Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Publication Date
Spring 5-15-2020
Journal
Undergraduate Honours Theses
Abstract
The social networking site, Instagram, made the decision to hide publicly viewable “likes” from users in Canada in the Spring of 2019. The current study was designed to examine whether levels of trait narcissism and peer attachment anxiety in adolescence predict satisfaction with the decision to hide publicly viewable likes on Instagram and authenticity in Instagram use since the implementation of this decision. Participants (21.7% male, 78.3% female, M = 1.78, SD = .41) first completed The Narcissistic Personality Inventory for Children, then The Peers Attachment Scale, followed by scales I created to measure satisfaction with, authenticity of, and use of Instagram. Satisfaction was defined as viewing the decision to remove publicly viewable likes positively, and authenticity was viewed as the likelihood of posting content without the specific aim of gaining “likes”. Trait narcissism and peer attachment anxiety were not found to be significant predictors of satisfaction or authenticity. Gender was found to be a significant predictor of satisfaction with the Instagram decision, with females reporting more satisfaction than males. Frequency of Instagram use was found to be a significant predictor of authenticity, with higher reported use positively correlated with reporting greater authenticity. Further, even though the average participant did not use Instagram with less frequency since the decision by Instagram was implemented, participants, overall, tended to report low satisfaction with the decision to hide likes on Instagram and that it did not increase their authenticity of Instagram use.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Notes
Thesis Advisor(s):
Advisor: Dr. Tara Dumas;
Second reader: Dr. Mark Cole