Date of Award

2020

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Cottrell, Catherine

Area of Concentration

Psychology

Abstract

This study examined both face-to-face interactions and Twitch.tv as venues in which individuals can potentially fulfill their social needs. Twitch streamers (N = 85) were asked to complete a questionnaire assessing Twitch usage and face-to-face interaction frequency, as well as whether streamers felt that various social needs were fulfilled by their Twitch interactions and face-to-face interactions. The social needs addressed in this questionnaire were: companionship, enjoyment, security, creativity, self-esteem, tension release, and support. Although counter to the first hypothesis, the results indicated that the more individuals found their self-esteem needs to be met via their Twitch interactions, the more these individuals also found their self-esteem needs to be met via their face-to-face interactions. A significant positive relationship between Twitch usage and self-esteem need fulfillment was only found to exist on weekdays. On weekdays a significant positive relationship was found between face-to-face interaction frequency and fulfillment of these needs: companionship, enjoyment, security, and self esteem. On weekends, a significant positive relationship was found to be between face- to-face usage and fulfillment of these needs: companionship, enjoyment, and support. For future research, it is suggested to look into need fulfillment on other streaming sites, as well as need fulfillment based on type of streaming content.

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