According to a new study, Facebook profiles help boost people's self esteem and make them feel good about themselves.
A new study reveals that Facebook makes a person feel good about himself as it offers him a platform to display his personal characteristics and flaunt relationships that are close to him.
According to a Cornell University communication expert, people who have their egos hurt, automatically visit their Facebook profiles to feel good about themselves and boost their self-esteem.
"The conventional wisdom is that Facebook use is merely a time sink and leads to an assortment of negative consequences. But our research shows that it can be a psychologically meaningful activity that supplies a sense of well-being at a relatively deep level," said co-author Jeff Hancock, Cornell professor of communication, and of computer and information science. "The extraordinary amount of time people spend on Facebook may be a reflection of its ability to satisfy ego needs that are fundamental to the human condition."
For the study, 88 undergraduates were asked to give a brief speech. After delivering their speeches, the participants were asked to wait for feedback. During their waiting period they were allowed to check either their own or someone else's profile on Facebook.
After a while, these participants received feedback, which were all negative, irrespective of how they delivered their speech. Researchers found that the people who looked at their own Facebook profile were less defensive about the negative feedback than people who looked into someone else's profile.
A second part of the study included giving these participants either negative or positive feedback about their speech. After receiving their feedback, participants were asked to browse through the Internet. They were given an option of either visiting their own Facebook profile or browsing through other websites like YouTube. It was found that most of the people who received negative feedback chose visiting their Facebook profile.
According to Hancock, this new discovery could be used strategically by the social networking site to apply self-affirmation interventions, such as those aimed at decreasing young adults' resistance to anti-smoking messages.
The findings of this study were published in the March 2013 edition of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.
