EFFECTS OF SOCIAL IDENTITY THREAT AND SOCIAL COMPARISON ON WELLBEING IN A SOCIAL MEDIA ENVIRONMENT
Publisher
The University of Arizona.Rights
Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.Abstract
The relationship between social comparison and social identity threat among targeted individuals was examined in the novel context of a mock social media platform. Participants were randomly assigned to either a sexism or no sexism condition which indicated what content they saw on the platform. A sample size of fifty female university students interacted with this mock platform. Code was taken from GitHub and the site was simulated to look similar to a popular social media site. Once on the platform, participants were instructed to scroll through it and react how they normally would when engaging on any other site. Each student had their heart rate monitored and recorded during their duration of scroll time on the website. As part of the study, they also filled out pre and post-surveys indicating their anxiety levels, levels of social comparison, and a series of other measures that may have contributed to the state of their wellbeing. It was predicted that individuals higher on the social comparison scale would exhibit higher cardiac and self-report anxiety levels compared to those lower in social comparison. We did not find evidence of a relationship between elevated levels of social comparison and an exposure to perceived identity threat.Type
Electronic Thesistext
Degree Name
B.S.Degree Level
bachelorsDegree Program
PsychologyHonors College