Brief & concise lecture notes for 1st year psychology students at Coventry University
LOs & content summary
- what social media is
- +ves and -ves of social media
- social media addiction
- darker side of social media (i.e. crime, stalking etc.)
Relevant theories applied:
• Attachment ...
Social Media
Kapoor et al., 2018, p.536
Made up of various user-driven platforms
Facilitate diffusion of compelling content, dialogue creation, and
communication to a broader audience.
Digital space created by the people, for the people
Provides an environment which is conducice for interactions and
networking to occur at different levels (for instance, personal,
professional business, marketing political societal)
Positives & Negatives of SocMed
Benefits/ Positives
Cognitive benefits:
o Aid development of communication skills (ie. Text speak &
language)
o Sharing of low mood w/out actually having to talk to anyone –
mechanism of support. E.g use of forums
Maintains rls that would otherwise be difficult
Prevents loneliness
o FOMO = detrimental to psychological health (Primack et al.,
2017)
o Can increase loneliness = doubled the chances of social
isolation (Primack et al., 2017)
Negatives
Trolling
, o Narcissists, sadists, psychopaths
Stalking
Cyber-bullying
o 56% young ppl have seen other be bullied online
o 42% felt unsafe online
Catfishing
o A person who creates a false identity to pursue a romantic
interest online
Selfies – media portrayals
Intersexual competition: members of the same sex compete for
dominance.
Intersexual Competition: strategies that people use to draw
attention from the opposite sex.
Selfie theory (Makhanova, 2017)
Men take selfies from;
o Below, when audience is other men (dominance)
o Straight on when the audience is women (supportiveness)
women take selfies from;
o above when audience is men (submission)
o straight on when audience is women (supportiveness)
Obsessions w/ likes
socmed ‘likes’ trigger the reward cycle; more you get = more you
want
same brain circuits that are activated when eating chocolate/
winning money and when seeing lots of likes
seeing likes on a strangers’ post made pps engage more w it =
‘follow the crowd’ mentality
Is socmed addictive?
2
, Dopamine being the main drive to seeking behaviour
Dopamine causes you to want, desire, seek out and search
Increseases the level of arousal and goal-directed behaviour
Evolutionary stand-point is critical: dopamine seeking system keeps
us motivated to move through the world, learn and survive.
Wanting vs. liking
Berridge (1998):
o Two systems: wanting (dopamine) and liking (opioid) are
complementary.
o Wanting system: propels you to act on and the liking system,
making you feel satisfied and thereby pause yout seeking.
o If seeking isn’t turned off at least for a while, you run in an
endless loop.
o Dopamine system is stronger than the opioid system; you
seek more than you are satisfied.
Why do we like likes?
Dopamine starts you seeking (reward from likes)
Rewarded for the seeking = makes you seek more (think of
conditioning)
Becomes harder to stop looking at likes of post
Dopamine is sensitive to cues that a reward is coming
o Small specific cue that signifies that something is happening =
DA circuits
o Posting a selfie (the cue) = dopamine is stimulated
o When the reward is small = not fully satisfied = want more
Celebrity Worship
Celebrity Worship Syndrome (CWS)
3
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