Graduation Term

2021

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Department of Psychology

Committee Chair

Eric D Wesselmann

Abstract

Ostracism can occur on social media sites just as easily as in face-to-face interactions, but the outcomes of such events may depend on the closeness of the preexisting relationship. A needs-threat model was employed alongside measures of relational devaluation to collect data from 343 participants. The participants were assigned to one of three groups: close tie, loose tie, or control. Participants in the loose ties condition reported less basic needs fulfilment than those in the close ties condition. Additionally, participants in both experimental conditions reported similar feelings of relational devaluation compared to control participants. A post-hoc exploratory analysis of attributions also found that relationship-saving attributions were uncommon among both experimental conditions; instead, those in the close-ties condition often gave no attribution while those in the loose-ties condition favored face-saving attributions.KEYWORDS: Ostracism; Social media; Likes; Relational devaluation

Access Type

Thesis-Open Access

DOI

https://doi.org/10.30707/ETD2022.20220606094359036181.999995

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