Controlling you watching me: Measuring perception control on social media
Abstract
Online self-presentation assumes that individuals intentionally control how others perceive them based on their online behaviors. Existing tools are limited in their ability to measure this notion of perception control and there is little understanding around factors which may affect the desire for perception control. This article reports on the development of a perception control scale and comparisons of perception control across age and between genders. A total of 222 participants completed an online survey with items measuring perception control and participant demographics. A principal component analysis revealed a one-factor, 12-item scale explaining 41.14% of the variance. Perception control was found to increase with age and did not differ between genders. Results are consistent with existing impression management research suggesting that while participants of both genders desire to control how others perceive them, as a person’s sense of self stabilizes over time, they are less motivated to change their behaviors to control others’ impressions of them.Citation
Attrill-Smith, A., Keep, M. (2017) 'Controlling you watching me: measuring perception control on social media,' Cyberpsychology, Behaviour and Social Networking, (20) 9 pp. 561-566Publisher
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. publishersJournal
Cyberpsychology, Behaviour and Social NetworkingAdditional Links
http://online.liebertpub.com/loi/CYBERType
Journal articleLanguage
enISSN
2152-2715Collections
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- Creative Commons
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