The Relationship Between Extroversion, Social Media, In-person Interaction, and Well-being Late in the COVID-19 Pandemic
Preston Boxley, Aidan Finegan,
& Hannah Hoffman
a Research Methods Project supervised by Dr. Hilary Stebbins
(Spring 2021)
Stebbins_Boxely_postercheck out these “elevator” talks from each group member
Such an interesting and important topic! My key question is about cause and effect between your variables. Based on your research, do you think that social media use causes reduced well being, or reduced well-being leads to increased social media use? How might personality affect that?
Also, do you think that there are different strategies for encouraging social distancing based on personality types? What might we try to get different personalities to wear masks and socially distance.
Great poster!
Personally, I think reduced well-being leads to increased social media use. I think personality plays an effect on this because extroverts are seeking that social connection whereas introverts are typically comfortable being alone. I think not just extroverts but everyone experienced a lower well-being once the pandemic began and as a result of that, I think social media use increased.
Thanks for the questions! I think that part of the issue with the pandemic is that it has been compared to what we can’t do anymore. Going from being able live life as we’re generally accustomed to to having more restrictions in place for our behaviors, and I think some people see it as punishment for a crime that they didn’t commit. But a lot of people have also been able to find some personal fulfillment during the pandemic; instead of thinking about what they can’t do anymore, they have optimized the resources that they do have to pursue interests they didn’t use to have time for or learn to interact with others in different ways. I think that one way to get people to voluntarily social distance and and wear masks is to emphasize what they can personally gain from the experience, in spite of its challenges – like finding new ways to connect with people in lieu of face-to-face interaction or finding some pride in caring for their community.
Social media usage and well-being both played a part in my groups study as well. Sadly, in ours we did not produce any significant findings that showed any correlation between the two of those variables. I am super happy that you all were able to produce a significant finding. I did see that for both social media usage and well-being, different scales were used than my group. The poster looks awesome!
Thank you!
Timely topic. I like that you use personality to try to better understand responses to the pandemic. Are there other personality characteristics beyond extraversion that you think might me relevant? I noted in your limitations you indicate there was not much difference between introverts and extraverts as well as amount of social media use. How did you create those groups? What was your sample size? Based on the DF’s presented it looks like it was about 45 to 50. If so that could have had an influence on your results.
Thanks for the questions! We tried to make meaningful groups with our data, but unfortunately, not many respondents reached our cutoffs, so we had to do a median-split to keep our groups equal. Our total sample was 48 people, after we removed the participants that did not finish the surveys.
I think that neuroticism would also be relevant, because individuals high on that trait would probably have more anxiety about the pandemic. A global crisis might have increased the negative affect that people high on this trait are more prone to, and they might have more anxiety about contracting the virus, and so take more precautions against it.
Thanks!
Hi guys! I really enjoyed your research project! This topic needs all the research it can get right now, as it is relevant to the times we are living in. Under your results, it was stated that those who use social media to connect to others tend to have lower well-being than those who do not. Why do you think this is the case?
Hi! This topic is very important right now and I thoroughly enjoyed your project. In your results/findings, it is stated that people who use social media to connect with others have lower well-being than those who don’t. Why do you think this is the case?
I think that there are a few potential reasons for this. One reason is that high social media use is associated with lower well-being, and that connecting with others does not have an effect on that relationship. Another possibility is that, especially now, people who are using social media to stay in touch with others may be using it too much, and perhaps it exacerbates the feeling of isolation.
Hi guys! Great job on your presentation! I enjoyed the topic that you guys tackled and how you guys got your results! This topic is an interesting one since social media is very prevalent in mental health and looking at it in the angle that you guys did gave me a whole new perspective. I was actually wondering how you guys would’ve conducted your research if it was in person? It got me thinking since this is such a great topic that definitely opens doors to more research.