Lecture 7 + Reading questions

Question 1

What happened after the 2007-iphone release? (Jean Twenge, The Atlantic 2017 September, MTF data)

Answer 1

Post-millennials are safer.
1) Decrease in hanging out with friends
2) Less likely to get enough sleep
3) More likely to feel lonely

Question 2

Why did the article receive criticism?

Answer 2

The used studies are correlational (not causal)

Question 3

What is the result of the correlation between ‘Intensity of social media use’ and ‘life-satisfaction’?

Answer 3

-.08**/-.07*

Question 4

What are the several possible research problems that may account for inconsistent/weak findings?

Answer 4

1) Maybe the relationship is non-linear
2) Maybe the relationship depends on the type of social media use (active vs passive)
3) Most studies uses a cross-sectional design
4) Maybe the relationship is confounded by problematic social media use

Question 5

What is the Goldilocks Hypothesis? And how does this apply to ‘Social media use’ and ‘Mental well-being’?

Answer 5

(1) That the relationship is non-linear. (2) Initially social media use increases mental well-being but when it increases more it decreases mental well-being.

Question 6

Why does active usage of social network sites increase well-being, and passive usage decrease well-being?

Answer 6

Active: leads to social capital & connectedness -> increase in well-being

passive: leads to upward social comparison & envy -> decrease in well-being

Question 7

Why do positive and negative effects of social media cancel each other out?

Answer 7

Because most adolescents are both active and passive users.

Question 8

How does the ‘Uses and Gratification theory’ apply to social media use?

Answer 8

Individuals choose media content based on their needs and desires, and they use media for various gratifications (information, entertainment, social connectedness).

Question 9

Give an example of the social compensations hypothesis.

Answer 9

Lonely adolescents may use social media because they hope to experience feelings of connectedness. In turn, when social media satisfy this it may result in less feelings of loneliness.

Question 10

Why does ‘Problematic social media use’ confound the outcomes of the studies?

Answer 10

The effect of intensity of social media use on depressive symptoms could be partly due to PSMU, and need to be controlled for.

Question 11

Give the 5th and 6th possible problems in research.

Answer 11

5) Maybe the (found) relationship depends upon the level of statistical analysis.
6) Maybe the relationship largely differs between individuals

Question 12

Explain the 5th possible problem in research.

Answer 12

Effects of social media use are mainly seen on an aggregated (group) level, but not on a within-person level.

Question 13

Draw the ‘Differential susceptibility media effects model’.

Answer 13

Individual factors -> Social media use -> Response states: Cognitive, Emotional, Excitative -> Media effects: e.g. Psychosocial well-being.

Question 14

Whether social media use has a negative or positive effect on adolescents well-being depends on the individual … ?

Answer 14

Balance between positive and negative immediate responses (e.g. envy) & other (moderate and long-term) well-being related outcomes

Question 15

The nature of the relationship between social media use is complex and multifaceted, also depending on:

Answer 15

1) Usage pattern (e.g. passive vs active use, problematic use)
2) Individual factors (e.g. susceptibility factors, personal factors)
3) Contextual factors (e.g. relationship with peers, parenting factors)

Question 16

Valkenburg et al. is an umbrella review. What is a review, and what is an umbrella review?

Answer 16

A review is a critical article of what has been published on a topic by accredited researchers. An umbrella review is a summary of existing literature reviews.

Question 17

Kross et al – 2021- “Social media and well-being: Pitfalls, progress, and next steps.”

Which psychological processes that drive people’s social media behavior do the authors describe? For each, describe how it can have a positive and negative result.

Answer 17

(1) The first process is Self-Presentation, which argues that life is like a dramatic performance. The (upward) social comparison mechanism leads to a negative result because when we compare ourselves to people on social media who are outperforming us, we end up feeling envy and distress and experience FOMO.

(2) The second process is sharing emotions, meaning when we experience strong positive/negative emotions we are intensely motivated to share them. Bonding social capital mechanisms leads to a positive result regarding social media. But it can also lead to cyberbullying.