We examined how witnessing fat talk on Facebook influenced the body satisfaction and psychological well-being of Korean and U.S. young women. Korean (n = 137) and U.S. (n = 159) women completed an online questionnaire after viewing a randomly assigned mock-up Facebook page where body size of the profile owner and the messages from her peers were manipulated. Findings showed that (a) Koreans witnessing an underweight peer's fat talk reported lower body satisfaction than did those witnessing an overweight peer's fat talk, but the peer's body size did not affect the U.S. women, and (b) Koreans witnessing messages discouraging weight loss reported greater psychological well-being than did those witnessing messages promoting weight loss, whereas peers' comments did not influence the U.S. women.
Computer-mediated communication is becoming an increasingly popular medium for mental illness self-disclosure. However, little is known about how observers respond to such disclosures (e.g., support or rejections). Using Facebook as a medium of communication, we experimentally examined how different depression disclosure posts can lead to different reactions from observers. In two experimental studies, we examined how (a) the self-presentation used in a depression disclosure on Facebook and (b) peers' supportive responses to the disclosure impacted observers' responses involving social support intention, empathy, social distance, and depression stigma. Participants in both studies (N = 679 and 1,280, respectively) were recruited from Amazon's MTurk. They viewed a mock-up Facebook page in which two factors were manipulated: self-presentation of coping (good vs. poor vs. balanced coping) and peers' supportive responses (present vs. absent). Participants then completed online surveys assessing outcome variables. Results showed that poor coping elicited greater support intention and social distance than good coping across two studies. Further, Study 2 (but not Study 1) showed that participants reported greater empathy and lower social distance when peer responses were present compared to when they were absent. Neither self-presentation nor peers' responses impacted depression stigma in both studies. Our research is the first to experimentally examine observers' reactions to mental illness disclosure posts on social media.
The legitimization of paltry favors effect (LPF) is a sequential persuasion tactic whereby small contributions toward some overall compliance-gaining goal are linguistically minimized. An experiment was conducted to test whether self-presentation concerns or barrier removal better explains the LPF. Participants (N ¼ 145) were approached and asked to volunteer for international student programs. Message strategy (LPF=no LPF) and beneficiary party (first-person=third-person) were varied. The data revealed neither main effects for message strategy or beneficiary party, nor any interaction between these variables. Results question the generality of the LPF, as well as the appropriateness of utilizing the LPF in volunteer solicitation efforts. Limitations and implications are discussed.Researchers of sequential persuasion techniques are well acquainted with the legitimization of paltry favors effect (LPF). First documented by Cialdini and Schroeder (1976), the LPF generally occurs as a message that validates very small contributions toward some overall compliance-gaining goal. Although specific instantiations vary,
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