The spotlight effect and the illusion of transparency in social anxiety (Brown & Stopy)
http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/45092/01/SE_and_IOT.pdf
Brown, M.A., & Stopa, L. (2007). The Spotlight effect and the illusion of transparency in
social anxiety. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 21, 804-819.
Both public and private sources of information contribute to the idea of the self which in turn affects social anxiety. The article looks at the spotlight effect in social judgment and defines the spotlight effect as “an egocentric bias in estimates of the salience of one’s own actions and appearance”. It also focuses on the illusion of transparency of “biased assessments of other’s ability to read one’s own emotional states.” The researchers experimented with participants either being put into a condition of high or low social evaluation. People in the high social evaluation condition had higher levels of the spotlight effect in a negative manner thinking that people were looking at them negatively. There was no difference in the transparency illusion. The researchers concluded that the spotlight effect could be specific to social-evaluative concerns but the illusion of transparency may be a feature of the social anxiety itself.
Empathy neglect: Reconciling the spotlight effect and the correspondent bias (Epley, Savitsky, & Gilovich)
http://0-web.ebscohost.com.sculib.scu.edu/ehost/detail?vid=3&hid=3&sid=9a18ec68-0059-4173-be57-238b433a8c5e%40sessionmgr4&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=pdh&AN=psp-83-2-300 (must be signed onto psycarticle database off library webpage)
Epley, N., Savitsky, K., & Gilovich, T. (2002). Empathy neglect: reconciling the
spotlight effect and the correspondence bias. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 83(2), 300-312.
This article discussed the relationship between when people think others are judging them harshly and when others really are judging them. The article concluded that those with the spotlight effect that do something embarrassing are only judged harshly if the observer is unable to have empathy (see things through the eyes of the other person).
The spotlight effect revisited: overestimating the manifest variability of our actions and appearance (Gilovich, Kruger, & Medvec)
http://psy2.ucsd.edu/~hflowe/Spotlight.pdf
Gilovich, T., Kruger, J., & Medvec, V.H. (2002). The Spotlight effect revisited:
overestimating the manifest variability of our actions and appearance. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 93-99.
The article follows three studies in which people estimate the perceived variability of how they look to others in terms of physical appearance, athletic accomplishments, or performance on videogames. The results show that people continuously overestimate the amount of attention people are paying to their actions and abilities. One of the studies suggests that the spotlight effect is caused by our egocentrism and inability to consider the observers own actions and thoughts about themselves.
The spotlight effect in social judgment: An egocentric bias in estimates of the salience of one’s own actions an appearance (Savitsky, Gilovich, & Medvec)
http://psych.cornell.edu/sec/pubPeople/tdg1/Gilo.Medvec.Sav.pdf
Gilovich, T., Savitsky, K., & Medvec, V.H. (2000). The Spotlight effect in social
judgment: an egocentric bias in estimates of the salience of one's own actions
and appearance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78(2), 211-222.
This article simply examines the spotlight effect defines as “people overestimate the extent to which their actions and appearance are noted by others.” In two studies participants had to wear an embarrassing t-shirt and were asked to predict how many observers would remember what their shirt was (obviously they overestimated this number). In another study, people overestimated how much people judged the way they spoke in a group setting, thinking others paid attention to the good and bad things they said far more than people actually did. Two other studies reflect how people are incapable of looking through the other person’s eyes and since we are the key player in our perspective, we assume this is true for others as we guess their reactions.
Online disclosure: An empirical examination of undergraduate facebook profiles (Kolek & Saunders)
http://journals.naspa.org/jsarp/vol45/iss1/art2/
Kolek, E.A., & Saunders, D. (2008). Online disclosure: an empirical examination of
undergraduate facebook profiles. Journal of Students Affairs Research and
Practice, 45(1), 1-25.
The article outlines a study examining a random sample of facebook profiles. They analyzed the profiles quantitatively and found that 1. the vast majority of students have a facebook account (at this particular university). 2. Only a small percentage of those students restricted their profile access to University staff. 3. A significant amount of student’s profiles contained contact info, course schedules, positive reference to the university, and pictures of the student consuming alcohol. Consequences of participation in such habits are then discussed at the end of the article.
Crossing boundaries: Identity management and student/faculty relationships on the facebook (Hewitt & Forte)
http://74.125.155.132/scholar?q=cache:cgcxx_399wwJ:scholar.google.com/+crossing+boundaries+hewitt+forte&hl=en&as_sdt=2000 Hewitt, A., & Forte, A. (2006). Crossing boundaries: identity management and
student/faculty relationships on the facebook. CSCW, Banff, Alberta.
The article looks at both the relationship and the perceptions between students and their university faculty on facebook. The study surveyed college students whose professors were indeed on facebook. They survey did not include facebook and merely addressed the perceptions of the professor; quality of education, personal characteristics, ect. Then another survey was given asking if they thought that professor was on facebook and whether or not it is appropriate. The results indicate that having a facebook profile does not affect the perceptions students have on their professors and that 1/3 of students didn’t thing that professors should be on facebook.
Twitter and status updating: Pew internet & American life project (Lenhart & Fox)
http://fortysouth.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/Twitter-and-status-updating.pdf
Lenhart, A., & Fox, S. (2009). Twitter and status updating. Pew Internet & American Life
Project, 1-11.
This Pew survey analyzed the use of both twitter and facebook status updating. The most key fact included the popularity of such habits (11% of online American adults). The survey goes on to explain social perceptions of twitter, the high percentage of youth that participate, and the “average” updater. This average twitter/status updater is in their early adulthood, racially and ethnically diverse, and urban. They also receive a lot of their information from mobile devices.
Self-disclosure in computer-mediated communication: The role of self awareness and visual anonymity (Joinson)
http://estudy.openu.ac.il/opus/Static/binaries/Upload/Bank94/Joinson2002_0.pdf
Joinson, A.N. (2001). Self-disclosure in computer mediated communication: the role of
self-awareness and visual anonymity. European Journal of Social Psychology, 31,
177-192.
The article outlines three difference studies looking at how self-disclosure is higher when communication is “computer mediated”. People are far more likely to self-disclose online than face to face. The second study looked at the effects of visual anonymity. Computer Mediated self-disclosure may be linked to the fact that those seeing your self-disclosed information cannot actually see you. The third study examined how when you are in private, your public self-awareness and subsequent behavior is reduced significantly. This leads to a false sense of privacy online.
Self-disclosure and liking: A meta-analytic review (Collins & Miller)
Collins, N.L., & Miller, L.C. (1994). Self-disclosure and liking: a meta-analytic review.
Psychological Bulletin, 116(3), 457-475.
This journal article reviewed numerous different studies on the relationship between self-disclosure and being seen positively by others. They then conducted a statistical meta-analysis to determine if the numerous articles saw significant correlations. Statistically significant results were found suggesting that the research on the subject indeed finds a correlation. Their findings include that self-disclosure is linked with being liked more than people who don’t self-disclose, initially liking the person leading to more self-disclosure, and liking the person who you self-disclosed to.
I’ll see you on “facebook”: The effects of computer-mediated teacher self-disclosure on student motivation, affective learning, and classroom climate (Mazer, Murphy, & Simonds)
http://0-web.ebscohost.com.sculib.scu.edu/ehost/pdf?vid=2&hid=6&sid=aa551270-871a-4fc7-a6e5-e7d9481062e0%40sessionmgr14
Mazer, J.P., Murphy, R.E., & Simonds, C.J. (2007). I'll see you on "facebook": the effect
of computer-mediated teacher self-disclosure on student motivation, affective
learning, and classroom climate. Communication Education, 56(1), 1-17.
This study looked at how students perceive their levels of motivation, affective learning, and classroom climate would be after looking at a professors facebook that was high in self-disclosure. The participants suggest that with high self-disclosure under such terms, the students anticipated higher more positive levels of each variable. However, serious credibility issues were suggested as well. The article suggests a balance between self-disclosure in a mature professional manner as respect and their careers could be linked to a poor image on facebook.
