Tag Archives: Self-concern

Loving Facebook

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It’s hard to avoid the superlatives when it comes to Facebook, the social networking service that is now 8 years old and ready for its Initial Public Offering.

  • 845 million active users
  • Over 40 percent of the US population has a Facebook account
  • Yearly revenue of over $4 billion

And Facebook has changed the lives of its users. We use Facebook to stay in touch with friends and relatives and to meet new friends. We use Facebook to share our ideas and to get new ones. And we use Facebook to feel good about ourselves – there’s really nothing like logging on and finding you’ve been multiply-friended overnight!

Some people believe that using Facebook and other social media are not adequate replacements for direct face-to-face contact with “real” people, and that spending too much time with social media may blunt our social skills.  But there are now over 400 studies looking at the effects of Facebook on everyday behaviors, in both children and adults, and this research shows that Facebook is in fact a healthy way to connect with others.

One recent study, published in the journal Developmental Psychology,1 found that there was no trade-off between having large networks of Facebook friends and the ability to develop intimacy and social support among face-to-face friends.  In fact, the opposite was true. Using Facebook increased the size of college students’ social networks and these larger networks were related to higher levels of life satisfaction and perceived social support. As the authors put it,

“…social networking sites help youth to satisfy enduring human psychosocial needs for permanent relations in a geographically mobile world.”

And many, many, other studies show similar results.

So don’t worry, moms and dads – Facebook is your friend. Your kids are at least as happy, caring, cared for, and emotionally supported on Facebook as they are in school or out with their friends at the mall.  And you have a much better idea where they are.

1Manago, A. M., Taylor, T., & Greenfield, P. M. (2012). Me and my 400 friends: The anatomy of college students’ Facebook networks, their communication patterns, and well-being. Developmental Psychology. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=psyh&AN=2012-02329-001&site=ehost-live

 

 

Liking those who like us

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Kurt Gray, Assistant Professor of psychology at the University of Maryland has recently reported another way that we bolster our self-esteem and feel good about ourselves. Continue reading “Liking those who like us” »

The self

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One of the most basic concepts, and a fundamental unit of analysis within psychology is the self.

Humans have very well developed self-concepts.

Humans possess self-awareness, the ability to introspect and to see oneself as an individual separate from other individuals.

People possess self-concern: They desire to keep themselves alive.

A derivation of the principle of self-concern is the principle of self-enhancement: people try to view themselves positively, and frequently see themselves more positively than is warranted.

A derivation of the principle of self-enhancement is the principle of self-association: People perceive things that are associated with the self positively.