Instagram's Impact on Mental Health: Self-Presentation, Self-Enhancement, and Social Ident, Thesis of Financial Accounting

Download Instagram's Impact on Mental Health: Self-Presentation, Self-Enhancement, and Social Ident and more Thesis Financial Accounting in PDF only on Docsity! Instagram and the Social Self College Name, Grand Canyon University PSY 362 1 Instagram and the Social Self Instagram is a social media site where individuals are able to share photos and videos. Users have the ability to follow, like, share, and comment on the profiles and content of others. Instagram is often used for self enhancement. Self enhancement is the need and want to keep, improve, or protect one’s positive self-views (Chu, et al., 2019).Many individuals also use Instagram for self-verification. Self-verification is a theory in which people seek out stable, personally correct beliefs about one’s self (“Negative Self Verification Theory,” 2006).Self- verification gives individuals a sense of consistency and solidarity. People tend to use Instagram for these purposes because they are motivated to view themselves in a positive manner. Posting and Self Presentation Instagram is all about how an individual presents him/herself. Self-presentation is what individuals do when they present the person that they with others would believe that they are ("Self-presentation," 2017). People do this as a way to control how others view them. After evaluating multiple Instagram accounts and posts, it appears as though individuals often present the best versions of themselves on this site. People often pick a characteristic as a theme for their account that they want others to believe strongest about them, and then post content related to that theme. Some individuals want to be viewed as athletic, so they present themselves by posting videos of workout routines and photos of healthy foods. Other individuals want to be viewed as wealthy, so they present themselves by posting videos of exotic locations and photos of designer bags and shoes. The motive behind this self-presentation that is most evident on Instagram is self-enhancement. Individuals tend to provide the best version of themselves on Instagram to present the idea that they are better than they may actually be. Another examples of where this is present on Instagram is cooking accounts, that show the best of what is cooked or 2