Self-presentation and Gender on MySpace
Adriana M. Manago et al.
Published in the Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology 29 (2008)
I thought this article was cool because it was a study done on something that almost everyone is familiar with. The researchers in this study examined what they defined as “emerging adults” and how they establish their self-identity and their interactions with fellow MySpacers. Manago, et al. determined that by using MySpace people were able to express themselves in different ways than they could in the offline world, and often used their page to exhibit to viewers the “self” they want to become. The study was conducted from surveying a group of volunteers from psychology classes in the 18-24 year old age range. The participants were split into same sex focus groups with a moderator whose purpose was to keep the conversation on track and to extract more answers by using pointed questions. The responses were then coded for what themes they touched on. The themes for the purpose of this article were self-presentation, social identity and gender identity.
This article is relevant to class discussions because it gives a real life display of how people affect their social reality. People who are frequent users of MySpace often have their “offline” reality and then their reality on this social network. Friends on MySpace are not necessarily people that the user knows in real life. This networking site allows people and almost non-threatening way to explore social groups and norms in a way that is anonymous. Until this Social Psychology class I had never realized the impact that MySpace had in life outside of the opportunity to stay connected to people.
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A very good article to right about. I think that people alow themselves to make up a life online because they will never meet 90% of the people they talk to. It seems they always make themselves seem better than they really are. It allows each of them to have a seperate life that they think is better than their own which I think in the long run can really put a pressure on one self esteem.
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing how technology is in a sense "dominating" our society. As time goes on and the younger generation becomes the older generation we will on be "logged on" for our whole natural life. The effects this will and already has had on our culture are amazing. A new language is developing (lol,omg,ect.), we can meet our long lost love in Turkey, and we can be stalked out better than ever before. I reciently read an article simular to the one you speak of check it out at this link http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-tao-innovation/200903/understanding-the-psychology-twitter
ReplyDeleteIt is all about twitter.
That was a great article about Twitter! It brought up many valid points. I find the more I have thought about what role Myspace, Facebook,
ReplyDeleteTwitter and other social networking sites like these provide in our lives the more interesting I find it. We live in a mostly individualistic society and yet we feel the need to belong to a group. These networking sites allow us the perfect opportunity to fulfill this need while still being an individual.
This is an interesting take on MySpace and a great article regarding Twitter. Some people create themselves anew online. Some air truths online that they wouldn’t normally admit to in person. All are ways of seeking the acceptance we crave. It seems to me that as long as these types of communication are done recreationally they are OK. The concern that this type of communication may replace real relationships does concern me. I have noticed friends that don’t know how to go to lunch and have a good old-fashioned conversation. As time passes it will be interesting to see what kind of impact social networking sites have on communication in real world setting such as the workplace and in real life – in person social settings.
ReplyDeleteWow, this article was really good. I think that Myspace and Facebook are interesting social utilities because as the article said, it allows you to present yourself as the type of person you'd like to be. I've noticed this several times with the facebook pictures people put up of themselves, sometimes they look so good they don't even resemble the person. The profiles show exactly what people want others to see about them and that's fine but it feels as if all this contact is just so superficial. You see and hear what people want you to see and hear and it gets to be pretty far removed from reality. I wonder if that's the direction people are going in their communications now. Maybe we are just distancing ourselves with all these open lines of communication.
ReplyDeleteThese were both very interesting reads. I think there are many easily identified pros and cons to social networking via the internet, as there are with most everything the human population endeavors to experience. One of the things I find most useful about myspace is that it allows me to get an opinion about something from people who don't really know me that well. I tend to believe that the opinion/perspective is a little bit more honest than what I would receive from say my mom or my sister. I don't think that the people we're closest to make an effort to be dishonest. I think what happens is, people who know our personalities, strengths, and weaknesses, tend to say whatever it is they think we want to hear. I want different perspectives. I want people to tell me if I'm being ridiculous about something and shine some light on a different facet of the diamond. I think networking online allows people to speak honestly to people because they may never see them and can just push the delete button if they don't like what they say or read or whatever.
ReplyDelete