Controlling you watching me: Measuring perception control on social media

Keep, Melanie; Attrill-Smith, Alison

dc.contributor.author	Keep, Melanie
dc.contributor.author	Attrill-Smith, Alison
dc.date.accessioned	2017-09-22T10:37:11Z
dc.date.available	2017-09-22T10:37:11Z
dc.date.issued	2017-09-01
dc.identifier.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. 561-566
dc.identifier.issn	2152-2715
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/2436/620686
dc.description.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.
dc.language.iso	en
dc.publisher	Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. publishers
dc.relation.url	http://online.liebertpub.com/loi/CYBER
dc.subject	Cyberpsychology
dc.subject	self-presentation
dc.subject	impression management
dc.subject	perception control
dc.title	Controlling you watching me: Measuring perception control on social media
dc.type	Journal article
dc.identifier.journal	Cyberpsychology, Behaviour and Social Networking
dc.date.accepted	2017-09
rioxxterms.funder	University of Wolverhampton
rioxxterms.identifier.project	UoW220917AAS
rioxxterms.version	AM
rioxxterms.licenseref.uri	https://creativecommons.org/CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
rioxxterms.licenseref.startdate	2018-09-22
refterms.dateFCD	2018-10-19T09:12:35Z
refterms.versionFCD	AM
html.description.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.