Date of Award

2016

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Graham, Steven

Area of Concentration

Psychology

Abstract

The following studies explore the relationship between Facebook use and impression management. Facebook use, in the context of this research, is the potential for someone to interact with their Facebook friends. Impression management is the ability for one to recognize and respond to social cues; self-monitoring, a personality trait, often represents this skill. The first study explored self-monitoring and its relationship with scores on the Facebook Use Scale. The second study enriched the Facebook Use Scale and assessed a variety of statuses. The third study explored how high and low selfmonitors differ in their interactions with specific posts when primed with an explicit audience; it also sought to predict Facebook use from self-monitoring level, fear of negative evaluation, and the big-five personality traits. There were no significant correlations between Facebook use and self-monitoring. Further analyses provided evidence that high self-monitors respond less often to statuses deemed inappropriate. This could mean that the frequency one engages with their friends on Facebook is not at all related to self-monitoring ability and the issue is one of quality and not quantity. Future studies should further enhance the Facebook Use Scale so that it can be broken into subscales.

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