Personality, opinion strength, and social media use - not such a straightforward relationship.

IF 1.6 4区心理学 Q1 PSYCHOLOGY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY

Australian Journal of Psychology Pub Date : 2025-01-20 eCollection Date: 2025-01-01 DOI:10.1080/00049530.2025.2451156

Melissa Cox, Bernadine Cocks, Susan E Watt, Elizabeth C Temple

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Objective: This study investigated the link between personality, opinions on social and political issues, and social media use, as well as the moderating effects of social media use on the relationship between personality and those opinions. Past research suggests that personality, opinion direction (i.e. favourability of an issue), and social media use are inter-related. However, the relationship between personality and opinion strength (i.e. how extreme an opinion is disregarding favourability), and potential moderating effects of social media use on that relationship have yet to be investigated.

Method: Participants (N = 536) completed surveys measuring social media usage, personality, and opinions on various social issues.

Results: Several personality traits predicted opinion direction or strength on at least one social issue. When all social issues were combined to measure overall progressive opinions, openness and extraversion predicted opinion direction, and openness predicted opinion strength. Time spent on social media significantly predicted direction of opinions on several issues, as well as strength of opinion on the issue of gender equality, however it did not moderate any relationship between personality and opinion direction or strength.

Conclusions: Although opinions, personality, and social media use are sometimes related, individuals high or low in particular personality traits are at no greater risk of polarising due to social media use than anyone else.

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个性、观点力量和社交媒体的使用——并不是一个直截了当的关系。

目的：研究人格、社会政治观点和社交媒体使用之间的联系，以及社交媒体使用对人格和这些观点之间关系的调节作用。过去的研究表明，个性、舆论导向（即对某一问题的好感度）和社交媒体的使用是相互关联的。然而，个性和意见强度之间的关系（即，一种观点在忽视有利因素的情况下有多极端），以及社交媒体使用对这种关系的潜在调节作用，尚未得到调查。方法：参与者（N = 536）完成了关于社交媒体使用、个性和对各种社会问题的看法的调查。结果：几个人格特征预测了至少一个社会问题的意见方向或力量。当所有社会问题结合起来衡量整体进步意见时，开放性和外向性预测意见方向，开放性预测意见强度。在社交媒体上花费的时间显著预测了对几个问题的意见方向，以及对性别平等问题的意见强度，但它并没有调节个性与意见方向或强度之间的任何关系。结论：虽然观点、个性和社交媒体的使用有时是相关的，但特定个性特征高或低的个体由于社交媒体的使用而出现两极分化的风险并不比其他人高。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Australian Journal of Psychology PSYCHOLOGY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY-

CiteScore

5.50

自引率

0.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： Australian Journal of Psychology is the premier scientific journal of the Australian Psychological Society. It covers the entire spectrum of psychological research and receives articles on all topics within the broad scope of the discipline. The journal publishes high quality peer-reviewed articles with reviewers and associate editors providing detailed assistance to authors to reach publication. The journal publishes reports of experimental and survey studies, including reports of qualitative investigations, on pure and applied topics in the field of psychology. Articles on clinical psychology or on the professional concerns of applied psychology should be submitted to our sister journals, Australian Psychologist or Clinical Psychologist. The journal publishes occasional reviews of specific topics, theoretical pieces and commentaries on methodological issues. There are also solicited book reviews and comments Annual special issues devoted to a single topic, and guest edited by a specialist editor, are published. The journal regards itself as international in vision and will accept submissions from psychologists in all countries.