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Talk the Talk, Walk the Walk: Connecting Online Activity with Offline Activism

Arielle A. Haddad – Woodbury University, Burbank

Results

•  2 x 2 mixed factorial multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) revealed no significance, F (3, 75) = 1.337, p = .269, Pillai’s Trace = .051

•  Significant difference between Conditions (experimental or control) X Likelihood to post on social media (t83 = -2.806, p = .006, 95% CI [-1.310, -.223])

•  Significant difference between Amount of time spent on social media (< 2 hours = “low use,” > 2 hours = “high use”) X Likelihood to post on social media (t79 = 2.913, p = .005, 95% CI [.253, 1.347])

Hypothesis Participants in experimental who use social media more will be more likely to post on social media about a social/political cause, go out and volunteer, and will have higher Total Volunteerism-Activism scores

Method •  Participants: N = 85 (52% male, 46%

female, 2% declined to answer) •  Watch video on world hunger or duct

tape •  Social media campaign or volunteer sign

up sheet •  Complete social media use habits survey

– frequency of social media use, likelihood of posting about social/political issues on social media or likelihood to volunteer

•  Bales Volunteerism-Activism Scale – 5-point Likert scale

Introduction •  Grievances towards a socio-political cause and

cynicism due to the inequality and injustice of an event are two of the biggest motivators found in the psychology of protest (van Stekelenburg, 2013)

•  People change their minds due to declining interest during a campaign, feelings of there being barriers to take action, and growing indifference by others (Oegema & Klandermans, 1994).

•  Social media is a perfect platform for self-report; limited by how people cultivate their image on social media and their motivation sharing information on social media (Park et al., 2014).

•  Research has shown that people often are not aware of the influence of priming events on their behavior, leading to people being more easily influenced when it comes to social behavior and stereotypes (Bargh, Chen, & Burrows, 1996)

References •  Bargh, J. A., Chen, M., & Burrows, L. (1996). Automaticity of social behavior: Direct effects of trait

constructs and stereotype activation on action. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 230-244. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.71.2.230

•  Brewer, M. B. (1991). The social self: On being the same and different at the same time. PSPB, 17, 475-482. doi: 10.1177/0146167291175001

•  Oegema, D. & Klandermans, B. (1994). Why social movement sympathizers don't participate: Erosion and nonconversion of support. American Sociological Review, 58, 703-722.

•  Park, G., Schwartz, H. A., Eichstaedt, J. C., Kern, M. L., Kosinski, M., Stillwell, D. J., Ungar, L. H., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2014). Automatic personality assessment through social media language. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 108, 934-952. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000020

•  van Stekelenburg, J. (2013). The political psychology of protest: Sacrificing for a cause. European Psychologist, 18, 224-234. doi: 10.1027/1016-9040/a000156

Table 2. Differences in likelihood to post on social media about a social/political cause, likelihood to volunteer for a social/political cause, and Total Volunteerism-Activism scores in participants who have low versus high social media use

Observed Participant Outcomes

Mean percentage (SD)

t p 95% CI Effect size (Cohen’s d) Low SM

Use N = 45

High SM Use N = 36

Likelihood to post on social media 3.69 (1.3) 2.89 (1.1) 2.91 .005 [.253, 1.34] .65

Likelihood to volunteer 3.76 (1.0) 3.31 (1.2) 1.78 .077 [-.051, .951] .39

Total Volunteerism-Activism Score

71.0 (5.8) 70.6 (6.8) .288 .774 [-2.39 3.20] .06

Table 1. Differences in likelihood to post on social media about a social/political cause, likelihood to volunteer for a social/political cause, and Total Volunteerism-Activism scores in the experimental versus control group

Observed Participant Outcomes

Mean percentage (SD)

t p 95% CI

Effect size

(Cohen’s d)

Experi. N = 45

Control N = 40

Likelihood to post on social media 2.93 (1.2) 3.70 (1.2) -2.06 .006 [-1.31, -.223] -.61

Likelihood to volunteer 3.40 (1.2) 3.80 (1.0) -1.60 .112 [-.896, .096] -.32

Total Volunteerism-Activism Score 71.5 (6.4) 70.4 (6.6) .825 .412 [-1.66, 4.01] .17

Discussion •  Amount of time spent on social media showed

significant differences between the likelihood of posting about a cause on social media, but made no significant difference on the likelihood to volunteer or Total Volunteerism-Activism scores

•  Priming did not affect their general attitudes toward volunteering and activism

•  Participants in the experimental group who watched the UNICEF video about world hunger were more likely to post on social media than participants who viewed the video about breaking out of duct tape, but both groups were unlikely to go out and volunteer regardless of what video they were shown

•  Limitations

•  Sample size: more is better. •  Find more measures in motivation •  Research into social media is limited

due to fast growth

Contact Me For more information on my thesis project, contact me at haddadarielle@gmail.com