31st Annual Student Research Conference
Perceptions of Social Media User Happiness
Brianna Cermak*, William T. Leach, and Allison R. Rice
Dr. Karen Vittengl, Faculty Mentor
Social media has become a large part of our daily routines and interactions. Therefore, it is important to see how social media affects our satisfaction with life and our perceptions of others. We hypothesize that participants rating account owners as “happier” have greater satisfaction with life. To test participant’s satisfaction with life, subjects completed the Satisfaction with Life Scale. Participants then observed 16 photo stimuli used as simulated social media photos. Stimuli were chosen based on Peterson’s Orientations to Happiness (meaning, engagement, and pleasure). We also added a neutral category to our photo stimuli. Participants rated how happy they think the account owner was. Our results revealed a statistically significant positive correlation between satisfaction with life and ratings of happiness for owners posting neutral and meaning stimuli. These results imply that aspects of meaning or neutral stimuli could attract happier social media users.
Keywords: social media, happiness, satisfaction with life
Topic(s):Psychology
Presentation Type: Poster
Session: 7-3
Location: GEO - SUB
Time: 3:30