Article

Would you post that picture and let your dad see it? Culture, honor, and Facebook: Culture, honor, and Facebook

Authors:
To read the full-text of this research, you can request a copy directly from the authors.

Abstract

Honor means " high respect; esteem, " but it has different associations for different cultures. In honor cultures (Turkey), esteem depends on one's own perception of self-worth and on other people's opinions. In those cultures, honor is easily lost and difficult to regain. In dignity cultures (northern America), esteem mainly depends on the individual and cannot be taken away by others. One way to lose honor in Turkey is through behaviors that may be seen as " potentially improper. " Thus, we expected that posting pictures of such behaviors on Facebook (e.g., at a party; with one's boyfriend/girlfriend) and letting others see them would be less likely in Turkey than in the northern United States. Moreover, we investigated whether honor endorsement was the reason for this difference. We examined participants' posting intentions and actual Facebook behaviors. As expected, Turkish participants were less willing to post and let others (especially their relatives) see their potentially improper pictures compared with northern Americans. Moreover, honor endorsement negatively predicted the willingness to post such pictures only in Turkey, especially for women. This suggests that in honor cultures, the concern for losing honor could be the underlying reason for avoiding social media postings that could be potentially perceived as improper.

No full-text available

Request Full-text Paper PDF

To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.

... In constructing their online identities, as Pearce and Vitak (2016) state, they need to calculate the costs and benefits through the use of privacy settings and paying close attention to the social codes prevailing in their environments. This includes careful self-monitoring and limiting their sharing on social media in accordance with the honor-culture aspect of their societies (Günsoy et al., 2015;Waltorp, 2015). This active detachment of themselves from the public on social media platforms that are accessible to anyone could also result in diminishing patriarchal and religious domination over these women while creating their own public image. ...
... For this reason, they all worked hard to control their (in)visibility on the Internet. As in the cases researched by Günsoy et al. (2015), Waltorp (2015), and Salam (2020) based in honor culture settings, my participants invested considerable efforts in self-monitoring and censoring themselves to avoid posting anything online that could possibly harm their reputation. For instance, Nazan said she had been very upset when she learned that her neighbor did not want her own husband to talk to Nazan because she is divorced. ...
Article
Full-text available
Studies examining the self-branding efforts of women producers of online content have proliferated in recent years. Typically focused on the production of content by young, white, and highly educated middle-class women in the West, such scholarship has predominantly conceptualized women’s online self-branding as a function of neo-liberal and postfeminist values centered around notions of “commodified femininity” and “mediated intimacy” along with consumerism and individualism. In contrast, this article examines the sociocultural values underlying the self-branding practices of Turkish Muslim “housewives” from relatively underprivileged backgrounds who have recorded, performed, and monetized their cooking skills and arguably their values on YouTube. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 12 leading Turkish women vloggers, combined with digital ethnographic research into their online profiles and content, my analysis reveals the importance for these vloggers of ensuring their online performances and personae comply with and embody the Islamic values of feminine piety and modesty. By highlighting the importance of social positionality in research on gendered self-branding, my findings problematize dominant conceptualizations of women’s online self-branding as a postfeminist undertaking. In reality, Islamic values are active online, embodied by Turkish Muslim women cooking on YouTube in a way that is empowering for them but also under negotiation through the participatory culture of the Internet.
... Nevertheless, in their studies, publicness of transgressions was confounded with severity, which made it impossible to make strong inferences about the effect of publicness. Others have indirectly demonstrated the significance of publicness: Gunsoy et al. (2015) showed that Turkish women avoid publicizing behavior that is misaligned with the feminine honor code. In the same vein, Uskul et al. (2012) showed that when prompted to think about dishonor, Turkish participants generated situations involving an audience. ...
Article
Full-text available
The psychological processes underlying honor violence against kin are poorly understood. We assumed that honor violence against daughters who violate a gendered norm is designed to uphold family honor and nurture positive links to the community. Four studies with Indian men supported this formulation. As expected, endorsement of honor violence (i.e., slapping or disowning the daughter) increased insofar as perceived community awareness of the violation increased. Moreover, endorsement of honor violence was especially common among those whose identities were closely aligned (“fused”) with their community. Finally, a desire to restore threatened family honor, rather than a motivation to prevent future dishonor, motivates honor violence against daughters; conversely, a desire to prevent future dishonor motivates constructive activities such as advising. Ironically, a benign, culturally universal desire to maintain positive ties to the community can encourage community members to endorse violence toward transgressive kin.
... Nevertheless, in their studies, publicness of transgressions was confounded with severity, which made it impossible to make strong inferences about the effect of publicness. Others have indirectly demonstrated the significance of publicness: Gunsoy et al. (2015) showed that Turkish women avoid publicizing behavior that is misaligned with the feminine honor code. In the same vein, Uskul et al. (2012) showed that when prompted to think about dishonor, Turkish participants generated situations involving an audience. ...
Preprint
The psychological processes underlying honor violence against kin are poorly understood. We assumed that honor violence against daughters who violate a gendered norm is designed to uphold family honor and nurture positive links to the community. Four studies with Indian men supported this formulation. As expected, endorsement of honor violence (i.e., slapping or disowning the daughter) increased insofar as perceived community awareness of the violation increased. Moreover, endorsement of honor violence was especially common among those whose identities were closely aligned (“fused”) with their community. Finally, a desire to restore threatened family honor, rather than a motivation to prevent future dishonor, motivates honor violence against daughters; conversely, a desire to prevent future dishonor motivates constructive activities such as advising. Ironically, a benign, culturally universal desire to maintain positive ties to the community can encourage community members to endorse violence toward transgressive kin.
... For instance, we expect that honor-valuing people will react with more anger to outgroup members than ingroup members that flame them (H1a). The two studies that do focus on honor concerns online- Günsoy et al. (2015), as well as Pearce and Vitak (2016)-results confirm that honor-valuing people are just as concerned about protecting both their own honor and the honor of their families on-and offline. Thus, even though we have far fewer bystanders in the present study than on social media, the idea of protecting one's honor should not be less salient than if we conducted the study offline. ...
Article
Full-text available
Trolling—the online exploitation of website, chat, or game mechanics at another user's expense—can and does take place all over cyberspace. It can take myriad forms, as well—some verbal, like trash-talking an opponent in a game, and some silent, like refusing to include a new player in a team effort during an in-game quest. However, despite this variety, there are few to no studies comparing the effects of these differing trolling types on victims. In addition, no study has yet taken into account users' offline cultural context and norms into the trolling victim experience. To fill this gap in the literature, the present study put participants from three culturally-distinct countries—Pakistan, Taiwan, and the Netherlands—in a simulated trolling interaction using the Cyberball game. Participants were either flamed (read: harshly insulted) or ostracized by a member of their own cultural group (ingroup) or a minority member (outgroup), and the participants' emotional responses, behavioral intentions toward the other players, and messages sent during the game were taken as indicators of their response to the trolling. Results showed that our Taiwanese sample used the most reactive aggression when trolled and our Dutch sample was the most passive. In addition, ostracism generally produced the desire to repair relationships, irrespective of cultural context, and perpetrator culture (ingroup or outgroup) only produced an effect in the behavioral intentions of our Pakistani sample. Overall, it would appear that online and offline culture interact to produce the variety of responses to trolling seen in extant literature. Additional implications for future research into computer-mediated communication and online aggression are also discussed.
... Accordingly, individuals may demand capital punishment for rape offenders to restore their tarnished honour on legal grounds. Specifically, we examine how variables such as ambivalent sexism, attitudes towards gendered norms of honour cultures, and rape myths acceptance correlate with support for the capital punishment for rape offenders in Turkey, which is defined as an honour culture Günsoy, Cross, Saribay, Ökten, & Kurutaş, 2015;Sakallı-U gurlu & Akbaş, 2013;Uskul, Cross, Sunbay, Gerçek-Swing, & Ataca, 2012;Uskul et al., 2015;van Osch et al., 2013; for review see Uskul & Cross, 2018). ...
Article
Full-text available
Ambivalent sexism and related issues such as rape myths and gendered social norms serve to maintain structural gender inequalities. Exploring the implications of benevolent and hostile sexism separately in social practice, such as retaliatory acts in honour cultures, is essential for understanding gender‐based violence and inequalities. Although a vast majority of research focused on direct and interpersonal aggressive response or retaliatory acts against the honour threat in honour cultures, little is known about subtler collective social processes in honour‐damaging situations. To address the gap in our understanding of how retaliatory responses are carried out against honour threat in a subtler and collective way, we focused on the rising demands for reinstatement of the death penalty to stop the increased rates of sexual violence in Turkey as a collective retaliatory response against honour‐threat. To test this argument, we conducted a survey study with 450 participants to examine the role of ambivalent sexism, the gendered norms of honour culture, and rape myths in supporting the death penalty for rape offenders in Turkey. The results indicate that ambivalent sexism and honour culture's gendered norms predicted support for capital punishment. Furthermore, hostile sexism moderated the relationship between rape myth acceptance and support for death penalty. We find that individuals who have high hostile sexism and strong rape myth acceptance do not support capital punishment. These findings contribute to our understanding of the social mechanisms related to hostile and benevolent sexism which results in support for the death penalty in Turkey.
... For example, social media business marketing on Facebook (post and comment) (Brennick, 2013), the interaction effect of social norms and dissatisfaction (comment) (Y. J. Lee & Ahn, 2017), and honor culture (post) (Günsoy et al., 2015). A similar conclusion was also drawn by Zhao (2018) who concluded 4R as a whole round of human information communication behavior, release (similar to post), reception, relay (similar to repost), and reaction (similar to comment). ...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
The result of structural equation model analysis based on a survey (N = 246) releases that, firstly, the spiral of silence exits on Chinese social media WeChat and the fear of isolation can negatively predict the willingness to express (expressive behavior is differentiated into post, repost, and comment). Secondly, the willingness to express (post, repost, and comment included) is not related to perceived mass media opinion climate incongruence, perceived reference group opinion climate incongruence, and the network features. Thirdly, perceived mass media opinion climate incongruence can strengthen perceived reference group opinion climate incongruence which is consistent with Noelle-Neumann. Finally, the theoretical framework of the spiral of silence is extended by the moderating role of avoidance setting which can weaken the effect of the spiral of silence on social media.
... Finally, members of our team have also investigated honour-related behaviour in the context of social media use. Günsoy, Cross, Sarıbay, Olcaysoy-Ökten, and Kurutaş (2015) hypothesized that Turkish young people would be less likely than American young people to post pictures or information on Facebook (a widely used social media platform at the time) that was potentially harmful to their reputation or that would expose them to gossip. In Turkish contexts, examples of such postings might include references to parties and alcohol, or pictures with opposite sex friends or a romantic partner. ...
Article
A growing literature in social and cultural psychology has examined cultures of honour primarily focusing on southern states in the United States and on Mediterranean countries of southern Europe. In this article, we review a programme of research that has extended theories of cultures of honour to an under-researched context: Turkey. We first describe research that assessed lay reports of the situations that enhance or attack a person’s honour and lay prototypes of honour. Next, we review research that built on this foundation and examined emotional implications, actual retaliatory responses, and preferences for different types of actions (e.g., attack vs. withdrawal) in the face of honour threats. We then briefly comment on our current research focused on the ways that honour threats can impede goal pursuit, on the distinction between different types of honour threats, and on acculturation processes in immigrant groups from cultures of honour. We conclude by highlighting the contributions of this programme of research to the literature on cultures of honour and discuss future directions.
... Finally, members of our team have also investigated honour-related behaviour in the context of social media use. Günsoy, Cross, Sarıbay, Olcaysoy-Ökten, and Kurutaş (2015) hypothesized that Turkish young people would be less likely than American young people to post pictures or information on Facebook (a widely used social media platform at the time) that was potentially harmful to their reputation or that would expose them to gossip. In Turkish contexts, examples of such postings might include references to parties and alcohol, or pictures with opposite sex friends or a romantic partner. ...
Article
Full-text available
A growing literature in social and cultural psychology has examined cultures of honour primarily focusing on southern states in the US and on Mediterranean countries of southern Europe. In this article, we review a programme of research that has extended theories of cultures of honour to an under-researched context: Turkey. We first describe research that assessed lay reports of the situations that enhance or attack a person’s honour and lay prototypes of honour. Next, we review research that built on this foundation and examined emotional implications, actual retaliatory responses, and preferences for different types of actions (e.g., attack vs. withdrawal) in the face of honour threats. We then briefly comment on our current research focused on the ways that honour threats can impede goal pursuit, on the distinction between different types of honour threats, and on acculturation processes in immigrant groups from cultures of honour. We conclude by highlighting the contributions of this programme of research to the literature on cultures of honour and discuss future directions.
... There are studies showing cultural differences in Facebook use. These differences are visible in sharing photos (Günsoy et al., 2015;Huang and Park, 2013), in self-disclosure behavior (Reed et al., 2016), in self-presentation (Lee-Won et al., 2014), and in posting information (Nadkarni and Hofmann, 2012). Another study showed that Facebook intrusion is slightly related to Internet penetration in different countries (Błachnio et al., 2016a(Błachnio et al., , 2016b. ...
Article
Recently, Facebook has become one of the most popular social networking sites. People use it more and more often. A number of studies have recently addressed the issue of excessive Facebook use, showing this phenomenon to be a spreading problem. The main aim of the present study was to examine whether Type D personality, self-efficacy and coping strategies are related to Facebook intrusion. The participants were 882 students of Polish universities, all of them Facebook users (72% women, mean age: 22.25 years, SD = 2.06). We used the Facebook Intrusion Questionnaire, the Facebook Intensity Scale, the General Self-Efficacy Scale, the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations, and the Type D Scale. We applied the pen-and-paper procedure. Our results indicate that emotion-oriented and avoidance-oriented strategies of coping in stressful situations are predictors of Facebook intrusion and Facebook intensity. The relations between both Facebook intrusion and intensity and social inhibition are significant only when emotion-oriented coping strategy is controlled. The knowledge of whether coping strategies in stressful situations, such as focus on emotions or avoidance, are related to Facebook intrusion might be useful for clinical purposes.
Article
This study investigates the provincial variations in self-expression among millions of Sina Weibo users within China, alongside the influence of ecological factors. Online social networking (OSN) platforms enable individuals to express themselves publicly through the use of personal Bios sections. In order to explore regional differences in self-expression, we constructed a self-expression index, grounded in the percentage of users who provided self-descriptions. To do this, we analyzed the Bios information of over 13 million users, obtaining provincial self-expression scores. Our results demonstrated that the self-expression index has face, convergent, and discriminant validity. Moreover, we discovered that several ecological factors exhibited a considerable impact on self-expression among Chinese Sina Weibo users. This research offers valuable insights into the regional variations of self-expression in China and the role of ecological factors in shaping such tendencies.
Article
Facebook behavior can reflect people’s cultural norms and motivations. Despite being a global platform, there is limited cross-cultural research on self-expression on Facebook. Compared to collectivistic cultures (e.g., Turkey), people from individualistic cultures (e.g., European-Americans) are more likely to have self-enhancement motivation about their internal attributes (e.g., accomplishments, preferences), to emphasize their uniqueness, and to display positivity bias. In this study, we examined people’s actual Facebook status updates and found that European-Americans were more likely than Turkish users to post updates about their personal achievements and positive attitudes. Moreover, Turkish users were more likely to post negative attitudes than positive attitudes. Furthermore, European-Americans’ self-enhancement and uniqueness motivation was positively associated with their likelihood of posting achievement updates, whereas Turkish users’ self-enhancement motivation was positively associated with their likelihood of posting relationship updates. This research is the first to examine actual Facebook status updates in relation to cultural differences in motivations.
Thesis
Full-text available
This doctoral thesis investigates assumptions about honour that emerge in the Swedish justice system’s investigations of honour related violence and oppression during the period 1997 – 2017, and with what implications. The aim is to deepen the understanding of how the Swedish justice system manages crimes presumed to be honour related, and shed light on implications of current descriptions of these crimes as new in Swedish society. The thesis is rooted in a Sociology of Law tradition, and studies the confrontation between formal law (the Swedish Code of Justice) and living law (honour as a discursive and social practice assumed to be enacted amongst some immigrant groups and families in Sweden) at different levels of the justice system. The thesis includes two chronological studies of policy documents and court decisions respectively, and a micro study of speech and action in courtrooms and interrogation transcripts from police records. Critical discourse analysis is combined with the moral sociology of Émile Durkheim, and four discourses are delineated. The discourses are either gender or culture oriented, and depart from either a structural or a relational perspective. Additionally, two more overarching discourses are delineated and used analytically to shed light on talking and writing about honour as a supposedly new phenomenon in Sweden. Honour practice is a discourse concerned with routine activities aimed at maintaining social order and predictability in clan-based and gender segregated societies. Honour problematics are discourses that problematise the consequences of honour practice in Swedish society, from the perspective of Swedish authorities. Results from the thesis indicate that although they vary over time, discourses in Swedish policy documents primarily focus on assumptions about gender, whereas discourses in court records focus on assumptions about culture. In court observations and police interrogations, discourses depict families as honour practicing (expressed by court professionals as well as by suspects, victims and witnesses themselves), and position family members in different ways depending on both generation and gender. Furthermore, the cohesion of Swedish society is reflected through the identification of an ‘other’ group that it is assumed does not share Swedish values about gender equality. Conversely, within that identified group, assumptions that gender equality is a threat to the social order of honour practicing families are frequently present. This implies that proponents of the living law (honour practice) experience a threat towards moral values, while the legislative body calls for changes in the formal law as countermeasures against an experienced threat to Swedish moral values.
Chapter
Ivana engages in understanding the emotional aspects involved both in instances of online communication and in the deeper bond from which particular interactions originate. By insisting on holistic rather than exclusively reflective meaning-making processes, the author exposes the centrality of emotions in a variety of Facebook practices, which are typically understood as rather detached and unemotional. The chapter brings out emotions experienced as a direct result of posting or accessing others’ posts in social media, as well as the role of emotions in encouraging or inhibiting online expression. Based on the narratives of the users, Ivana analyzes several frequently mentioned emotions like pride, shame, anger, and nostalgia.
Article
People from honor cultures show heightened emotional responses to insults to their social image. The current research investigates whether people from honor cultures also show heightened protection of social identities. We find that honor concerns may be embedded in some social identities but not others, and that those identities associated with honor concerns are defended more than identities not associated with honor. Three experiments investigated participants’ emotional responses to insults to their ethnic or student identity. Results showed that compared with dignity culture (British) participants, participants from an honor culture (Arab) reported stronger anger responses both across and within cultures when their Arab identity, an identity explicitly linked to honor concerns, was insulted. In contrast, responses did not differ between dignity (American) and honor (Arab) cultures when participants received an insult to their student identity, a non-honor-oriented identity. These findings suggest that overarching cultural values are not applied to all identities, and therefore, that cultural variables influence psychological outcomes differently for different identities.
Article
Full-text available
In recent years, research on online impression management has received considerable scholarly attention, with an increasing focus on how the affordances of new media shape the impression management process. However, scant attention has been paid to how individuals perform their identity online in places where surveillance is the norm—and punishment for non-compliance to behavioral codes is severe. This qualitative study of Azerbaijan, an honor culture with a norm of surveillance and serious repercussions for deviating from behavioral codes, explores how young adults balance the tensions between wanting to connect, create, and interact in these spaces while still adhering to behavioral codes. Findings from interviews reveal a complex set of strategies young people employ to both adhere to and break free of the restrictions they experience in offline settings. In many ways, these strategies are similar to those identified in research on more open societies; however, the ramifications for behavioral violations are so severe that careful and controlled impression management becomes paramount for Azerbaijanis, and especially so for women, who face significantly more restrictions than men.
Article
Full-text available
Social comparison theory maintains that people think about themselves compared with similar others. Those in one culture, then, compare themselves with different others and standards than do those in another culture, thus potentially confounding cross-cultural comparisons. A pilot study and Study I demonstrated the problematic nature of this reference-group effect: Whereas cultural experts agreed that East Asians are more collectivistic than North Americans, cross-cultural comparisons of trait and attitude measures failed to reveal such a pattern. Study 2 found that manipulating reference groups enhanced the expected cultural differences, and Study 3 revealed that people from different cultural backgrounds within the same country exhibited larger differences than did people from different countries. Cross-cultural comparisons using subjective Likert scales are compromised because of different reference groups. Possible solutions are discussed.
Article
Full-text available
This publication contains reprint articles for which IEEE does not hold copyright. Full text is not available on IEEE Xplore for these articles.
Article
Full-text available
The main goal of the current research is to investigate emotional reactions to situations that implicate honour in Turkish and northern American cultural groups. In Studies 1A and 1B, participants rated the degree to which a variety of events fit their prototypes for honour-related situations. Both Turkish and American participants evaluated situations generated by their co-nationals as most central to their prototypes of honour-related situations. Study 2 examined emotional responses to Turkish or US-generated situations that varied in centrality to the prototype. Highly central situations and Turkish-generated situations elicited stronger emotions than less central situations and US-generated situations. Americans reported higher levels of positive emotions in response to honour-enhancing situations than did Turkish participants. These findings demonstrate that the prototypes of honour relevant situations differ for Turkish and northern American people, and that Turkish honour relevant situations are more emotion-laden than are northern American honour relevant situations.
Article
Full-text available
Research evidence and theoretical accounts of honor point to differing definitions of the construct in differing cultural contexts. The current studies address the question "What is honor?" using a prototype approach in Turkey and the Northern United States. Studies 1a/1b revealed substantial differences in the specific features generated by members of the two groups, but Studies 2 and 3 revealed cultural similarities in the underlying dimensions of self-respect, moral behavior, and social status/respect. Ratings of the centrality and personal importance of these factors were similar across the two groups, but their association with other relevant constructs differed. The tripartite nature of honor uncovered in these studies helps observers and researchers alike understand how diverse responses to situations can be attributed to honor. Inclusion of a prototype analysis into the literature on honor cultures can provide enhanced coverage of the concept that may lead to testable hypotheses and new theoretical developments.
Article
Full-text available
The authors tested the hypotheses that Turkish and (Northern) American cultures afford different honor-relevant situations and different responses to these situations. In Study 1, the authors found that honor-attacking situations generated by American participants focused more on the individual than did situations generated by Turkish participants, whereas situations generated by Turkish participants focused more on close others and involved more references to an audience than did situations generated by American participants. Moreover, the situations most frequently generated by both groups tended to also differ in nature. In Study 2, new participants evaluated these situations for their impact on the self, close others, and acquaintances’ feelings about their family. Turkish participants tended to evaluate situations as having greater impact on all targets than did American participants. Turkish participants also evaluated all situations to have a similar impact on their own feelings and close others’ feelings about themselves, whereas Americans evaluated the situations to have more extreme impact on their own feelings than on the feelings of close others. Situations generated by Turkish participants were evaluated to have stronger impact on all targets.
Article
Full-text available
This study compares evaluations by members of an honor culture (Turkey) and a dignity culture (northern USA) of honor threat scenarios, in which a target was the victim of either a rude affront or a false accusation, and the target chose to withdraw or confront the attacker. Turkish participants were more likely than American participants to evaluate positively the person who withdrew from the rude affront and the person who confronted the false accusation. Participants in both societies perceived that others in their society would endorse confrontation more than withdrawal in both types of scenarios, but this effect was larger for Turkish than American participants. Honor values were associated with evaluations of the targets most strongly among Turkish participants who read about a person who confronted their attacker. These findings provide insight into the role of cultural norms and individual differences in the ways honor influences behavior.
Chapter
Full-text available
(from the chapter) This chapter describes how we can develop and test models of cross-cultural differences. We argue that an analytical approach to culture is adequate to explain cross-cultural differences but that we should try to be as specific as possible in such explanations. Saying that a particular Chinese person has a strong family orientation (compared with a Westerner) because he or she is Chinese does not tell us much. It is more informative to say that Chinese have a strong family orientation because they have been socialized for greater dependency on the family compared with persons in Western cultures. Our approach focuses on the identification of cultural elements that can explain such cross-cultural differences; we then show how these elements perform their explanatory role. The focus of this chapter is on explaining cross-cultural differences. Those of us socialized to deal with individuals as our unit of statistical analysis may need to redefine our orientation; we are seeking a feature of culture, not of individuals, that associates with the psychological outcome or processes that we are trying to explain. We begin this chapter by describing a hypothetical example, and then present a methodological framework that allows us to test expected cross-cultural differences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) (chapter)
Article
Full-text available
Since its launch in February 2004, Facebook has become one of the most popular websites in the world, as well as a widely discussed media phenomenon. Unsurprisingly, the Facebook revolution has inspired a wealth of psychological study, which is growing exponentially. In this article, we review the recent empirical research into some of the key psychological themes concerning Facebook use. The review is organized according to common questions about Facebook culture and use being posed by academics and social commentators alike. These questions are grouped under three major themes, namely: (a) antecedents of Facebook use; (b) how individuals and corporations use Facebook; and (c) psychological outcomes or effects of Facebook use. To this end, we review over 100 recent publications (mostly empirical, peer-reviewed journal articles). We conclude by providing some suggestions for future psychological research in this rapidly expanding area of popular media culture. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Article
Full-text available
Facebook profiles are routinely viewed and judged by others. We examined the categories of information that are utilized by observers and we tested the predictive validity of personality ratings based on Facebook Info pages. Raters made personality judgments of target individuals, either based on full Facebook Info pages or single categories of information (e.g., profile picture, interests, music preferences, etc.). Personality ratings for the Info pages were most highly correlated with ratings of profile pictures, followed by shared quotes and interests. Regression analyses showed that pictures and shared self-descriptive preferences independently contributed to impressions of Info pages. Stranger ratings of Info pages more strongly predicted online than everyday behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Article
Full-text available
Abstract Social network,sites,(SNSs) are increasingly attracting the attention of academic,and,industry researchers intrigued by their affordances and reach.,This special theme section of the,Journal,of Computer-Mediated,Communicationbrings ,together scholarship on these emergent phenomena.,In this introductory article, we describe features of SNSs and propose a comprehensive definition. We then present one perspective on the history of such sites, discussing key changes and developments. After briefly summarizing existing scholarship concerning SNSs, we discuss the articles,in this special section and conclude with considerations for future,research.
Article
Full-text available
The CuPS (Culture × Person × Situation) approach attempts to jointly consider culture and individual differences, without treating either as noise and without reducing one to the other. Culture is important because it helps define psychological situations and create meaningful clusters of behavior according to particular logics. Individual differences are important because individuals vary in the extent to which they endorse or reject a culture's ideals. Further, because different cultures are organized by different logics, individual differences mean something different in each. Central to these studies are concepts of honor-related violence and individual worth as being inalienable versus socially conferred. We illustrate our argument with 2 experiments involving participants from honor, face, and dignity cultures. The studies showed that the same "type" of person who was most helpful, honest, and likely to behave with integrity in one culture was the "type" of person least likely to do so in another culture. We discuss how CuPS can provide a rudimentary but integrated approach to understanding both within- and between-culture variation.
Article
Full-text available
The southern United States has long been known to be more violent than the northern United States. The authors argue that this may be due in part to an ideology justifying violence for self-protection and for maintaining "honor " or a reputation for toughness. Analysis of data from three surveys shows that southern White males do not endorse violence unconditionally but do endorse violence when it is used for self-protection, to defend one's honor, or to socialize children. These data fit well with behavioral data concerning gun ownership and the types of homicide committed in the South. Although the conditions that gave rise to southern violence are largely gone, it may be sustained through collective representations emphasizing the importance of honor and through violent self-fulfilling prophecies centering on hypersensitivity to affronts. Peer Reviewed http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68596/2/10.1177_0146167294205012.pdf
Article
Full-text available
Insults elicit intense emotion. This study tests the hypothesis that one's social image, which is especially salient in honour cultures, influences the way in which one reacts to an insult. Seventy-seven honour-oriented and 72 non-honour oriented participants answered questions about a recent insult episode. Participants experienced both anger and shame in reaction to the insult. However, these emotions resulted in different behaviours. Anger led to verbal attack (i.e., criticising, insulting in return) among all participants. This relationship was explained by participants’ motivation to punish the wrongdoer. Shame, on the other hand, was moderated by honour. Shame led to verbal disapproval of the wrongdoers behaviour, but only among the honour-oriented participants. This relationship was explained by these participants’ motivation to protect their social image. By contrast, shame led to withdrawal among non-honour-oriented participants.
Article
Full-text available
A Web survey of 1,715 college students was conducted to examine Facebook Groups users' gratifications and the relationship between users' gratifications and their political and civic participation offline. A factor analysis revealed four primary needs for participating in groups within Facebook: socializing, entertainment, self-status seeking, and information. These gratifications vary depending on user demographics such as gender, hometown, and year in school. The analysis of the relationship between users' needs and civic and political participation indicated that, as predicted, informational uses were more correlated to civic and political action than to recreational uses.
Article
Full-text available
The social network site Facebook is a rapidly expanding phenomenon that is changing the nature of social relationships. Anecdotal evidence, including information described in the popular media, suggests that Facebook may be responsible for creating jealousy and suspicion in romantic relationships. The objectives of the present study were to explore the role of Facebook in the experience of jealousy and to determine if increased Facebook exposure predicts jealousy above and beyond personal and relationship factors. Three hundred eight undergraduate students completed an online survey that assessed demographic and personality factors and explored respondents' Facebook use. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis, controlling for individual, personality, and relationship factors, revealed that increased Facebook use significantly predicts Facebook-related jealousy. We argue that this effect may be the result of a feedback loop whereby using Facebook exposes people to often ambiguous information about their partner that they may not otherwise have access to and that this new information incites further Facebook use. Our study provides evidence of Facebook's unique contributions to the experience of jealousy in romantic relationships.
Article
Full-text available
Three experiments examined how norms characteristic of a "culture of honor" manifest themselves in the cognitions, emotions, behaviors, and physiological reactions of southern White males. Participants were University of Michigan students who grew up in the North or South. In 3 experiments they were insulted by a confederate who bumped into the participant and called him an "asshole". Compared with northerners--who were relatively unaffected by the insult--southerners were (a) more likely to think their masculine reputation was threatened, (b) more upset (as shown by a rise in cortisol levels), (c) more physiologically primed for aggression (as shown by a rise in testosterone levels), (d) more cognitively primed for aggression, and (e) more likely to engage in aggressive and dominant behavior. Findings highlight the insult-aggression cycle in cultures of honor, in which insults diminish a man's reputation and he tries to restore his status by aggressive or violent behavior.
Article
Full-text available
This research examined the accuracy of personality impressions based on personal websites, a rapidly growing medium for self-expression, where identity claims are predominant. Eighty-nine websites were viewed by 11 observers, who rated the website authors' personalities. The ratings were compared with an accuracy criterion (self- and informant reports) and with the authors' ideal-self ratings. The websites elicited high levels of observer consensus and accuracy, and observers' impressions were somewhat enhanced for Extraversion and Agreeableness. The accuracy correlations were comparable in magnitude to those found in other contexts of interpersonal perception and generally stronger than those found in zero-acquaintance contexts. These findings suggest that identity claims are used to convey valid information about personality.
Article
Full-text available
The present research examined the relationship between adherence to honor norms and emotional reactions after an insult. Participants were 42 Dutch male train travelers, half of whom were insulted by a confederate who bumped into the participant and made a degrading remark. Compared with insulted participants with a weak adherence to honor norms, insulted participants with a strong adherence to honor norms were (a) more angry, (b) less joyful, (c) less fearful, and (d) less resigned. Moreover, insulted participants with a strong adherence to honor norms perceived more anger in subsequent stimuli than not-insulted participants with a strong adherence to these norms. The present findings support a direct relationship among insult, adherence to honor norms, and emotional reactions.
Article
Full-text available
The present research examined how narcissism is manifested on a social networking Web site (i.e., Facebook.com). Narcissistic personality self-reports were collected from social networking Web page owners. Then their Web pages were coded for both objective and subjective content features. Finally, strangers viewed the Web pages and rated their impression of the owner on agentic traits, communal traits, and narcissism. Narcissism predicted (a) higher levels of social activity in the online community and (b) more self-promoting content in several aspects of the social networking Web pages. Strangers who viewed the Web pages judged more narcissistic Web page owners to be more narcissistic. Finally, mediational analyses revealed several Web page content features that were influential in raters' narcissistic impressions of the owners, including quantity of social interaction, main photo self-promotion, and main photo attractiveness. Implications of the expression of narcissism in social networking communities are discussed.
Book
For over a decade the Middle East has monopolized news headlines in the West. Journalists and commentators regularly speculate that the region’s turmoil may stem from the psychological momentum of its cultural traditions or of a “tribal” or “fatalistic” mentality. Yet few studies of the region’s cultural psychology have provided a critical synthesis of psychological research on Middle Eastern societies. Drawing on autobiographies, literary works, ethnographic accounts, and life-history interviews, The Middle East: A Cultural Psychology offers the first comprehensive summary of psychological writings on the region, covering works by psychologists, anthropologists, and sociologists written in English, Arabic, and French. Rejecting stereotypic descriptions of the “Arab mind” or “Muslim mentality,” Gary Gregg adopts a life-span development framework, examining influences on development in the context of recent work in cultural psychology, and compares Middle Eastern patterns less with Western middle class norms than with those described for the region’s neighbors: Hindu India, sub-Saharan Africa, and the Mediterranean shore of Europe. The psychological writings overwhelmingly suggest that the region’s strife stems much less from a stubborn adherence to tradition and resistance to modernity than from widespread frustration with broken promises of modernization - with the slow and halting pace of economic progress and democratization. A sophisticated account of the Middle East’s cultural psychology, this book provides students, researchers, policy-makers, and all those interested in the culture and psychology of the region with invaluable insight into the lives, families, and social relationships of Middle Easterners as they struggle to reconcile the lure of Westernized life-styles with traditional values.
Book
Thousands of women are murdered every year by close relatives for allegedly violating an unwritten social code or rebelling against the patriarchal order. The book examines the roots and evolution of honor-based violence, as well as the ongoing struggle to eradicate it worldwide.
Article
With 1.11 billion active users worldwide, Facebook usages may have some impacts on our social lives. The purpose of this research is to investigate possible relationships among personality traits, Facebook usages, and leisure activities. Three hypotheses were proposed: users with different personality traits may have different Facebook usages, users with different personality traits may have different leisure activities, and users with different Facebook usages may have different leisure activities. A questionnaire with 30 items was developed and the convenient sampling technique was used to collect data from 500 college students in Taiwan. Statistics methods such as descriptive statistics, independent t tests, ANOVA were used to analyze the data with a statistical significance of p < .05. The hypotheses were partially supported. Participants with high extraversion, low agreeableness and high openness tended to spend more times on Facebook and have more number of friends and photos. The findings confirmed that high extraversion and high openness people liked to socialize on Facebook (more time, more friends, more photos) also liked to socialize in real life (more time on team sports and recreational activities), but low agreeableness and low emotional stability people liked to use Facebook for socializing in lieu of real life socializing.
Article
Research examining friend networking sites has greatly increased in the past several months exploring topics related to general use, psychological well being, and content analysis of profiles to name a few. The current study sought to identify dimensions of uses and gratifications for users of friend networking sites. Results identified the following three dimensions: the Information Dimension, the Friendship Dimension, and the Connection Dimension. Sex differences also existed with regards to use of friend networking sites. For example, men were more likely to use the sites for dating purposes and women were more likely to set their accounts to private. A discussion of the results is presented in light of the uses and gratifications obtained from the use of friend networking sites.
Article
Two studies examined the hypothesis that the culture of honor would be associated with heightened risk taking, presumably because risky behaviors provide social proof of strength and fearlessness. As hypothesized, Study 1 showed that honor states in the United States exhibited higher rates of accidental deaths among Whites (but not non-Whites) than did nonhonor states, particularly in nonmetropolitan areas. Elevated accidental deaths in honor states appeared for both men and women and remained when the authors controlled for a host of statewide covariates (e.g., economic deprivation, cancer deaths, temperature) and for non-White deaths. Study 2, likewise, showed that people who endorsed honor-related beliefs reported greater risk taking tendencies, independent of age, sex, self-esteem, and the big five.
Article
Presentation of self (via Goffman) is becoming increasingly popular as a means for explaining differences in meaning and activity of online participation. This article argues that self-presentation can be split into performances, which take place in synchronous “situations,” and artifacts, which take place in asynchronous “exhibitions.” Goffman’s dramaturgical approach (including the notions of front and back stage) focuses on situations. Social media, on the other hand, frequently employs exhibitions, such as lists of status updates and sets of photos, alongside situational activities, such as chatting. A key difference in exhibitions is the virtual “curator” that manages and redistributes this digital content. This article introduces the exhibitional approach and the curator and suggests ways in which this approach can extend present work concerning online presentation of self. It introduces a theory of “lowest common denominator” culture employing the exhibitional approach.
Article
nvestigated the role of honor concerns in mediating the effect of nationality and gender on the reported intensity of anger and shame in reaction to insult vignettes. Spain, an honor culture, and The Netherlands, where honor is of less central significance, were selected for comparison. A total of 260 (125 Dutch, 135 Spanish) persons (mean age 21.9 yrs) participated in the research. Participants completed a measure of honor concerns and answered questions about emotional reactions of anger and shame to vignettes depicting insults in which type of threat was manipulated. It was found that Spanish participants responded especially intensely to insults that threaten family honor, and that this effect of nationality on emotional reactions to threats to family honor was mediated by individual differences in concern for family honor.
Chapter
Cross-cultural studies involve persons from different countries and/or ethnic groups. One of the central methodological problems of these studies is bias, the generic term for multiple explanations of cross-cultural differences. Three different types of bias are distinguished, depending on whether the source of interpretation problems derives from the construct, method of the study, or specific items (called construct, method, and item bias or differential item functioning, respectively). Equivalence refers to the implications of bias on score comparability. Linguistic, structural, measurement unit, and full score equivalence are described. Issues in test translation (translation – back-translation, committee designs, decentering) are discussed. Common subject- and culture-sampling schemes in cross-cultural research are mentioned. The article ends with a discussion of issues in combining individual- and country-level characteristics.
Article
Early research on online self-presentation mostly focused on identity constructions in anonymous online environments. Such studies found that individuals tended to engage in role-play games and anti-normative behaviors in the online world. More recent studies have examined identity performance in less anonymous online settings such as Internet dating sites and reported different findings. The present study investigates identity construction on Facebook, a newly emerged nonymous online environment. Based on content analysis of 63 Facebook accounts, we find that the identities produced in this nonymous environment differ from those constructed in the anonymous online environments previously reported. Facebook users predominantly claim their identities implicitly rather than explicitly; they “show rather than tell” and stress group and consumer identities over personally narrated ones. The characteristics of such identities are described and the implications of this finding are discussed.
Article
A systematic review of the research literature on honor killings in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) indicates a paucity of studies relative to the presumed magnitude of the problem. Forty articles were reviewed and critically appraised, of which only 9 contained primary data and 11 presented original secondary analyses. Despite a recent increase in published studies, persistent methodological limitations restrict the generalizability of findings. Most studies focus on legal aspects, determinants, and characteristics of victims and perpetrators. Victims are mostly young females murdered by their male kin. Unambiguous evidence of a decline in tolerance of honor killings remains elusive.
Article
Are there systematic differences between people who use social network sites and those who stay away, despite a familiarity with them? Based on data from a survey administered to a diverse group of young adults, this article looks at the predictors of SNS usage, with particular focus on Facebook, MySpace, Xanga, and Friendster. Findings suggest that use of such sites is not randomly distributed across a group of highly wired users. A person’s gender, race and ethnicity, and parental educational background are all associated with use, but in most cases only when the aggregate concept of social network sites is disaggregated by service. Additionally, people with more experience and autonomy of use are more likely to be users of such sites. Unequal participation based on user background suggests that differential adoption of such services may be contributing to digital inequality.
Article
In 2002 young Fadime Sahindal was brutally murdered by her own father. She belonged to a family of Kurdish immigrants who had lived in Sweden for almost two decades. But Fadime’s relationship with a man outside of their community had deeply dishonored her family, and only her death could remove the stain. This abhorrent crime shocked the world, and her name soon became a rallying cry in the struggle to combat so-called honor killings. Unni Wikan narrates Fadime’s heartbreaking story through her own eloquent words, along with the testimonies of her father, mother, and two sisters. What unfolds is a tale of courage and betrayal, loyalty and love, power and humiliation, and a nearly unfathomable clash of cultures. Despite enduring years of threats over her emancipated life, Fadime advocated compassion for her killers to the end, believing them to be trapped by an unyielding code of honor. Wikan puts this shocking event in context by analyzing similar honor killings, which are increasing throughout Europe and have now been reported in Canada and the United States. She also examines the concept of honor in historical and cross-cultural depth, concluding that Islam itself is not to blame—indeed, honor killings occur across religious and ethnic traditions—but rather the way that many cultures have resolutely linked honor with violence. In Honor of Fadime holds profound and timely insights into Islamic culture, but ultimately the heart of this powerful book is Fadime’s courageous and tragic story—and Wikan’s telling of it is riveting.
Article
A critical assessment of the cultural factors involved in the phenomenon of honor killing in the Middle East will be discussed in this paper. Through social constructionism and hegemonic discourse the following issues will be addressed: First, the role each cultural factor (gossip, scandal, and shame) plays in legitimizing and perpetrating the violence of honor killing. Second, unravel the mystery as to how these cultural factors became an integral part of the social control apparatus aimed at controlling and dominating women. Third, understand the ambivalent nature characterizing the role of agents of social control, including the state, the criminal justice system and the community in dealing with honor killing.
Article
Social comparison theory maintains that people think about themselves compared with similar others. Those in one culture, then, compare themselves with different others and standards than do those in another culture, thus potentially confounding cross-cultural comparisons. A pilot study and Study 1 demonstrated the problematic nature of this reference-group effect: Whereas cultural experts agreed that East Asians are more collectivistic than North Americans, cross-cultural comparisons of trait and attitude measures failed to reveal such a pattern. Study 2 found that manipulating reference groups enhanced the expected cultural differences, and Study 3 revealed that people from different cultural backgrounds within the same country exhibited larger differences than did people from different countries. Cross-cultural comparisons using subjective Likert scales are compromised because of different reference groups. Possible solutions are discussed.
Female and male suicides in Batman, Turkey: Poverty, social change, patriarchal oppression and gender links. Women's Health and Urban Life: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal
  • M Bagli
  • Sev
  • A Er
Bagli, M., & Sev'er, A. (2003). Female and male suicides in Batman, Turkey: Poverty, social change, patriarchal oppression and gender links. Women's Health and Urban Life: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal, 2, 60–84.
A cross-cultural comparison of Korean and American social network sites: Exploring cultural differences in social relationships and self-presentation
  • S E Cho
Cho, S. E. (2010). A cross-cultural comparison of Korean and American social network sites: Exploring cultural differences in social relationships and self-presentation. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey.
Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) and NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEOFFI) professional manual Confrontation versus withdrawal: Cultural differences in responses to threats to honor
  • P T Costa
  • Jr
  • R R Mccrae
Costa, P. T., Jr., & McCrae, R. R. (1992). Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) and NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEOFFI) professional manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc. Cross, S. E., Uskul, A. K., Gercek-Swing, B., Alözkan, C., & Ataca, B. (2012). Confrontation versus withdrawal: Cultural differences in responses to threats to honor. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 16, 345–362.
Was Noor Almaleki the victim of an honor killing?
  • L Freed
  • J Leach
Freed, L. & Leach, J. (2012, September 1). Was Noor Almaleki the victim of an honor killing? cbsnews. Retrieved from http://www.cbsnews.com.
Arizona 'Honor Killing': Iraqi immigrant sentenced to 34 1/2 years in prison for running over, killing daughter. The Huffington Post Within-and between-culture variation: Individual differences and the cultural logics of honor, face, and dignity cultures
  • Lee Myers
Lee Myers, A. (2011, April 15). Arizona 'Honor Killing': Iraqi immigrant sentenced to 34 1/2 years in prison for running over, killing daughter. The Huffington Post. Retrieved October 10, 2013, from http://www. huffingtonpost.com Leung, A. K.-Y., & Cohen, D. (2011). Within-and between-culture variation: Individual differences and the cultural logics of honor, face, and dignity cultures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100, 507–526.
Violence in the name of honour: Theoretical and political challenges. Istanbul: Istanbul Bilgi University Press. Morocco teens held for kissing photo on Facebook
  • S Mojab
  • N Abdo
Mojab, S., & Abdo, N. (2004). Violence in the name of honour: Theoretical and political challenges. Istanbul: Istanbul Bilgi University Press. Morocco teens held for kissing photo on Facebook. (2013, October 5).
Facebook country stats February 2013-Top 10 countries lose users due to the ongoing account cleanup
  • M H Nierhoff
Nierhoff, M. H. (2013). Facebook country stats February 2013 -Top 10 countries lose users due to the ongoing account cleanup. Retrieved from: http://www.quintly.com/blog/2013/02/facebook-country-stats-february-2013-top-10-countries-lose-users/