Psychosocial factors on Instagram: effects on emotions and cyberbullying
Instagram is a social network that facilitates the social-comparison and feedback-seeking (called SCFS processes), which are particularly relevant during adolescence.
“Likes” on Instagram represent numeric evaluative feedback and seem to be considered an approval rating and social reinforcement. M. Dolores Sánchez Hernández, Mari Carmen Herrera and Francisca Expósito CIMCYC researchers examined some psychosocial factors that could influence the Instagram usage intensity and analyzed the role of social comparison and feedback-seeking in the relationship between the number of “likes” and adolescents’ emotions.
The sample consisted of 182 students between 13 and 18 years old. The results showed that, on the one hand, the motivations to interact socially, storage on the social network and gossip mediated the positive relationship between SCFS and Instagram usage intensity; and, on the other hand, receiving few “likes” on Instagram generated more negative emotions in participants with high SCFS tendency, compared to participants with low SCFS.
“Likes” have a special social and affective relevance for adolescents with high levels of SCFS, and they might be more emotionally susceptible to the feedback they received from their audience on Instagram.
Another related study, carried out by the same researchers and Laura Villanueva-Moya, analyzed the psychosocial factors associated with Instagram use. Continued exposure to Instagram during adolescence can lead to envy, social comparison, and the perpetration of cyberbullying.
The sample included 254 students between 15 and 18 years old. The results of this research indicated that high use of Instagram was associated with high levels of social comparison, which, in turn, led to higher levels of envy, and consequently, to a more frequent perpetration of cyberbullying.
These studies can serve as a precedent for future research and for the development of intervention programs based on the responsible use of social networks.
Full references
-Sánchez-Hernández, M. D., Herrera, M. C., & Expósito, F. (2022). Does the Number of Likes Affect Adolescents’ Emotions? The Moderating Role of Social Comparison and Feedback-Seeking on Instagram. The Journal of Psychology, 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223980.2021.2024120
-Villanueva-Moya, L., Herrera, M. C., Sánchez-Hernández, M. D., & Expósito, F. (2022). #Instacomparison: Social Comparison and Envy as Correlates of Exposure to Instagram and Cyberbullying Perpetration. Psychological Reports, 003329412110673. https://doi.org/10.1177/00332941211067390
Contact
-María Dolores Sánchez Hernández: @email
-Mari Carmen Herrera: @email
-Francisca Expósito: @email
-Laura Villanueva Moya: @email