Background:
First impressions have a profound effect on our everyday lives. They can play an important role in determining mate choice, trustworthiness judgements, hiring and purchasing decisions. However, little is known about the factors influencing impression formation in the social media context. This study seeks to address this gap, by investigating the extent to which external factors (e.g., perceived relatability of the ‘target’) or internal factors (e.g., personal mood/self-perceived life satisfaction) impact the impressions we form of others on social media.
Aims:
The aim of this research is to assess how we form impressions of others based on images people post to social media. We are interested in whether the relatability of women in the images influences impressions that are formed (i.e., do impressions vary depending on whether we perceive the images women post to be ‘realistic/attainable’ or ‘personally relevant’?). We also seek to investigate the extent to which our self-perceived satisfaction (e.g. financial/relationship/body satisfaction) and mood affect the impressions we form of others on social media.
Recruitment and Format:
The focus of our research on impression formation is women aged 18-25. Young adulthood represents a key developmental period where identity, interactions and perceptions are often influenced by a variety of factors in the social media context. In this online study you will be asked to complete brief questions assessing your mood and self-perceptions (e.g., perceived financial/relationship/body satisfaction, life satisfaction) at the beginning and end of the study. Then you will be presented with a series of images taken from people’s Instagram pages, and will be asked to form an impression of each of the individuals based on the images. You will also be asked to indicate how realistic/attainable you think each of the individual’s images are and whether you would personally compare yourself to them. You will be asked to report your age and ethnicity. The study should take approximately 10-15 minutes to complete.
Confidentiality:
The information from this study will be kept strictly confidential and will not be made available to any other people. Please note that confidentiality of information can only be protected within the limitations of the law – i.e., it is possible for data to be subject to subpoena, freedom of information claim or mandated reporting by some professions.
Ethics Approval:
This study received ethical approval from Dublin City University in December 2024.
Contact Information:
Principal Investigator: Dr. Ciara Mahon, ciara.mahon@dcu.ie
Voluntary Research Assistant: Salvija Kurpyte, salvijakurpyte@gmail.com
