PHD, Kent State University, 2019, College of Business and Entrepreneurship, Ambassador Crawford / Department of Management and Information Systems

Followers accept influence when target leaders meet their perception of what it means to be a leader. Impression management (IM) is an important means of influencing these perceptions. However, extant literature on leader IM is fragmented and lacks a clear explanation of how the influence process occurs. I unify the literature in this area by creating a multi-dimensional typology and multi-level model of IM in leadership. I examine the multi-dimensional nature of IM as composed of information processing, communicative, and goal-directed components, creating eight IM archetypes. Further, I develop an instrument used in experimental studies to test the IM model within transformational leadership theory, highlighting followers' cognitive categorization processes and testing how the addition of a moderator, ethical work climate (EWC), impacts causal predictions from the model. Across two empirical studies, I find that authentic IM behavior leads to greater transformational leadership perceptions (TL perceptions) than inauthentic and pro-social IM behavior leads to greater TL perceptions than pro-self. There is no significant difference between automatic and controlled IM behavior and TL perceptions. Also, an EWC strengthens the positive effects of authentic communication on TL perceptions. Finally, I provide a cognitive explanation for the IM influence process by showing that certain IM behaviors are implicitly associated with transformational leader behaviors. I integrate my results within existing literature and explain how the model can be used in future research.

Committee: Mary Hogue (Advisor); Pratim Datta (Committee Member); Greta Polites (Committee Member); Jennifer Wiggins (Committee Member) Subjects: Behavioral Sciences; Business Administration; Management; Organizational Behavior

MA, University of Cincinnati, 2014, Arts and Sciences: Communication

This study explores the communication phenomenon of online identity management on the social network site Facebook. Using Goffman's work on identity (1959) and McCornack's Information Management Theory (1992) as a framework, college student's responses (N = 143) on a 94-item survey about Facebook use were analyzed to examine online identity management and information manipulation. Quantitative study results highlight that high Facebook users are conscious of a need to manage their online identity. Several aspects of Facebook use were important, in particular, connectivity with others, maintaining relationships, promoting a positive image, manipulation of negative image perceptions, and using Facebook to perform an online identity. Also, while low users reported less use and concern with managing an online identity on the quantitative measures--low users' open-ended responses contradicted these assertions. Overall, three qualitative themes from open-ended responses help explain several reasons why, and how, both high and low users in this sample manage an online identity on Facebook: 1) Online Social Attractiveness (i.e., promotion of a positive image online), 2) Online Social Norm Conformity (i.e., attempts to avoid a negative online image), and 3) use of Online Identity Manipulation as a strategy for filtering information to actively manage one's online identity. Both high and low Facebook users reported promotion of a positive online identity as their primary concern.

Committee: Stephen Haas Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Omotayo Banjo Ph.D. (Committee Member); Teresa Chandler Sabourin Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication

MA, Kent State University, 2010, College of Communication and Information / School of Communication Studies

With over 350 million users, Facebook is a popular social networking site individuals utilize to keep in touch with family, friends, and colleagues, yet the study of Facebook use in the workplace is still in its infancy. By employing Communication Privacy Management (CPM) theory as a theoretical framework to explore coworker Facebook friend request decisions and the antecedents that influence those very decisions. Participants most frequently accepted a coworker Facebook friend request; however, this study found that variations in coworker Facebook friend request decisions occurred due to a wide range of factors, including organizational privacy orientation, coworker communication satisfaction, intensity of Facebook use, and current Facebook privacy management practices. Both the need for impression management and impact of organizational socialization influence an individual's decisions when in receipt of a coworker Facebook friend request. The present study supports CPM theory, as results indicate the influence of privacy orientations and boundary management. This research indicates that as Facebook continues to allow the ability to blur the lines between our personal and professional lives, privacy issues and social media will continue to play a pivotal role in interactions.

Committee: Jeffrey T. Child Ph.D. (Advisor); Robyn E. Parker Ph.D. (Committee Member); Mei-Chen Lin Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Information Systems; Mass Media; Personal Relationships

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, Communication

Millions of people use social media platforms to curate digital representations of themselves through the creation of profiles and sharing images and narratives about their daily lives. Social media are also increasingly used to amplify offline prosocial causes that grow and evolve into prosocial movements. Although social media platforms have been used to bring people together in solidarity and push for change in society through causes such as #MeToo, #BoPo, and #BLM (Jackson et al., 2020), some scholars contend that social media increasingly provide venues for users to engage in performative allyship (Wellman, 2022) that prioritizes the personal interests of users rather than the social causes they purport to advance. The vast number of sources—with different agendas and messaging strategies—who exist on social media platforms can create complexities related to promoting prosocial causes authentically and effectively. The current study examines how differences in two perceived affordances—persistence and visibility—affect how women viewers evaluate the authenticity of men who post allyship messages on Instagram. Additionally, I examine how viewer perceptions of comment deletion and comment restriction impact source evaluations. Results indicate that the more women viewers found posts to be persistent, the more they rated the men who posted as authentic allies, as having prosocial reasons for posting, and as having less self-interested reasons for posting. Greater perceived visibility of posts had a similar impact on these outcome variables. Moreover, comment deletion and restriction were found to partially affect how viewers evaluated the authenticity and motives of sources, providing additional support to warranting theory (DeAndrea, 2014; Walther & Parks, 2002). Implications for promoting prosocial messaging and digital allyship online are discussed.

Committee: David DeAndrea (Advisor); Joseph Bayer (Committee Member); Teresa Lynch (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2021, Arts and Sciences: Sociology

Dating and forming romantic relationships is a complicated and often confusing process for many teenagers. However, little is known about how this process differs for queer youth. Sexuality is normatively defined as both adult and heterosexual so queer youth are of particular interest because they occupy a unique social location in which they are marginalized both because of their sexual minority status and their legal status as minors. Queer youth are claiming a sexual identity at a time in their life when they are largely dependent on heteronormative institutions and may be deemed too young, in a phase, or not fully capable of making such decisions about their lives. Thus, queer youth are navigating the world of dating with more constraints, fewer resources, and less guidance than heterosexual teens. This study examines how queer youth negotiate romantic relationships as teenagers and young adults. Data for this study come from semi-structured interviews with 27 self-identified lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and pansexual youth between the ages of 15 and 23. This study finds that queer youth use a range of strategies of concealment and disclosure to negotiate their romantic relationships online, in public, and with families. Findings suggest that romantic relationships are important sites of identity exploration and affirmation as well as sites to learn how to do queerness. Overall, romantic relationships are central to queer youth's sexual identity management and their transition to adulthood. This study helps shed light on the ways in which age and sexuality intersect with important implications for research on coming-out, strategic outness, and how queer youth exert agency within heteronormative institutions.

Committee: Annulla Linders Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Erynn Casanova (Committee Member); Danielle Bessett Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Sociology

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2021, Leadership and Change

In the first quarter of 2020, societal upheavals related to the COVID-19 pandemic included employers' work-from-home mandates and an almost overnight adoption of video meetings to replace in-person meetings no longer possible due to contagion fears and social distancing requirements. This exploratory study aimed to address, in part, the scientific knowledge gap about video meetings as a source of emotional labor. The study used mixed methods to explore three hypotheses concerning how the contemporary use of video meetings related to emotional exhaustion, stressors, and coping. Data were gathered through an online survey questionnaire. Emotional exhaustion, the dependent variable in the study, was measured using the Maslach Burnout Inventory (Schaufeli et al., 1996) General Survey emotional exhaustion subset of items. Stressors measured included surface acting, which was measured using items adapted from Grandey's (2005) scale. Coping was measured by perceptions about coping resources and cognitive coping. Socio-demographic characteristics served as control variables. Open-ended items produced data pertaining to emotional exhaustion, stressors, and coping related to video meetings. After data cleaning, the sample comprised 345 (n = 345) cross-sector professionals working for U.S.-based organizations. Findings based on a series of linear regression analyses and qualitative data thematic analysis showed video meeting hours and surface acting significantly related to a higher level of emotional exhaustion. Extrovertism, nonwork video gatherings, and social support from another adult in the home were nonsignificant in their relationships with emotional exhaustion. Perceptions that video meetings were too many for participants to accomplish their overall job responsibilities were significantly related to a higher emotional exhaustion level. Perceptions that video meetings were useful to the participant significantly related to a lower emotional exhaustion level. Perceptio (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Elizabeth Holloway PhD (Committee Chair); J. Beth Mabry PhD (Committee Member); Michael Valentine PhD (Committee Member); Emily Axelrod MSW (Other) Subjects: Behavioral Psychology; Behavioral Sciences; Business Community; Business Education; Cognitive Psychology; Communication; Management; Occupational Health; Occupational Psychology; Organizational Behavior; Personal Relationships; Social Psychology; Social Research; Social Structure; Sociology; Systems Design

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2020, Arts and Sciences: Political Science

A Pew report released in 2016 shows that Muslims are the fastest growing religious group in the United States, and Muslims are projected to overtake Jews as the largest religious minority in the US in the next two decades (Mohamed, 2016). Islam and Muslims in America continue to be contentious topics in US politics and media coverage; this increasing focus on Islam in America began with terrorist attacks in the 1990s and has only intensified since the September 11th attacks and ensuing US War on Terror (Nacos and Torres-Reyna, 2007). The Trump Administration's policies and rhetoric continue to be openly hostile to Muslim Americans, Muslim immigrants, and Muslim majority countries, and women and minorities have increasingly run for political offices in recent election cycles (CAWP Elections, 2017; Green, 2017; Hauslohner, 2017; Siddiqui and Laughland, 2017). How can pluralism strengthen in American democracy in a time of intense animosity and identity politics? My central focus in this dissertation is on understanding how Muslim Americans campaign for elected office in the United States and how the media portrays these candidates in the context of the 2018 election cycle. These questions are analyzed in the context of impression management theory (Goffman, 1959; Leary and Kowalski, 1990; Leary, 1996). My research provides new insights by bringing together existing findings from the media, gender, religion, and race and ethnicity subfields of American politics while incorporating an intersectional approach in a mixed-methods research design. Through an analysis of existing observational survey data from the American Nation Election studies, nearly 8000 tweets from ten Muslim American candidates' accounts, 835 local and national news articles covering Muslim American political candidates, interviews of five of these Muslim American candidates, and an original survey experiment I examine both how Muslim Americans participate in electoral democracy in the Trump e (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Brian Calfano Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Laura Jenkins Ph.D. (Committee Member); Nazita Lajevardi Ph.D. (Committee Member); Stephen Mockabee Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Political Science

Doctor of Education, Miami University, 2020, Educational Leadership

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the extent to which female school superintendents consciously code switch, or adjust a feature about themselves, in the workplace. The study examined the phenomenon of code switching, its use as a strategy, and the ways in which women intentionally assimilate to masculine qualities as they perform a traditionally male-dominated role. The coping mechanism of code switching includes altering presentation of self, such as outer appearance, modified speech, and displays of confidence and intelligence. In addition, the study captured the ways in which female superintendents use code switching to navigate negative perceptions which are influenced by stereotypes and implicit bias about women as leaders. Since the position of superintendent has been historically reserved for white men, the study's purpose was to better understand the realities of female leaders and describe experiences with gender bias from their perspectives. The phenomenon of code switching was studied as experienced and practiced by female public-school superintendents in Ohio during the 2019-2020 school year. Three primary data collection methods were used to develop detailed descriptions, including an electronic survey completed by 38 (of 99) practicing female superintendents, seven face-to-face in-depth interviews using a semi-structured protocol, and the researcher's field notes. The results reveal some of the power dynamics encountered by women at the intersection of gender and this educational leadership role. The phenomenon of code switching as a leadership strategy is described through quotations in regard to general contexts and specific situations. The results assemble the women's rationale for engaging in code switching and the ways in which they report using it to navigate the challenges.

Committee: Lucian Szlizewski (Committee Co-Chair); Joel Malin (Committee Co-Chair); Stephanie Baer (Committee Member) Subjects: Educational Leadership; Management; School Administration; Womens Studies

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2020, Communication

In the media, partisans are often portrayed in constant conflict and detrimental to the democratic process in the United States. If this is the case, partisans may engage in techniques to disguise their partisan affiliation, especially online. This study examines partisan identity expression through social identity theory, impression management, and willingness to self-censor. Utilizing two different samples, participants answer survey questions, read an article, then create an online profile for an imaginary discussion site. Results demonstrate that even if partisans are portrayed negatively, they will continue to identify with their party on their discussion site profile, counter to the hypotheses presented.

Committee: Robert Bond PhD (Advisor); William Eveland PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2019, Psychology/Industrial-Organizational

This study's main argument was that faking on personality tests is a function of intelligence, personality (adaptive and maladaptive), and values. I expected that highly intelligent fakers would successfully fake the job-relevant traits for the job they were either already holding (incumbents) or have been applying for (applicants). I used archival data provided by Hogan Assessment Systems, and respondents were either applicants (N=1073) or incumbents (N=793) within the managerial job family. All respondents had taken the Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI), the Hogan Development Survey (HDS), the Motives, Values, and Preferences Inventory (MVPI), and the Hogan Business Reasoning Inventory (HBRI). I used the method of mixedmodel item response theory with covariates (MMI-IRT-C) and the statistical software Latent Gold to estimate latent classes of respondents on the HPI items. To isolate the latent classes, I entered HBRI's raw scores and the assessment reason (applicants or incumbent) as covariates and used the items of each HPI's main scale as observed indicators of these classes. I extracted between two and four latent classes of respondents for each of the seven HPI main scales. Using various indicators of faking such as significantly more applicants than incumbents within a latent class, higher HPI scale scores for applicants, decreased internal reliabilities, and very low difficulty parameters, I identified and categorized three groups of respondents – honest, standard faking, and a third group which I tentatively called deceptive faking. Although the deceptive faking group represented the most intelligent respondents, their HPI main scale scores were not significantly different than honest respondents' scores, whereas standard faking respondents' scores were significantly higher than honest respondents' scores except for the Sociability scale. In terms of maladaptive personality, which was explored through the HDS, contrary to hypothesized, (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Michael Zickar Ph.D. (Advisor); Kenneth Borland Ph.D. (Other); Eric Dubow Ph.D. (Committee Member); Samuel McAbee Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Personality Psychology; Psychological Tests; Psychology

Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.), Xavier University, 2019, Psychology

Given the growing presence of social networking sites (SNSs) in the lives of adolescents, and the need for research examining the association between female adolescents' motives for managing their online self-presentations and their subjective wellbeing, the current study examined the reasons behind female adolescents' tendencies to manage their photographic self-presentations on SNSs, and the potential outcomes for their social and psychological wellbeing. Ninth- through twelfth-grade students from an all-female, Catholic, high school (N = 180; Mage = 15.86, SD = 1.22) completed questionnaires measuring their narcissism, perceived appearance-based social pressure from peers, online photographic impression management strategies, social and psychological wellbeing, and social desirability. Results revealed that greater appearance-based social pressure, but not higher levels of narcissism, was associated with more online photo impression management strategies (OPIMS). Further, more OPIMS was negatively associated with both psychological and social wellbeing. However, the relationships between OPIMS with psychological and social wellbeing were not moderated by appearance-based social pressure nor narcissism. Future research should examine female adolescents' online self-presentations, and the implications for by psychological and social wellbeing, by monitoring or coding the adolescents' actual photographs on SNSs. Such research has practical implications for the development of social media literacy programs, which could promote healthy SNS use among teenage girls.

Committee: Tammy Sonnentag PhD (Advisor); Christian End PhD (Committee Member); Jennifer Gibson PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology; Social Psychology; Technology

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2018, Arts and Sciences: Sociology

Interracial couples are a growing population in the United States. In 1967, after the Loving v. Virginia Supreme Court case ended all legal restrictions of interracial sex and marriage, just 3% of newlyweds were interracial. In 2015, approximately fifty years later, the percentage of interracially married newlyweds was more than five times that amount. This increase is even higher when non-married and non-heterosexual couples are accounted for. At the same time, the U.S. remains highly segregated by race. This means that interracial couples often move between racially homogenous settings wherein either partner is the only member of their race. Consequently, couples must navigate shifting racial meanings as they traverse racial boundaries in their everyday lives. Using in-depth interviews with 40 partners in White/non-White interracial relationships, this study examines the identity processes involved as couples navigate race and racism in interaction. Findings shed light on couples' struggle to assess how their interraciality shapes the way they are perceived by others in a highly racialized society; how White partners, who experience racial salience often for the first time, consciously manage their identity in non-White spaces; and how White partners make sense of the racism they observe from other Whites in their social worlds.

Committee: Jennifer Malat Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Littisha Bates Ph.D. (Committee Member); Sarah Mayorga-Gallo Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Sociology

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2017, Psychology/Industrial-Organizational

Faking is a well-researched topic in the field of Industrial and Organizational psychology, especially with regard to personality measures. However, faking in the employment interview has not been researched to the same extent. The current study aims to contribute to this relatively limited area of research by investigating the predictors and outcomes of applicant faking in the employment interview. Faking behavior in other aspects of the application process were also examined. Participants (final N=134) completed three surveys, with one-week lags between each survey. This study found that participants who scored high on measures of Machiavellianism, Competitive Worldview (CW), Neuroticism, and status seeking were more likely to fake in the employment interview and in general. A relative weights analysis identified Machiavellianism and CW as the most important predictors of faking. In addition, faking behavior was found to predict both Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) and Counterproductive Work Behavior (CWB). Faking predicted CWB above and beyond predictor variables, which suggests that faking and CWB are two related but separate events that occur throughout the selection and employment process. Implications for both theory and practice, as well as study limitations, are also discussed.

Committee: Margaret Brooks PhD (Advisor); Scott Highhouse PhD (Committee Member); William O'Brien PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Occupational Psychology; Psychology

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2016, Journalism (Communication)

In this thesis, impression management is investigated in the context of a mixed model dating or an online matchmaking followed by face-to-face interactions. Employing the bogus pipeline technique, in a controlled laboratory experiment designed to compare reports about oneself, participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: either believing that one's information will later be verified by a second party (bogus pipeline condition) or not being made to believe that (control condition). All participants were asked to complete an online dating profile questionnaire where their personal information, such as height and weight was required. Comparing data between the two conditions, a statistically significant difference in reported Body Mass Index (BMI) was found between the groups. That finding suggests that the bogus pipeline procedure employed evoked comparatively significantly more veridical information from participants in that condition, with respect to the control condition. Such results illustrate the potential effects of online daters' anticipation of meeting offline in providing more empirically validated information to online dating websites. A hypothesis of perceived future expectancy disconfirmation, which would lead others to be dissatisfied if one creates expectations that will not be met, together with the desire to be honest as well as to be accepted in a romantic relationship predicts and explains the findings.

Committee: Wagner Carson (Committee Chair); Sweeney Michael (Committee Member); Daniels Tom (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2015, Psychology/Industrial-Organizational

This study looked at how subordinates' impression management behaviors would influence supervisor perceptions of subordinates' warmth and competence, using gender as a potential moderator. To compare with impression management in western culture that typically intends to look better, we examined how Chinese supervisors viewed subordinates when subordinates intentionally impression managed to look worse than they actually were. Results showed that, whereas acting modestly were significantly and positively related with supervisor ratings of both warmth and competence, acting as a supplicant had a significantly negative effect on supervisor rating of warmth and competence. In addition, whereas modesty contributed more to predict competence evaluation, supplication contributed more to the prediction of warmth evaluation. However, gender did not show significant moderating effect on these relationships. Our research provided a unique perspective to consider impression management behaviors along with the specific cultural norms and values.

Committee: Scott Highhouse (Committee Chair); Matthews Russell (Committee Member); John Tisak (Committee Member) Subjects: Organizational Behavior; Psychology

Master of Arts in Psychology, Cleveland State University, 2014, College of Sciences and Health Professions

Over 40 years of research into the patient-physician interaction during medical interviews has yielded inconsistent results in explaining the differences in health reporting. While there have been numerous reasons for investigation, patient-centered care aspects of physician communication style and patient preference have been cited as the most significant in explaining treatment adherence by patients and patient outcome satisfaction. Emotional arousal during the medical interview has been suggested to be a major factor in these outcomes, which indicates that aspects of social desirability and other impression management scales may provide a new foundation for studying the medical interview. One hundred thirty-nine participants were recruited to complete an online survey in person that consisted of: watching a one minute video of a physician introducing the study, completing an abbreviated health history questionnaire, as well as a series of socially-themed surveys. Results indicated that self-monitoring did not play a role in health reporting. Future directions, such as the need for a more immersive environment, are discussed.

Committee: Stephen Slane Ph.D. (Advisor); Lisa Gaynier MA, CDP (Committee Member); Conor McLennan Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Health Care; Psychology; Social Psychology

Master of Arts in Psychology, Cleveland State University, 2014, College of Sciences and Health Professions

This study examined 200 personal statements of male, female, White, and African-American law school applicants to better understand how applicants use impression management to gain admission to law school. Data showed significant differences in how males compared to females and Whites compared to African-Americans use impression management in their law school personal statements. The research found African-Americans discussed personal motivation more often than did White applicants. White females and African-American males more frequently utilized conditions of motivation, gender or race, and personal story to demonstrate their capability to succeed in law school despite generally lower academic indicators. Females had more experience in the law than males. Males discussed red flags and used name dropping significantly more than females. In order to avoid missed opportunities for minority law school applicants to “sell themselves” to admission officers, law school admission offices, pre-law advisors, and the legal profession must clearly state what factors beyond the Law School Admission Test and undergraduate grade point average are necessary to be successful in law school.

Committee: Stephen Slane Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Victoria Winbush Ph.D. (Committee Member); Christopher Sagers J.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Law; Legal Studies; Psychology

MA, Kent State University, 2014, College of Communication and Information / School of Media and Journalism

This thesis describes the results of research conducted to explore whether the well-established types of motives in uses and gratifications theory can be expanded, especially in the study of social media, to incorporate motives gleaned from other theories, specifically impression management or self-presentation theory. The research conducted explored whether motives drawn from impression management theory and from uses and gratification theory can be identified among individuals writing personal and professional blogs, how bloggers articulate their motives for blogging and whether different motives might obtain for each.

Committee: Danielle Sarver-Coombs Ph.D. (Committee Chair) Subjects: Communication

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2014, Communication

The convergence of mass media and interpersonal media has brought enhanced opportunities for people to share media with each other. The ability to rate and recommend media, see what others are consuming and evaluating, and make public displays of personal tastes all suggest that social influences on the selection and use of media content are more important than ever. This study examines how social factors in new media environments impact selective exposure to media. Both the situational influence of impression management when sharing is anticipated as well as one's willingness to comply with norms regarding media use are examined as possible explanations for selective exposure to media that is variably prestigious and popular. An experiment was conducted in which the anticipation of sharing a video with computer-mediated others was induced. Participants' actual media use behavior was unobtrusively measured in the lab, to examine their selectivity toward videos on a website. The results indicated that indicators of prestige and popularity both had positive influences on selective exposure. Furthermore, anticipation of sharing one's taste with others led to more viewing of highly popular videos and less viewing of moderately popular videos. Exposure to highly prestigious videos was greater when individuals had more positive attitudes toward sharing, but was lower when willingness to comply with norms was high. Moderating effects of need for cognition and enjoyment were found, which showed less exposure to moderately popular videos and more exposure to highly popular videos.

Committee: Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick (Advisor); David Ewoldsen (Committee Member); Daniel McDonald (Committee Member); Brandon Van Der Heide (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Experiments; Information Science; Mass Communications; Mass Media; Motion Pictures; Multimedia Communications; Social Psychology; Web Studies

Master of Arts (M.A.), University of Dayton, 2013, Psychology, Clinical

The widespread use of social network websites has made risky online behaviors salient to friends, family, officials, and potential employers. The present study was undertaken to investigate the potential of self-disclosure patterns, psychopathological personality characteristics, gender, and risky behaviors in the ethical, social, and health and safety domains to predict risky online behaviors. The Online Risky Behavior Questionnaire was developed to assess the amount of risky behavior online by 102 male and 73 female participants. Results of this study indicate that men are more likely than women to endorse engaging in risky behaviors online. For both men and women, taking ethical and health/safety risks, self-disclosing with more depth, and engaging in less impression management predicted risky online behaviors. However, for men, another predictor was antisocial personality characteristics. Women in the study were more likely to engage in impression management than were men. Women who were more likely to intend to self-disclose were also more likely to engage in risky social behaviors. New venues for social interactions offer the opportunities for new patterns of self-disclosure and risk-taking behaviors, and it is important for the psychological sciences to keep pace with the technological developments that inform our understanding of social behaviors. It is, therefore, suggested that future studies investigate the links between self-disclosure, socially-desirable reporting, gender differences, and risky online behaviors.

Committee: Susan Davis Ph.D. (Advisor); Lee Dixon Ph.D. (Committee Member); Melissa Layman-Guadalupe Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Personality; Psychology; Social Psychology; Social Research; Technology