{"title":"Not all #complaints are equally contagious: an Instagram experiment.","authors":"Cleoputri Yusainy, Ika Fitria, Thoyyibatus Sarirah, Wahyu Wicaksono, Adjie Santosoputro","doi":"10.1080/00221309.2023.2182268","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Instagram has been perceived as the least appropriate platform to express negativity online, yet the number of posts tagged under #complain, #complaint, #complaints, and #complaining are increasing. We conducted a controlled web-based experiment to examine the extent to which exposure to other's quotes of complaints contributed to increased similarity in emotions for the audience (i.e., digital emotion contagion). Participants (<i>n</i> = 591 Instagram users in Indonesia; 82.23% females; <i>M</i>age = 28.06, <i>SD</i> = 6.39) were randomly assigned to exposure of complaint quotes containing seven basic emotions. We found that exposure to three of the five complaint quotes (i.e., anger, disgust, and sadness) induced similar emotions in the participants while the two other complaint quotes (i.e., fear and anxiety) induced overlapping emotions, but a non-complaint quote (i.e., desire and satisfaction) induced alternative emotions. Taken together, digital emotion contagion was likely produced by exposure to complaint quotes, while exposure to non-complaint quotes induced different, possibly complementary-like, emotions. Although these findings should be considered as a snapshot of the complex emotional dynamics online, it highlights that exposure to simple Instagram quotes has the potential to go beyond mere contagion.</p>","PeriodicalId":47581,"journal":{"name":"Journal of General Psychology","volume":" ","pages":"63-75"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of General Psychology","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/00221309.2023.2182268","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2023/2/27 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Instagram has been perceived as the least appropriate platform to express negativity online, yet the number of posts tagged under #complain, #complaint, #complaints, and #complaining are increasing. We conducted a controlled web-based experiment to examine the extent to which exposure to other's quotes of complaints contributed to increased similarity in emotions for the audience (i.e., digital emotion contagion). Participants (n = 591 Instagram users in Indonesia; 82.23% females; Mage = 28.06, SD = 6.39) were randomly assigned to exposure of complaint quotes containing seven basic emotions. We found that exposure to three of the five complaint quotes (i.e., anger, disgust, and sadness) induced similar emotions in the participants while the two other complaint quotes (i.e., fear and anxiety) induced overlapping emotions, but a non-complaint quote (i.e., desire and satisfaction) induced alternative emotions. Taken together, digital emotion contagion was likely produced by exposure to complaint quotes, while exposure to non-complaint quotes induced different, possibly complementary-like, emotions. Although these findings should be considered as a snapshot of the complex emotional dynamics online, it highlights that exposure to simple Instagram quotes has the potential to go beyond mere contagion.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of General Psychology publishes human and animal research reflecting various methodological approaches in all areas of experimental psychology. It covers traditional topics such as physiological and comparative psychology, sensation, perception, learning, and motivation, as well as more diverse topics such as cognition, memory, language, aging, and substance abuse, or mathematical, statistical, methodological, and other theoretical investigations. The journal especially features studies that establish functional relationships, involve a series of integrated experiments, or contribute to the development of new theoretical insights or practical applications.