W11: Cyberculture and Social Media Overview

Cyberculture and Social Media

• Cyberculture refers to the social conditions created by widespread internet use.
• 82.7% of Australians utilize social media.
• Facebook boasts over 1/3 of the global population as users.

Personality and Cyberculture

• Cyberpsychology explores personality within cyberculture, encompassing online identity, catfishing, and online disorders.
• The uses and gratification model suggests online media use caters to existing needs and desires.

Benefits of Cyberculture

• Cyberculture offers a protective environment for shy or socially anxious individuals, allowing for greater control over interaction and reduced emphasis on physical appearance.
• Individuals can create and explore multiple identities online.
• Online anonymity empowers gamers to engage with strangers and explore different aspects of their identity.

Trait Approaches

• Introversion and neuroticism might benefit most from internet features like anonymity and controlled interaction.
• Non-neurotic extroverts associate their "real self" with face-to-face interactions, while neurotic introverts feel the same about internet interactions.
• Introverts tend to select more attractive avatars, while high neuroticism correlates with a greater discrepancy between self and avatar.
• Extraverts use social networking for social extension, demonstrating a weak correlation.

Generation Differences

• Extraversion is associated with using the internet for social and leisure purposes, but this varies across generations.
• Millennials primarily use the internet for leisure, whereas baby boomers and older generations lean towards using it for information and duty-based activities.

Social Media and Personality

• Extraversion and openness are strongly linked to social networking site (SNS) activity.
• Narcissism is associated with all SNS behaviors, particularly in non-Western, non-individualistic cultures.

Problematic Internet Use

• High neuroticism and low conscientiousness are linked to smartphone use disorder, Facebook use disorder, and problematic social media use.
• Internet gaming disorder is associated with high neuroticism and low conscientiousness, extraversion, and agreeableness.

Limitations of Research

• The field is relatively new, requiring validation of emerging concepts.
• Most studies rely on cross-sectional data.
• The lack of a standardized definition and measurement of terms like “smartphone use disorder" makes comparisons complex.

Darker Sides of Cyberculture

• Cyberaggression refers to intentional harm via the internet.
• Cyberbullying involves repeated aggression online, often targeting appearance and academic achievement.
• Cyberbullying can lead to social anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts in victims.
• The online disinhibition effect describes the reduction of social inhibitions online, leading to both benign and toxic behavior.

Dark Triad and Cyberaggression

• All dark triad traits (narcissism, psychopathy, Machiavellianism) are linked to cyberbullying.
• Psychopathy strongly predicts cyberbullying and cyber-aggression.
• The Dark Tetrad (Dark Triad and sadism) is associated with online trolling, with sadism emerging as a unique predictor.

Personality and Antisocial Online Behavior

• Psychopathy consistently predicts antisocial online behavior.
• Narcissism exhibits the weakest association with antisocial online behavior compared to other Dark Tetrad traits.