Cognitive and psychological predictors of the negative outcomes associated with playing MMOGs (massively multiplayer online games)

This study integrates research on problematic Internet use to explore the cognitive and psychological predictors of negative consequences associated with playing massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs). Participants recruited from online discussion boards completed self-report measures on their online game-related cognitions and psychological condition, social skills, psychological well-being, and negative life outcomes associated with game playing. The results demonstrated the important roles that psychological dependency and deficient self-regulation play in negative consequences associated with online gaming. The results also indicated that psychological dependency on MMOGs was predicted by cognitive preference for a virtual life—a construct that is negatively related to social control skills.     

Strength matters: Self-presentation to the strongest audience rather than lowest common denominator when faced with multiple audiences in social network sites

On social network sites (e.g. Facebook), individuals self-present to multiple audiences simultaneously 24 h a day. Prior research has inferred this results in a lowest common denominator effect (LCDE) whereby people constrain their online presentation to the standards of their strictest audience. However, this existing work neglects to address differences in the ‘value’ (social/economic) of the audience. Through the lens of self-presentation theory, we argue that it is not the strictest audience that constrains behavior but the strongest (i.e. that which has the highest score for standards and value combined). We call this the strongest audience effect (SAE). The aim of this research is to examine and contrast the LCDE and SAE. A survey of young Facebook users (n = 379) provides support for the SAE when compared to LCDE, with the strength of the strongest audience predicting behavioral constraint and also social anxiety. Additional insights are generated into which audiences are perceived as the strongest. This study contributes a novel and more holistic lens to understand self-presentation in the presence of multiple audiences in social network sites.