Gender differences in online and offline self‐disclosure in pre‐adolescence and adolescence

Although there is developmental research on the prevalence of offline self‐disclosure in pre‐adolescence and adolescence, it is still unknown (a) how boys’ and girls’online self‐disclosure develops in this period and (b) how online and offline self‐disclosure interact with each other. We formulated three hypotheses to explain the possible interaction between online and offline self‐disclosure: the displacement, the rich‐get‐richer, and the rehearsal hypothesis. We surveyed 690 pre‐adolescents and adolescents (10–17 years) at three time points with half‐year intervals in between. We found significant gender differences in the developmental trajectories of self‐disclosure. For girls, both online and offline self‐disclosure increased sharply during pre‐ (10–11 years) and early adolescence (12–13 years), and then stabilized in middle and late adolescence. For boys, the same trajectory was found although the increase in self‐disclosure started 2 years later. We found most support for the rehearsal hypothesis: Both boys and girls seemed to use online self‐disclosure to rehearse offline self‐disclosure skills. This particularly held for boys in early adolescence who typically have difficulty disclosing themselves offline.     

Slacking Off or Winding Down? An Experience Sampling Study on the Drivers and Consequences of Media Use for Recovery Versus Procrastination

Today's constant availability of media content provides users with various recreational resources. It may also challenge self‐control, however, once media exposure conflicts with other goals and obligations. How media users deal with these self‐regulatory chances and risks in their daily lives is largely unknown. Our study addressed the predictors and consequences of recreational and procrastinatory media use using experience sampling methodology (N = 215; 1,094 media use episodes). Results suggest that trait (self‐control, performance goal orientation) as well as state variables (exhaustion) are significant predictors of media use for recovery versus procrastination. Whereas recreational media use showed a positive effect on entertainment, which in turn enhanced subjective well‐being, negative self‐evaluation elicited by procrastinatory media use negatively affected well‐being.     

Are Norms of Disclosure of Online and Offline Personal Information Associated with the Disclosure of Personal Information Online?

This study investigated whether norms of self‐disclosure of one's online and offline identity are linked to online disclosure of personal and intimate information. We expected online disclosure of personal and intimate information to be associated with norms of online disclosure. Secondary analysis of the 2006 Pew and American Life Survey of parents and teens data set was conducted to test the study's hypotheses. A weak relationship emerged between adherence to norms supporting the disclosure of offline and online personal information. Supporting theories of computer‐mediated communication, our findings show a strong relationship between adherence to norms of online identity disclosure and the disclosure of personal information online through the posting of personal photos, videos, and an online profile.     

Influences Between Online‐Exclusive,Conjoint and Offline‐Exclusive Friendship Networks: The Moderating Role of Shyness

Prior research has indicated that shy adolescents are more motivated to form friendships online than to form friendships offline. Little is known about whether having friendships found exclusively online may impact self‐esteem and forming offline friendships for these adolescents. This study therefore aimed to provide insight into the moderating role of shyness in the longitudinal interplay between friendships in online and offline contexts in early adolescence. Adolescents and their friends (193 girls, 196 boys; M_age = 13.29) were followed with three consecutive measurements with intervals of eight months. Results showed that particularly for shy adolescents, having friends exclusively online predicted increases in self‐esteem. Self‐esteem, in turn, was found to predict forming more friendships found both offline and online and forming more friendships found exclusively offline. Thus, findings supported the social compensation perspective that shy adolescents may benefit from having friends exclusively online, as these friendships may increase self‐esteem, thereby facilitating the formation of friendships found partially and completely offline. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Contemplating Tragedy Raises Gratifications and Fosters Self‐Acceptance

Despite the reflective nature of tragedy, little research has focused on reflection's impact on “pleasure” and personal growth. Drawing from entertainment, literary, and health research, this study assessed the degree to which contemplating tragedy increases gratifications and promotes self‐acceptance. The moderating effects of life events were also examined. In an experiment, participants (N = 120) were randomly instructed to either watch a Hollywood drama and reflect, or only watch the movie (control). Results showed significant main effects on appreciation and enjoyment. Reflection increased gratifications for participants with remote loss (≥2 years) but not recent loss, and it strengthened the link between self‐perceptual depth and a 4‐week change in self‐compassion. The benefits and drawbacks of reflecting on tragedy are discussed.     

How gender affects the relationship between hedonic shopping motivation and purchase intentions?

Five hundred and fifteen consumer responses are used to model the affect of online hedonic shopping motivation and online purchase intentions: moderated by the consumers' perceptions of their offline and online gendered behaviour. The model was applied across five product categories using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling. We conclude that there is no online‐gender effect on hedonic shopping motivation and purchase intentions. However, offline‐gendered behaviour does significantly affect hedonic shopping motivation and purchase intentions for females across all product categories. Our findings support the proposition that gender is merely a prosthetic device of the private self and is an intentional manipulation and misrepresentation of the anonymous body. Online gender is a performance that is hidden by the technological veil from the offline space and public self, without social constraints or criticisms. Research implications are discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

“Leave Your Comment Below”: Can Biased Online Comments Influence Our Own Prejudicial Attitudes and Behaviors?

Increased use of online communication in everyday life presents a growing need to understand how people are influenced by others in such settings. In this study, online comments established social norms that directly influenced readers' expressions of prejudice both consciously and unconsciously. Participants read an online article and were then exposed to antiprejudiced or prejudiced comments allegedly posted by other users. Results revealed that exposure to prejudiced (relative to antiprejudiced) comments influenced respondents to post more prejudiced comments themselves. In addition, these effects generalized to participants' unconscious and conscious attitudes toward the target group once offline. These findings suggest that simple exposure to social information can impact our attitudes and behavior, suggesting potential avenues for social change in online environments.     

Conversation analysis,cyberpsychology and online interaction

In this paper, I explore how conversation analysis (CA) can be used as a method for analysing online interaction. As the number and quantity of online communication platforms have proliferated, there has been a growing interest in social psychology about the impact and effectiveness of online, text‐based communication. A number of theories have been used and developed to explain how online communication might impact upon relationships and effective communication. However, this paper argues that in order to explore the differences between online and offline interaction an analysis of online behaviour is needed. CA allows for an in‐depth, sequential and discursive analysis of real‐life online interactions. It can explore the ways in which the affordances of the interactional platforms are oriented to or made relevant in the interaction. The utility of CA is demonstrated through a number of examples, highlighting how this method can be used to broaden our understanding of how online communication works in practise.     

Choice confidence in the webrooming purchase process: The impact of online positive reviews and the motivation to touch

The webrooming purchase process (i.e. searching for information online and then buying the product offline) is the most extended cross‐channel shopping behaviour. With the aim of offering a better understanding of this behaviour, this research relies on information processing and uncertainty reduction theories to propose that consumers use the online information to make the offline purchase with a higher degree of confidence. We examine the effects of a previous online interaction with a product on the preferences and decision at the physical store, as well as on the outcomes of the experience. In this path to purchase, we analyse how positive online customer reviews, as a specific form of electronic word of mouth, help the consumer to improve their experience, given their great potential to reduce the consumer's uncertainty in a purchase situation. In addition, the role of the motivation to touch the product is examined. The results of two studies show that the combination of an online search and an offline purchase improves the consumers' purchase experience in pre‐choice variables (i.e. purchase intentions), choice and post‐choice variables (i.e. search‐process satisfaction and choice confidence). Moreover, reading a positive online customer review influences choice confidence, and all the variables considered in the research when it is received at the physical store. Finally, the results stress the importance of the motivation to touch when studying multichannel shopping behaviour, given its direct and moderating effects on the webrooming purchase process. Implications for theory and practice are discussed. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Temperament and self‐based correlates of cooperative,competitive and individualistic learning preferences

People vary in the extent to which they prefer cooperative, competitive or individualistic achievement tasks. In this research, we conducted two studies designed to investigate correlates and possible roots of these social interdependence orientations, namely approach and avoidance temperament, general self‐efficacy, implicit theories of intelligence, and contingencies of self‐worth based in others' approval, competition and academic competence. The results indicated that approach temperament, general self‐efficacy and incremental theory were positively related, and entity theory was negatively related to cooperative preferences (|r| range from .11 to .41); approach temperament, general self‐efficacy, competition contingencies and academic competence contingencies were positively related to competitive preferences (|r| range from .16 to .46); and avoidance temperament, entity theory, competitive contingencies and academic competence contingencies were positively related, and incremental theory was negatively related to individualistic preferences (|r| range from .09 to .15). The findings are discussed with regard to the meaning of each of the three social interdependence orientations, cultural differences among the observed relations and implications for practitioners.     

Partisan Provocation: The Role of Partisan News Use and Emotional Responses in Political Information Sharing in Social Media

Citizens increasingly rely on social media to consume and disseminate news and information about politics, but the factors that drive political information sharing on these sites are not well understood. This study focused on how online partisan news use influences political information sharing in part because of the distinct negative emotions it arouses in its audience. Using panel survey data collected during the 2012 U.S. presidential election, we found that use of proattitudinal partisan news online is associated with increased anger, but not anxiety, directed at the opposing party's presidential candidate and that anger subsequently facilitated information sharing about the election on social media. The results suggest partisan media may drive online information sharing by generating anger in its audience.     

Does it always feel good to get what you want? Young children differentiate between material and wicked desires

One line of research on children's attributions of guilt suggests that 3‐year‐olds attribute negative emotion to self‐serving victimizers, slightly older children attribute happiness, and with increasing age, attributions become negative again (i.e., a three‐step model; Yuill et al., 1996, Br. J. Dev. Psychol., 14, 457). Another line of research provides reason to expect that 3‐year‐olds may be predisposed to view self‐serving moral transgression as leading to positive emotion; this is a linear developmental model in which emotion attributions to transgressors become increasingly negative over the course of childhood (e.g., Nunner‐Winkler & Sodian, 1988, Child Dev., 59, 1323). However, key differences in methodology make it difficult to compare across these findings. The present study was designed to address this problem. We asked how 3‐ to 9‐year‐old children (n = 111) reason about transgression scenarios that involve satisfying wicked desires (wanting to cause harm and doing so successfully) versus material desires (wanting an object and getting it successfully via harmful behaviour). Three‐year‐old children reasoned differently about desire and emotion across these two types of transgressions, attributing negative emotion in the case of wicked desires and positive emotion in the case of material desires. This pattern of emotion attribution by young children provides new information about how young children process information about desires and emotions in the moral domain, and it bridges a gap in the existing literature on this topic.     

Self‐Disclosure Characteristics and Motivations in Social Media: Extending the Functional Model to Multiple Social Network Sites

The purpose of this study was to examine differences in self‐disclosure goals, privacy concerns, and self‐disclosure characteristics between Facebook and Twitter. These sites were compared in terms of audience representations, based on structural cues that suggest potential audiences for a user. We conceptualized audience representations in 2 ways: based on privacy boundaries that imply bounded versus unbounded audiences, and on network characteristics such as size and diversity for audiences within the boundary. Results revealed that self‐disclosure goals, privacy concerns, and self‐disclosure intimacy were different depending on the privacy boundary. Network characteristics were also important, but effects were moderated by the privacy boundary type, suggesting a complex interplay between the 2 types of audience representations in shaping self‐disclosure in social media.     

Do Demanding Conditions Help or Hurt Self‐Regulation?

Although everyday life is often demanding, it remains unclear how demanding conditions impact self‐regulation. Some theories suggest that demanding conditions impair self‐regulation, by undermining autonomy, interfering with skilled performance and working memory, and depleting energy resources. Other theories, however, suggest that demanding conditions improve self‐regulation by mobilizing super‐ordinate control processes. The present article integrates both kinds of theories by proposing that the self‐regulatory impact of demanding conditions depends on how people adapt to such conditions. When people are action‐oriented, demanding conditions may lead to improved self‐regulation. When people are state‐oriented, demanding conditions may lead to impaired self‐regulation. Consistent with this idea, action versus state orientation strongly moderates the influence of demands on self‐regulatory performance. The impact of demanding conditions on self‐regulation is thus not fixed, but modifiable by psychological processes.     

Self‐determination theory,social media and charitable causes: An in‐depth analysis of autonomous motivation

Using the framework of the self‐determination theory continuum, we investigated the influence of the distinct autonomous and controlled motivational regulations for engaging participants in online and offline support of charitable events for the causes of breast cancer and homeless youth. Participants were exposed online to Facebook event pages appealing to helping others. When the often omitted integrated autonomous regulation was included in the model, it was the strongest predictor of supportive intentions. Without integrated regulation in the model, we would have overestimated the relatively minor influence of controlled introjected regulation. Furthermore, rather than one overall measure of autonomous intrinsic regulation, we assessed the differential influences of three separate dimensions (to experience stimulation, to learn and to accomplish). Intrinsic motivation to experience stimulation had a unique influence on online and offline supportive intentions. Such was not the case for the dimensions of to learn or to accomplish. Follow‐up meditation analyses of self‐reported behaviours confirmed that autonomous integrated and intrinsic to experience stimulation regulations led to stronger intentions to support online behaviours, which, in turn, increased the likelihood of actual online engagement. The findings in a social media context highlight the importance of analysing distinct regulatory styles within the self‐determination theory continuum. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Self‐determination theory as a foundation for personality researchers

In this introductory article, we first describe the impetus for this special issue. What made us think that self‐determination theory (SDT) might provide a sort of foundation for the rest of personality psychology? For readers unfamiliar with SDT, we then provide a historical overview that covers the evolution of the six “mini‐theories” that currently compose SDT: cognitive evaluation theory, causality orientations theory, organismic integration theory, basic psychological needs theory, goal contents theory, and relational motivation theory. Following each section are preliminary suggestions about how each mini‐theory might be useful or informative in other branches of personality. This special issue contains nine articles, each of which makes its own attempt to newly link its area of personality research to SDT. Even if SDT is not the appropriate seed for greater consilience in personality psychology, we urge the field not to neglect the search for unifying principles (Sheldon, Cheng, & Hilpert, 2011); it may finally be time to renew the search for a “grand theory” in personality.     

Influence of Social Support Received in Online and Offline Contexts on Satisfaction With Social Support and Satisfaction With Life: A Longitudinal Study

People around the globe now regularly interact with family and friends through social network sites (SNSs). In this article, we investigated the differences between social interactions in online and offline contexts as well as users' satisfaction with the social support received in these contexts. It was hypothesized that SNSs are better set up for the task of leveraging informational support but that they are inferior to offline contexts in terms of emotional or instrumental support. We further assumed that users might feel similarly satisfied with how support is rendered online and offline but that only social support transacted in offline contexts would contribute to overall life satisfaction. All hypotheses were supported by longitudinal data (N = 327) that were used to investigate social support over the course of 2 years with 4 points of measurement.     

Theory of Mind experience sampling in typical adults

We explored the frequency with which typical adults make Theory of Mind (ToM) attributions, and under what circumstances these attributions occur. We used an experience sampling method to query 30 typical adults about their everyday thoughts. Participants carried a Personal Data Assistant (PDA) that prompted them to categorize their thoughts as Action, Mental State, or Miscellaneous at approximately 30 pseudo-random times during a continuous 10-h period. Additionally, participants noted the direction of their thought (self versus other) and degree of socializing (with people versus alone) at the time of inquiry. We were interested in the relative frequency of ToM (mental state attributions) and how prominent they were in immediate social exchanges. Analyses of multiple choice answers suggest that typical adults: (1) spend more time thinking about actions than mental states and miscellaneous things, (2) exhibit a higher degree of own- versus other-directed thought when alone, and (3) make mental state attributions more frequently when not interacting (offline) than while interacting with others (online). A significant 3-way interaction between thought type, direction of thought, and socializing emerged because action but not mental state thoughts about others occurred more frequently when participants were interacting with people versus when alone; whereas there was an increase in the frequency of both action and mental state attributions about the self when participants were alone as opposed to socializing. A secondary analysis of coded free text responses supports findings 1–3. The results of this study help to create a more naturalistic picture of ToM use in everyday life and the method shows promise for future study of typical and atypical thought processes.     

Moral disengagement moderates the predicted effect of trait self‐control on self‐reported aggression

An increasing number of studies reveal that self‐control is an important preventative factor for aggression. However, the involvement of potential explanatory variables has received less research attention. Drawing upon the feedback‐loop model of self‐control, the current research assumed that the preventing effect of trait self‐control on aggression may be moderated by moral disengagement. Self‐reported measures of trait self‐control, moral disengagement and aggression were administered to 946 Chinese university students. Results show that trait self‐control had a negative effect on physical aggression, verbal aggression, anger and hostility, whereas moral disengagement positively predicted each of these constructs. Of particular importance was a significant interaction between trait self‐control and moral disengagement for verbal aggression and hostility. Specifically, the preventing effect of trait self‐control on these two types of aggression was more pronounced in individuals with low rather than high moral disengagement. In conclusion, low conditional endorsement of transgressive acts and having high trait self‐control are both important individual‐difference variables that explain reduced aggression.