Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
acceptedVersion
Publication Date
11-2018
Abstract
Using data from 13,789 Facebook users across U.S. states, this study examined the main effects of societal-level cultural tightness–looseness and its interaction effects with individuals’ social network density on impression management (IM) in terms of online emotional expression. Results showed that individuals from culturally tight (vs. loose) states were more likely to express positive emotions and less likely to express negative emotions. Meanwhile, for positive emotional expression, there was a tightness–looseness by social network density interaction effect. In culturally tight states, individuals with dense (vs. sparse) networks were more likely to express positive emotions, while in culturally loose states this pattern was reversed. For negative emotional expression, however, no such interaction was observed. Our findings highlight the influence of cultural norms and social network structure on emotional expressions as IM strategies.
Keywords
Cultural tightness-looseness, Emotional expression, Impression management, Social network density
Discipline
Applied Behavior Analysis | Social Media | Sociology of Culture
Research Areas
Psychology
Publication
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
Volume
44
Issue
11
First Page
1567
Last Page
1581
ISSN
0146-1672
Identifier
10.1177/0146167218770999
Publisher
SAGE Publications (UK and US)
Citation
LIU, Pan, CHAN, David, QIU, Lin, TOV, William, & TONG, Victor Joo Chuan.(2018). Effects of cultural tightness-looseness and social network density on expression of positive and negative emotions: A large-scale study of impression management by Facebook users. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 44(11), 1567-1581.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/2702
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167218770999