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- All Subjects: Social Media
- Creators: Department of Psychology
To conduct research, we developed a survey that was distributed and taken by students at Arizona State University. The goal of surveying college students was to understand how young people who regularly use social media are persuaded by micro-influencers. To gain more insight, we interviewed three local micro-influencers that we discovered through Instagram and research. The goal of these interviews was to discover tactics that micro-influencers use when posting to market sponsored products. Additionally, we hoped to uncover a pattern that micro-influencers use when building their social media following. Ultimately, we developed a six-step guide from our research that aspiring micro-influencers can follow to strategize their rise as a social media micro-influencer. We also discuss the social media app TikTok, which we believe will be heavily used by influencers and micro-influencers in the future.
Online dating apps are prevalent within dating culture, but they are also forms of social media. Although the way in which people use these apps might be more targeted than other forms of social media, it seems likely that the problems associated with social media could very well apply to dating apps too. However, this is an empirical question that begs a scientific and systematic investigation. Dating apps have a number of unique dynamics, such as being centered around romantic relationships with the users on the service and judging & being judged by others. Self-objectification, a form of extreme public self-awareness, has been tied to both social media usage and more recently to dating app usage. Prior research examining self-objectification within and between dating app users has been inconclusive; it is not clear whether more frequent dating app usage predicts self-objectification or not. The current study aimed to clarify the relationship between dating app usage and self-objectification. Data were collected from 174 college students who were active dating app users. They were polled on their frequency of dating app usage and given a self-administered self-objectification inventory online. Findings show that self-objectification differs significantly across dating app usage groups. Additionally, a moderation effect of race was found. For white participants, the more frequently they used data app, the more self-objectification they reported. For non-white participants, there was a nonlinear relationship between data app usage and self-objectification. Among non-white dating app users, low and high dating app usage groups reported higher self-objectification than the moderate dating app usage group. Limitations and implications of the study are discussed to hopefully offer insights into the relationships between dating app usage and self-objectification.
As projections of climate change effects in the media persist, current research suggests that threatening climate change content circulating social media and knowledge of threats to the Earth system and human health may lead to the development of eco-anxiety. If social media exposure to climate change content influences eco-anxiety, there is a need for psychological interventions to help manage climate change-related negative affect. A systematic review was conducted 1) to investigate the relationship between the use of social media and eco-anxiety in young adults and 2) to explore methodological factors involved in eco-anxiety research, including measurements and potential moderating factors. The review included seventeen articles that studied the measurements of eco-anxiety, the relationship between social media and eco-anxiety, or negative affect related to climate change and potentially moderating risk factors. A thematic analysis of the included articles yielded four central themes: (1) The Operationalization of Eco-anxiety, (2) Climate Change Perceptions and their Effects on Impairments, (3) The Relationship between Social Media Usage and Eco-anxiety, and (4) Potential Factors Influencing Climate Change Perceptions. The results suggest that eco-anxiety is real and common, especially amongst young people, and that it may be reliably measured using the Climate Change Anxiety Scale. Due to the limited and heterogeneous literature on the problem, no definitive conclusions can be drawn about how potential factors influence eco-anxiety. Future research should further explore the relationship between social media and eco-anxiety. In addition, the problem of eco-anxiety should be studied in underrepresented, vulnerable populations at higher risk for weather-related events.
A brief history of the Mediterranean diet and its geographical origins as a meeting point for cultures will guide understanding of the construction of this specific dietary pattern. The nutrients and foods typical of the Mediterranean diet will be outlined as well as their health benefits, allowing for a deeper analysis of the ways in which the Mediterranean diet is associated with reducing the risk of certain chronic diseases. The lifestyle choices and physical activity practiced adjacently to the diet will establish the positive synergistic effects of conviviality and moderate exercise on general human health. Contemporary movements in the Mediterranean region, like Slow Foods, aim to preserve traditional dietary and lifestyle choices. In comparison, the U.S. food system seems to be most shaped by the influences of globalization and industrialization. Economic and health-cost perspectives as well as the role of modern-day media in diet trends, body image, and food marketing will establish and deepen the complexities of food choices and health disparities in Western societies. The diagnosis of the Mediterranean Diet in the U.S. as a solution to poor general population health will be challenged and holistic perspectives on eating will provide an exploratory lens for understanding health and food choice as a modern-day consumer.