice of psychology. A key privacy concern about Facebook is how it can affect psychologists’ professional relationships with clients. Lehavot, Barnett, and Powers (2010) found that 81% of psychology graduate students use a social networking site. Similarly, in a study by Taylor, McMinn, Bufford, and Chang (2010), 77.3% of early career psychologists, and doctoral-level psychology students reported that they used a social networking site to communicate with friends and family. According to Levahot et al. (2010), disclosure
of personal information is an issue in the professional field of psychology that has called attention to two clinical issues. The first issue of concern is clients having access to psychologists’ personal information, which may impede on the principles of self-disclosure. The second issue is psychologists having access to clients’ personal information in terms of self-disclosure, confidentiality, and safety. Through social networking sites and various search engines, it is possible for clients to find both private and public information about a psychologist on the Internet. Taylor et al. (2010) argued that even if a psychologist chooses not to have a profile on a social networking site, widespread search engines on the Internet make virtually any psychologist easy to research. Levahot et al. (2010) found that 7% of psychology graduate students reported that a client had informed them that they had obtained information about them through the Internet. This included the client “Googling” their therapist on the Internet. The study also found cases where a client searched for personal information about their therapist to invade their personal space. One client had looked up the therapist’s birth date, place of birth, telephone number, and e-mail address, and continued to follow the therapist on campus and around her neighborhood even after sessions were terminated. Psychologists described some of the problems they faced on social networking sites, including personal stories about finding a common friend or acquaintance with a client through a social networking site (Taylor et al., 2010). Psychologists reported handling ethical situations such as this by either deleting their page or by placing the highest security settings available on their profile. If information is not carefully monitored, unwanted personal information can be leaked to clients and possibly damage the client-therapist
