Selfies & Online Identity

Question 1

Method of selfie study

Answer 1

Study done in China using social media platform Weibo

• Measured Big 5 traits
• Examined selfie profile pictures
  
  • Eye level (above or below)
  • Location (public vs. private)
  • Facial expression
  • Photoshop
  • Body

Question 2

results?

Answer 2

• Cues in selfies were linked to self-rated personality traits
• But, observers were only able to accurately judge openness, and not other personality traits

Question 3

what might predict agreeableness

Answer 3

• emotional positivity
• low camera height

Question 4

what abt conscientiousness

Answer 4

public location

Question 5

what abt neuroticism

Answer 5

duckface

Question 6

what abt openness

Answer 6

emotional positivity

Question 7

what is different about selfies

Answer 7

personality expression !!

Question 8

limitations

Answer 8

used photos from microblogging website in china, questionable generalizability

Question 9

what was the method for LGBT coming out study

Answer 9

qualitative interview

Question 10

what were the ages

Answer 10

18-22

Question 11

results

Answer 11

new media enabled participants to access resources, explore identity, find likeness, and digitally engage in coming out

Question 12

most importnat developmental task during adolescence

Answer 12

identity development

Question 13

6 stages of coming out

Answer 13

1. Identity confusion
2. Identity comparison
3. Identity tolerance
4. Identity acceptance
5. Identity pride
6. Identity synthesis

Question 14

Identity confusion

Answer 14

individual’s increasing awareness of his or her sexual minority behavior and confusion over the incongruence of this behavior and the identification (or identification by others) as heterosexual

Question 15

Identity comparison

Answer 15

accepts the possibility of being a sexual minority and experiences alienation and isolation as his or her identity differs from what others perceive or expect

Question 16

Identity tolerance

Answer 16

1. increasing their commitment to their sexual minority identity and acknowledging their needs
2. increased alienation leads individuals to seek out and explore the sexual minority community

Question 17

Identity acceptance

Answer 17

accept their sexual minority identity and increase their interaction with the sexual minority community

Question 18

Identity pride

Answer 18

1. increasingly identifying with the sexual minority community and placing greater emphasis on how they are perceived by that community, not by heterosexuals
2. may experience frustration or anger over the conflict between heterosexual and sexual minority values and increasingly begin to disclose their sexual minority identity

Question 19

Identity synthesis

Answer 19

interacting with supportive heterosexuals, incorporating their sexual minority status as one of their identities rather than the predominant one, and assimilating their public and private identities

Question 20

findings

Answer 20

Five themes emerged that identified the influence of online participation.

Question 21

5 themes?

Answer 21

1. Access resources
   - Access to resources offline is seriously impeded by a number of factors, such as safety and stigma
2. Explore identity
   - anonymity of new media allowed participants and their peers to be creative with their presentation of self in a relatively safe space, as well as provided participants with the ability to restart or alter their personas at will.
3. Find likeness
   - able to contrast the negative messages they received through other media as well as feelings of difference in their offline lives with the comfort that they felt in the expressions of those who were similar in their online lives
   - external reinforcement
4. Come out digitally
   - low level risk
   - safe and anonymous
5. Potentially expand identities formed online into offline life.

Question 22

what does media allow them to do

Answer 22

rehearse crucial develop- mental tasks (e.g., coming out, cultivating identity, increasing self-confidence and self-acceptance, and building relationships) in online life through new media before undertaking them in offline life.

Question 23

LIMITATIONS (3)

Answer 23

1. This research was concentrated in a fairly progressive urban area with a relatively well-educated and affluent participant sample.
   
   • Often reduced access to computers and the Internet among Canadian youth who are from low-income households or who live in rural areas
2. Non-representative (qualitative)
   
   • Reflective of those that heavily utilized multiple types of new media
3. Lack of trans representation