A presentation about how to look upon social media from a psychological perspective. With influences from social-psychology.

1. Social Media
- a broader context from a psychological
perspective
Nordic Psychology Students 2011, 21 May, Uppsala
Jonas Mosskin

2. My talk
Give a psychological context for how to look upon
Internet and social media. With a little help from
sociology. Few academics talk about the bigger
picture.
Individual and identity-construction in the context of
Facebook & Twitter.
Media landscape effects social relationships.
Self-reflective society with instant feedback.
A couple of examples of how this effects you as a
psychologist.

3. About me
JONAS MOSSKIN, almost graduated
psychologist from Stockholm, currently based
in Berlin. Work also with coaching and group-
development.
Founder of several public psychology
concepts at Kulturhuset in Stockholm,
Psykologer tittar på film and Psykologer läser
böcker.
I have a blog www.mosskin.se, about
psychology, culture and internet since 2007.
I write articles for several magazines like
Modern Psykologi and Psykologtidningen.
I’m currently writing my final thesis about how
social media affect the relationship between
the psychologist and the client.

4. First a question to all of you:
What’s your emotional experience of the web?
What’s your emotional experience of Facebook?

5. What we know so far
What we do know is that most human behavior we see
offline is still there online. Some processes and
behavior online is more vivid, some less.
In the 1990:s people and scholars were often cyber-
enthusiasts hoping that society will change a lot online.
Today there is a growing consensus that the distinction
between offline and online is vanished.

6. What we know so far about
the web
Not so much... There are few studies
with preliminary results.
Internet and the web have mainly
been studied
1) as technic and information-medium
2) as a conversation arena.
3) a social space.

7. Self-reflexivity
The sociologist Anthony Giddens wrote in the early
1990:s about the postmodern man. In his book
Modernity and self-identity he describes today’s human
being as a self-reflexive person.
Today people find themselves in a therapeutic culture
where there is a constant loop of self-introspection.
Being modern today means that the question: How am
I going to live my life? comes up all the time.
The questions is hard to answer, so we end up
answering the question through decisions about
everyday life. How to behave, where to live, eat and
what to ware. And what is your next step in your
career?

8. Authenticity
According to Giddens we strive for self-
realization. We want to control time and
space as well as our living and our body.
Authenticity is the moral imperative in
today’s culture of self-realization.
That fit’s perfect with the kind of person
developing on social networking sites.

9. The world is fluid,
life have to be flexible
We are desperately longing to feel safe and to
create stability in our life. At the same time we are
restless and want to embrace all the new.
This leads inevitable to ambivalence.
A state of powerlessness and a feeling of insecurity
about where to head.
But, also a feeling of curiosity and excitement in our
lives.

10. Ambivalence
We are ambivalent in front of our own
quest to find our true self.
Some psychologist like for example E.
Erikson, call this identity-diffusion when
we talk about adolescence.
Today, we don’t know where to go, but we
have different means and resources
around us that we can use to reach this
particular place...

11. Individualization
The sociologist Zygmunt Bauman compares today’s
society with a camping site. People park the caravan
at the camping site, safely behind fences.
They care about themselves, complain about the
neighbors and the service and then head to some
other place.
No one takes responsibility for the whole, the
environment, the community or how the camping site
correspond to other sites.
Powerlessness and inadequacy are the postmodern
positions of today.

12. Our mission in life
“The mission today, is to take the least risky
and closest turn-off, then change direction
before the road becomes impassable or
before the road-system are revised, or before
the desired goal moves away or loses it’s
former attraction.” (Zygmunt Bauman)

13. Lack of personal meaning
Our society is rich when it comes to technical and
economic resources, but poor when it comes to
moral guidance.
Society, or our community, is not taking part in
our life and no one tells us how to live our life in
an ethical way.
Bauman means that we need to formulate a
personal meaning of our own. But most people
instead consume and repress all such thoughts.
We suffer from personal lack of meaning.

14. Compensatory recreation-
activites
Play computer-games
Hang around on Facebook
Surf the web
Go shopping
Attend parties

15. A social-psychological
perspective on the web and
social media
Stanley Milgram, 1974:
”The social psychology of this century reveals a major
lesson. Often it’s not so much the kind of person a man
is, as the kind of situation in which he finds himself that
determines how he will act”.

16. Impression Management
Erving Goffman, a social-psychologist, compared human interaction with theater.
We play a role and present our self in a conscious way.
Goffman called this human behavior self-presentation for impression management.
We play roles, often together in a group at work or at leisure-time.

17. Playing a role as a group
Swedish royal family announcing Victoria’s marriage

18. Playing a role as a team
Me and my colleague Jenny Jägerfeld posing for Psykologer läser böcker

19. Playing a role as an individual
Barack Obama campaining The artist Grace Jones

20. Front stage & Backstage
To be able to perform different roles, we need to separate people in
different ways.
Goffman borrowed the concept of front stage and backstage from the
theater. We structure and separate our social life in different scenes.

21. Performances at front stage
and backstage.
Think about the waiters and the kitchen at a restaurant.
Or the closed door at the doctor or the psychologist.

22. Borders are fluid
To be able to be backstage we have to
create a closed space. Some people
have to be the audience, to whom we
can perform our self-image.
We must create borders between people
to be able to function as a social being.
How is that possible on the web today?
When are you truly backstage on social
media like Facebook or Twitter

23. Collapsing Contexts
We have all contacts in the same feed and frame at Facebook but also
on Twitter, LinkedIn and other social platforms. Childhood-friends, our
boss, Mother, student peers, and gym-mates appears all together. But
what do they really have in common?
When do you need to communicate to all of them at the same time?

24. We are influenced by our
peers and norms on Facebook
Behaviors are contagious on Fb.
Click ”attending” on an event, even though
you won’t come. It looks cool.
Have photos on your children as a profile.
Be funny.
Get high status by having many “friends”.
Always be positive.

25. Current social-media research
We have 6,6 close contacts on Fb and 100-200
contacts in average. (Lewis et al., 2008)
100-300 contacts on FB is perceived as
normal. Close to 300 makes people more
socially attractive. More than 300 isn’t
increasing popularity. (Utz, 2010)
It seems that when we communicate on SNS we have a concept of an audience of our
10-20 closest friends. (Brake, 2008)
Popularity and status in a group of young people seems to increase the more you are
using the strategy of self-disclosure. (Boyd, 2004)
Many people think that friends are to much outspoken and self-disclosing. (Christofides
2009)

26. Current social-media research
If you disclose personal information on an online-
community, the probability that others will be self-
disclosive increases. This process leads to intimate
relationships. (Henderson & Gilding, 2004)
Individuals with too many friends are perceived as not
so trustworthy and less authentic. Paradoxically, an
individual that is self-disclosive on Fb, is perceived as
trustworthy. (Tong, Van der Heide & Langwell, 2008)
Popularity is measured by the number of Fb-friends.
Extroverted individuals are favoured. “Rich get richer”.
But introverted people can compensate socially on the
web. “Poor get richer”. (Zywicka & Danowski, 2008)

27. Social-media research
Narcisstic individuals are more socially active on
Fb, self-disclosive, and present themselves more
sexy on photos. (Buffardi & Campbell, 2008)
To express yourself and use self-disclosure seems
to be the easiest way to be popular, but the price
you have to pay is that you disclose intimate details.
(Zywicka och Danowski, 2009)
Communication on SNS were caracterized by
positioning in the group and to strengthen group
cohesion. The personal profile is more a “place
marker” than a self-portrait. (Mendelson &
Papacharissi, 2011) & (Livingstone, 2008)

28. The new social landscape for
psychologists to navigate in
The not so modern
The modern life
digital skepticism from psychologists

29. Googleification

30. A warning example of self-
disclosure on Facebook:
”My internship as a psychologist starts on Wednesday at xxx one of the best yyy
schools!!!!!!!!!”
"10 new patients (!!!!!!), all between 6 and 9 years old."
”Low self-esteem. I'm too young! As one of my childpatients put it: "21?? You're not even an
adult!!" Don't ya just love kids...”
”My little patients are amazing :) They keep reminding me of why I decided to become a
psychologist.”
”I can't believe I'm testing, observing and treating kids, talking to and coaching parents and
teachers, and sending kids to other instances with my own recommendations. And the
teachers actually like me, respect me and treat me like a real psychologist!!!!!”
”My two youngest patients now bought the idea that I have a multicolored little bird who flies
to school and to their houses and reports to me if they behave well or not…"

31. Suicide on Internet
A 21 year old Swedish guy committed suicide in October 2010,
broadcasted on Flashback.
Some people encourage him to do it in the 1,5 h previous discussion in
the forum.

32. Another web-related suicide
An evening in January Simone Black, an English woman, committed suicide. One
evening, she posted a status update on Facebook: “Took all my pills be dead soon
so bye bye every one.”
No one called the police, until afternoon the next day, but then she was dead. Black
had 1082 contacts but no one reacted in time. A lot of her contacts didn’t believe
her and even wrote sniffy comments. This seems to be a phenomena described in
social psychology as the “bystander-effect”. The more people witnessing a crime
the less likely that someone call the police.

33. Psychologist have to think in
new ways
old? New?

34. Questions for you
How can we reach out to young people?
Are virtual clinic a solution?
Shall we start with mobile teams on the web?
What can you do as a psychology-student?
Who to blame: parents, school, the web, the
computers?

35. Thanks!
Jonas Mosskin
jonas@mosskin.se
www.mosskin.se
twitter: @jonasmosskin
073-6505103