Personality traits and their effect on Facebook user habits
Date
2016
Authors
Johnson, Chance William Garrett, author
Plaisance, Patrick, advisor
Switzer, Jamie, committee member
Marx, Nick, committee member
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Abstract
A survey, conducted in cooperation with faculty and staff at Colorado State University, was conducted with CSU undergraduates (n = 125) to explore how personality traits affect Facebook use and levels of self-disclosure among users. The intent was to explain why individuals partake in certain activities, and at what levels they engage in self-disclosure on Facebook based on their personality traits and gender. This study employed the Big Five Personality Test and the Narcissistic Personality Inventory in the first part of a survey to test the levels of the personality traits narcissism, extroversion, openness to experience, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and neuroticism. The second half of the survey asked a variety of questions listed as scaled items concerning Facebook activities having to do with self-disclosure, and at what levels the participants engage in each activity. While the personality traits observed were unable to predict the participants’ motivations for Facebook use and levels of self-disclosure in a statistically significant manner, this study confirmed that gender was a significant predictor of whether females or males engage in a certain activity more often, and at what level. These results were used to re-examine recommendations from past theoretical literature about how to predict Facebook behavior based on personality traits.
Description
Zip file contains participant letter and survey.