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)

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167218770999

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