Masters Thesis

Online Social Network Behaviors as Predictors of Personality

ABSTRACT ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORK BEHAVIORS AS PREDICTORS OF PERSONALITY by Robert Lewis Stigers Master of Arts in Psychology: Psychological Science Option California State University, Chico Summer 2011 Social network websites have emerged as some of the most popular websites on the internet, with Facebook leading as the most popular site in the United States. Insufficient research has been done to understand the personality characteristics of social network users, and reasons people are flocking to join social networks. A questionnaire was designed to assess demographic information, internet use, and social network behaviors; research scales were used to measure dimensions of personality including introversion-extroversion, need for cognition, satisfaction with life, locus of control, and self esteem. This study utilized separate stepwise multiple regressions for each research scale, using questionnaire data as predictors. Collectively these results suggest significant differences in online social network use related to personality. Number of friends interacting with in-person per month functioned as a predictor of extroversion. Sending and accepting friend requests from strangers on social networks or dating sites predicted internal locus of control; preference for meeting new people online was a predictor of external locus of control. Using webcams regularly, and time spent talking on the phone per week with friends were predictors of high need for cognition. Preferring to interact online, regularly downloading torrents, sending friend requests to strangers, and number of friends interacting with in-person per month were predictors of high satisfaction with life. The predictors of high self esteem included: meeting people in-person that they first met online, and time spent talking to friends per week. Predictors of low self esteem included hours per week accessing socialization content.

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