The effects of social media use on relationship ideals, satisfaction, and commitment

项目背景和目标：决定投资于与另一个人的亲密关系可能很困难，尽管意识到亲密的友谊或浪漫的伙伴关系在某些时候需要有意的投资。然而，如果投资不足，可能会导致肤浅的社会关系、社会孤立感，最终导致心理健康问题。然而，人们对指导人们关系投资决策(RID)的心理模型知之甚少。鉴于最近有报道称，许多年轻人(YA)错过了生活中有意义的关系，这种缺乏理解的情况尤其令人担忧。YA的社交孤立感在热心的社交媒体(SM)用户中特别高，但这个链接的方向性亟需澄清：频繁使用SM是否会增加社交孤立(无论是线上还是线下)，还是只是感觉孤立的年轻人更多地使用SM？当前的博士项目旨在解决这一重要问题。项目方法、新颖性和影响：一系列实验将检验频繁使用SM对YA有效RID的心理影响。他们的设计将借鉴当代印象形成、社会规范获取和关系维持的模式。通过这样做，他们将获得关于SM上常见的高(与低)暴露于其他人渴望的社交照片的影响的新的定性和定量数据。这些数据将通过自发地将自己的(有缺陷的)关系与其他人的(看似“完美的”)关系进行比较，来探讨见证他人积极社交接触的照片是否以及如何影响YA自己的关系满意度、关系投资和主观幸福感。这项工作有望揭示一种机制，解释SM的使用与社会孤立感之间的联系。它还为进一步研究提供了一个起点(例如，谁受这些比较的影响最大？)，包括可能有助于为YA接种不切实际的社会期望和无效的RID的干预措施。项目与EPSRC战略的一致性：该项目属于ESPRC主题“数字经济”，主题是“数字技术的使用如何能够促进一个[……]包容性社会”，并应让“用户参与[……]推动解决现实世界问题的研究”。根据这些优先事项，该项目调查了SM的典型用户如何受到普通SM内容(尤其是关系展示)的影响，旨在提供洞察，了解基于人们对数字技术的参与，社交孤立感是如何增长(或缩小)的。在许多当代社会，如英国，年轻人报告说社交孤立感越来越强。这种情绪在热心的社交媒体用户中尤为强烈，但这种联系的来源和方向性尚不清楚。因此，目前的博士项目旨在采用一种实验性的方法来仔细研究社交媒体使用对社交孤立(相对于联系)的感觉和体验的心理影响。借鉴当代社会印象形成和依恋理论的模型，该项目将专门研究在Facebook和Instagramm上普遍传播的涉及熟悉和陌生他人的过度积极的关系展示的高(低)暴露程度如何影响年轻人自己的关系理想、满足感、承诺和投资。要做到这一点，它将主要借鉴行为科学的实验技术。通过仔细研究社交媒体的使用如何有利于(或阻碍)典型社交媒体用户之间亲密关系的形成和维持，该项目属于ESPRC的主题：数字经济，该主题针对的是“数字技术的使用如何能够为包容性社会做出贡献”，并将涉及“用户推动针对现实世界的研究”

Project Context and Objective: Deciding to invest in a close relationship with another person can be difficult despite the realization that close friendships or romantic partnerships require intentional investment at some point. Failure to invest sufficiently, however, can lead to superficial social connections, feelings of social isolation and, ultimately, mental health problems. Nevertheless, little is understood about the mental models that guide people's relationship investment decisions (RID). This lack of understanding is particularly worrisome in light of recent reports that many young adults (YA) miss meaningful relationships in their lives. Feelings of social isolation among YA are particularly high in ardent social media (SM) users, but the directionality of this link requires urgent clarification: Can frequent use of SM increase social isolation (both online and offline) or do young adults who feel isolated simply use SM more? The current PhD project aims to address this important question.Project Methodology, Novelty, and Impact: A series of experiments will examine the psychological effects of frequent SM use on effective RID in YA. Their design will draw on contemporary models of impression formation, social norm acquisition, and relationship maintenance. In doing so, they will obtain novel qualitative and quantitative data on the effects of high (vs. low) exposure to other people's aspirational social photographs as commonly shared on SM. These data will address whether and how witnessing photographs of other people's positive social encounters affects YA' own relationship satisfaction, relationship investment, and subjective well-being via spontaneous comparisons of their own ('flawed') relationships against other people's (seemingly 'flawless') relationships. The work promises to uncover a mechanism explaining the link between SM use and feelings of social isolation. It also offers a starting point for further research (e.g., Who is most affected by these comparisons?), including for interventions that may help to inoculate YA against unrealistic social expectations and ineffective RID.Project Alignment with EPSRC Strategy: The project falls under the ESPRC Theme 'Digital Economy', which addresses "how the use of digital technologies can contribute to an [...] inclusive society" and shall involve "users in [...] driving research that addresses real world problems". In line with these priorities, the project examines how typical users of SM are affected by common SM content (especially relationship displays), aiming to provide insights into how feelings of social isolation can grow (or shrink) based on people's involvement with digital technology.In many contemporary societies such as the United Kingdom, young adults report increasing feelings of social isolation. Such feelings are particularly high in ardent social media users, but the origin and directionality of this link remains unclear. The current PhD project therefore aims to adopt an experimental approach to scrutinize the psychological impact of social media use on feelings and experiences of social isolation (versus connectedness). Drawing on contemporary models of social impression formation and attachment theory, the project will specifically examine how high (vs. low) exposure to overly positive relationship displays involving familiar and unfamiliar others (as commonly distributed on Facebook and Instagramm) affects young adults' own relationship ideals, satisfaction, commitment, and investment. To do so, it will primarily draw on experimental techniques from behavioural science. By scrutinizing how social media use can benefit (or hinder) close relationship formation and maintenance in typical social media users the project falls under the ESPRC theme 'Digital Economy', which addresses "how the use of digital technologies can contribute to an inclusive society" and shall involve "users in driving research that addresses real world