Mirror, Mirror on the Wall...Who Has the Fairest Self-Esteem of All?

       
     Amy Gonzales and Jeffrey Hancock’s research article Mirror, Mirror on my Facebook Wall: Effects of Exposure to Facebook on Self Esteem (2011), analyzes that past studies on self-esteem and internet usage, both positive and negative, may be affected differently by social media sites such as Facebook. Gonzales and Hancock support their claim by studying objective self-awareness and the Hyper-personal Model, as well as performing a study to prove which hypothesis is correct. Gonzales and Hancock’s purpose in this study is to figure out how Facebook affects self-esteem in order to confirm which hypothesis is correct and how the internet affects one’s psychological health. The intended audience is internet users, as well as parents who allow their children to use Facebook.      

     The study proved that Facebook does not have a negative effect on self-esteem, but the study did not fully examine all of the possibilities involved with Facebook usage. First and foremost, the study was a one-time basis and did not take into consideration long-term use of Facebook. The study also failed to recognize the amount of friends each participant had, which may or may not affect the outcome of the study. As Gonzales and Hancock state “We cannot rule out the possibility that reminders of one’s social connections are partially responsible for the increase in self-esteem (201).” Although these mistakes were made, this does create a new avenue to be fully discovered and encourages further research. 

     Gonzales and Hancock start out presenting two different theories on how one’s self-esteem is affected by the use of Facebook. The earlier experiments of objective self- awareness proved that participants felt an urge to view themselves as others do, which led to decreases in self-esteem from use of pro-social behavior. Secondly, the selective self-presentation theory proved the internet gives its users the ability to carefully select what information they want public, which in return creates positive self-esteem. Since both theories oppose each other, which one is actually correct?
      
     To find the answers, a Northeastern university assembled a study. The study included sixteen males and forty-seven females and consisted of measuring self-esteem, which was measured by the Rosenburg Self-Esteem scale, and behaviors, which was measured through a series of closed ended questions. The test results on objective self-awareness were found not significant. However, the results on selective self-presentation proved significant, showing not only did selective self-presentation positively affect one’s self esteem, but significance was also found by those who edited their own profile during the study and those who viewed only their profile. Another interesting find correlates those who exited out of their Facebook profiles during the study with lower self-esteems. These findings prove that Facebook provides its users with a new avenue to question their own current psychological processes through selective self-presentation.