People come to know themselves in large part by observing others’ reactions to them when engaged in face-to-face social interaction. The popularity of and reliance on social media (e.g., Facebook) for social connection interferes with the self-knowledge process. This interference is compounded, further, by the tendency for people to pose as who they wish to be but are not (Wright, White, & Obst, 2018). Others’ reactions to them as a source of self-knowledge is based, then, on an idealized presentation, and social feedback on this idealized presentation can have little self-knowledge value.

Submit 3 pages, excluding title page and reference page:

• What implications does the pressure of presenting an ideal self on social media have in terms of how people use introspection, self-observation, and other people’s reactions to know themselves?
• If relying on social media for social connection fails to provide useful information for developing an authentic self, then how confident might a person be when meeting new people face-to-face?
• What information about how others perceive you might you need but do not get when relying on social media for social connection?
• Your arguments and conclusions must be supported by social psychology theory and research.

References (if you choose)

Riyanto, Y. E., & Zhang, J. (2016). Putting a price tag on others’ perceptions of us. EXPERIMENTAL ECONOMICS, 19(2), 480–499.

Steven, F., & Steven J., S. (1997). Prejudice as Self-Image Maintenance: Affirming the Self Through Derogating Others. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, (1), 31.