- Here we propose that these sites’ [e.g., Facebook] popularity can be understood through the fulfillment of ego needs. We use self-affirmation theory to hypothesize why and when people spend time on their online profiles.
- Study 1 shows that Facebook profiles are self-affirming in the sense of satisfying users’ need for self-worth and self-integrity.
- Study 2 shows that Facebook users gravitate toward their online profiles after receiving a blow to the ego, in an unconscious effort to repair their perceptions of self-worth
- [These]… results provide an important extension to self-affirmation theory by clarifying how self-affirmation operates in people’s everyday environments.For some reason I am reminded of of this T-Shirt:
Fun Finding: Facebook As Way To Repair Perceptions of Self-Worth
Self-Affirmation Underlies Facebook Use (Toma & Hancock, 2013)
