Harriet E.S. Rosenthal-Stott
The Valence of Self-Generated (Status Updates) and Other-Generated (Wall-Posts) Information Determines Impression Formation on Facebook
Rosenthal-Stott, Harriet E.S.; Dicks, Rea E.; Fielding, Lois S.
Authors
Rea E. Dicks
Lois S. Fielding
Contributors
H E S Rosenthal dps0her@durham.ac.uk
Other
Abstract
We examined whether self-generated (status updates) or other-generated (wall-posts) information on Facebook influenced the impression formed of the target individual. Along with examining reliance on particular types of information, we explored the valence (positive/ neutral/ negative) of the information, as reliance on self-generated or other-generated information may depend on whether self-presentation is perceived (i.e., presenting oneself positively / not negatively). Self-presentation may be perceived if the targets have positive/ neutral statuses, while negative statuses would indicate a lack of self-presentation. In line with previous research, participants should rely on other-generated information (wall-posts) to form an impression when participants are viewed to have self-presented (positive / neutral status updates), as this information could be viewed as unreliable. Forty participants rated nine Facebook profiles where statuses and wall-posts portrayed personality traits varying in valence. Each profile consisted of a neutral profile photo, three status updates (all positive, negative, or neutral) and three wall-posts (all positive, negative, or neutral). Materials were established in two pilots. Impression formation was measured as perceived social, task, and physical attractiveness of the target individual. Participants also ranked the profiles for likeability. Supporting our expectations, other-generated information (wall-posts) dominated impression formation for social attractiveness when self-generated information (status updates) was positive/ neutral. Task attractiveness was affected by information valence, regardless of source (self or other). Despite the inclusion of neutral photos, physical attractiveness was affected by self-generated information, with negative statuses lowering physical attractiveness. We suggest that these findings have implications for impression formation beyond the Facebook setting. The 557 traits analyzed in Pilot 1 are available as supporting information (S1 Dataset) and may be useful for other impression formation researchers.
Citation
Rosenthal-Stott, H. E., Dicks, R. E., & Fielding, L. S. (2015). The Valence of Self-Generated (Status Updates) and Other-Generated (Wall-Posts) Information Determines Impression Formation on Facebook. PLoS ONE, 10(6), Article e0125064. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0125064
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Acceptance Date | Mar 12, 2015 |
Online Publication Date | Jun 18, 2015 |
Publication Date | Jun 18, 2015 |
Deposit Date | May 16, 2018 |
Publicly Available Date | May 16, 2018 |
Journal | PLoS ONE |
Electronic ISSN | 1932-6203 |
Publisher | Public Library of Science |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 10 |
Issue | 6 |
Article Number | e0125064 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0125064 |
Public URL | https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1326479 |
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Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Copyright Statement
© 2015 Rosenthal-Stott et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
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