A portrait of the self in the digital age: Attachment, splitting, and self-concealment in online and offline self-presentation.

Abstract

This study explores the role of adult attachment dynamics in people's self-presentation and selfconcealment in online and offline spaces. A total of 145 bloggers took the Experiences of Close Relationships Scale (Brennan, Clark, & Shaver, 1998) and answered questions about their blog persona and their offline persona. A mixed-methods approach combined qualitative content analysis with quantitative analyses to examine and compare adjective lists describing online and offline personas. In comparison to securely attached individuals, individuals with high levels of attachment anxiety and avoidance presented themselves in more discrepant, contradictory ways online versus offline. Specifically, blog personas were more self-revealing and included more negative traits in individuals with high attachment anxiety and avoidance, whereas offline personas were described as more actively selfconcealing and included fewer negative traits. Also, the offline self-presentations of securely attached individuals were more focused on caregiving of others, whereas blog personas were limited to traits of the self. Findings underscore the utility of attachment theory and theories of the self that emphasize multiplicity in examining people's use of virtual spaces to cultivate and share themselves with others.

Uncompensated emotional labor, racial battle fatigue, and (in)civility in digital spaces

“…Research from social psychology, cultural studies, and the field of communication suggests that as people feel the effects of uncompensated emotional labor (consciously or subconsciously) in the digital public sphere, they seek out safe spaces as a reprieve (Williams, ). As individuals begin to curate their networks, they create a comfort zone “that mitigates characteristic fears of social exclusion and rejection, resulting in greater willingness to share core characteristics of the self” (Trub, , pp. 78–79).…”

President Macron’s And Putin’s Image Discourse On The Material Of Their Tweets

“…Social networks as a universal tool in shaping not only their own image, but also other people 's image attract the attention of scientists, which leads to an increase in the number of studies devoted to this topic (Barkovich, 2017;Lenets, 2018;Sharkov, 2017, etc. ).The role of Twitter in election campaigns is explored from the positions of political science (Jungherr, 2016), linguistics (Lenets, 2016), psychology (Trub, 2016).…”

Psychological factors related to self‐disclosure and relationship formation in the online environment

“…We predicted that the degree of self‐disclosure would be positively related to one's tendency to withhold information about oneself in day‐to‐day interactions with others. Self‐concealment is positively associated with feeling disinhibited in the online environment (D'Agata & Kwantes, 2020), and individuals who possess a lowered willingness to share personal information in their everyday lives, are more willing to share online compared to offline (Trub, 2017). Thus, we expected to see a positive relationship between self‐concealment and willingness to share.…”

“…For instance, self‐monitors (Snyder, 1974) possess an ability to adjust their interactive style based on social situations, and show a heightened willingness to deceive others online (Hall, Park, Song, & Cody, 2010). Self‐concealment, or the withholding of personal information that is negative in nature (Larson & Chastain, 1990), has also been reported to be reduced in online relationships relative to offline ones (Trub, 2017). Together, self‐concealment and self‐monitoring represent two facets of impression management that we suspect play a role in one's openness to form relationships in the online context.…”