Is "good vibes only" really good? Investigating perceptions of toxic positivity on social media
Social media plays increasingly large roles in people’s lives, forming norms regarding posting positive content and resulting in a positivity bias on many platforms. Emotional contagion posits that posting positive content should generate positive emotions, which in turn should inspire people to pos...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Final Year Project (FYP) |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Nanyang Technological University
2024
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/174380 |
| _version_ | 1826115463643398144 |
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| author | Wan, Aretha Li Hong Wong, Stacy Siqi |
| author2 | Lew Zijian |
| author_facet | Lew Zijian Wan, Aretha Li Hong Wong, Stacy Siqi |
| author_sort | Wan, Aretha Li Hong |
| collection | NTU |
| description | Social media plays increasingly large roles in people’s lives, forming norms regarding posting positive content and resulting in a positivity bias on many platforms. Emotional contagion posits that posting positive content should generate positive emotions, which in turn should inspire people to post more positive content, resulting in a self-reinforcing cycle of positive emotions. Yet, recent emerging discussions regarding toxic positivity (TP) in popular psychology literature suggests that positivity can backfire under certain conditions–implying that online emotional contagion has its limits. This research aims to investigate the phenomenon of TP and explore how its associated psychological processes can act as boundary conditions for emotional contagion. Study 1 consists of focus group discussions to obtain opinions regarding TP. Study 2 makes use of study 1’s findings to present various posts to participants and evaluate perceptions of TP in an experiment. Our findings show good support for the constructs of ‘Ignoring Negativity’ and ‘Position of Privilege’ as mediators between the three conditions (Low Positivity, High Positivity, Toxic Positivity) and Liking of the posts–suggesting that perceptions of these constructs hinder emotional contagion, generating negative emotions instead. Manifested through the phenomenon of TP, these constructs are therefore plausible boundary conditions for online emotional contagion. |
| first_indexed | 2024-10-01T03:55:34Z |
| format | Final Year Project (FYP) |
| id | ntu-10356/174380 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-10-01T03:55:34Z |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| publisher | Nanyang Technological University |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/1743802024-03-31T15:34:20Z Is "good vibes only" really good? Investigating perceptions of toxic positivity on social media Wan, Aretha Li Hong Wong, Stacy Siqi Lew Zijian Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information zlew@ntu.edu.sg Social Sciences Toxic positivity Social media Emotional contagion Social media plays increasingly large roles in people’s lives, forming norms regarding posting positive content and resulting in a positivity bias on many platforms. Emotional contagion posits that posting positive content should generate positive emotions, which in turn should inspire people to post more positive content, resulting in a self-reinforcing cycle of positive emotions. Yet, recent emerging discussions regarding toxic positivity (TP) in popular psychology literature suggests that positivity can backfire under certain conditions–implying that online emotional contagion has its limits. This research aims to investigate the phenomenon of TP and explore how its associated psychological processes can act as boundary conditions for emotional contagion. Study 1 consists of focus group discussions to obtain opinions regarding TP. Study 2 makes use of study 1’s findings to present various posts to participants and evaluate perceptions of TP in an experiment. Our findings show good support for the constructs of ‘Ignoring Negativity’ and ‘Position of Privilege’ as mediators between the three conditions (Low Positivity, High Positivity, Toxic Positivity) and Liking of the posts–suggesting that perceptions of these constructs hinder emotional contagion, generating negative emotions instead. Manifested through the phenomenon of TP, these constructs are therefore plausible boundary conditions for online emotional contagion. Bachelor's degree 2024-03-28T04:18:42Z 2024-03-28T04:18:42Z 2024 Final Year Project (FYP) Wan, A. L. H. & Wong, S. S. (2024). Is "good vibes only" really good? Investigating perceptions of toxic positivity on social media. Final Year Project (FYP), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. https://hdl.handle.net/10356/174380 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/174380 en CS23016 application/pdf Nanyang Technological University |
| spellingShingle | Social Sciences Toxic positivity Social media Emotional contagion Wan, Aretha Li Hong Wong, Stacy Siqi Is "good vibes only" really good? Investigating perceptions of toxic positivity on social media |
| title | Is "good vibes only" really good? Investigating perceptions of toxic positivity on social media |
| title_full | Is "good vibes only" really good? Investigating perceptions of toxic positivity on social media |
| title_fullStr | Is "good vibes only" really good? Investigating perceptions of toxic positivity on social media |
| title_full_unstemmed | Is "good vibes only" really good? Investigating perceptions of toxic positivity on social media |
| title_short | Is "good vibes only" really good? Investigating perceptions of toxic positivity on social media |
| title_sort | is good vibes only really good investigating perceptions of toxic positivity on social media |
| topic | Social Sciences Toxic positivity Social media Emotional contagion |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/174380 |
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