I used to think that a person’s online profile (in a proper, established setting) is pretty much an accurate reflection of their true selves, save for some exaggeration or jokes. Obviously that’s not correct. So I decided to analyze the Facebook profile of a friend that I made on my very first day at Cornell. After a couple years and numerous interactions, I believed that I understood her personality quite well.
My assessment incorporated the Brunswikian Lens Model, which studies how an audience observes traits and conditions of a subject, and then use different cues to make consequent inferences. The lens are the environment cues that allow the observers to make their inferences about characteristics. According to the model, there are four mechanisms that link individuals to their environments; identity claims and behavoral residue. Finally, I attempted to analyze my friend’s personality according to the Five Factor Model.
The first mechanism is self-directed identity claims, which are “symbolic statements made by occupants for their own benefit, intended to reinforce their self-views”. My friend is very religious so she has an application that provides a daily bible verse. She also included her favorite verses from the bible in her “Quotes” section. On the other hand, she has a playful personality, shown by her relationship status, where she’s “engaged” to a friend (which is definitely a joke since I know she’s currently in a committed relationship).
A second mechanism is other-directed identity claims, which are “symbols that have shared meanings to make statements to others about how they would like to be regarded”. This would include all the information within her personal profile, especially her interests, activities and favorite things. I learned that my friend is honest to a degree about her interests but she adds a humorous twist to her answers, which I expected given her funny side.
The third mechanism is interior behavioral residue, which are “physical traces of activities conducted in the immediate environment”. Despite being very busy with classes and numerous other activities, my friend still has the time to be actively involved in Facebook also. Newsfeed was quite helpful in tracking down her actions, since she’s the type to reply to every wall post, comment on others’ photos and notes. Not to mention she added nearly every new Facebook application so now there are dozen of ways for people to interact with her.
The final mechanism is exterior behavioural residue, which are behaviours that the individual performs outside of the immediate environment. In this case, since she is so busy and involved, her picture albums depict her active life. Also, she is frequently tagged by others in settings outside of CMC, showing her interactions and relationships outside of this particular environment.
Although my friend’s Facebook profile was helpful for one to learn about her personality, when I tried to analyze her according to the Five Factor Model, the profile fell short. Her hundreds of friends and many applications on her page prove evidence to her openness, extraversion and to a degree, agreeableness. However, it is quite difficult to tell her level of neuroticism and contentiousness. Based on this profile, one can assume that she has none. Nonetheless, her page is a fun one for her friends to visit, and offer a relatively true depiction of her personality.
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3 comments:
I really thought it was interesting how you said it was hard for your subject to fake all of the activites that she takes part in because of all of the pictures she has up on facebook. In this way you kind of combined the ideas of residue and cues. The similarities and residues and cues might be an interesting topic to think about for your next 245 assignment.
Angela,
I enjoyed reading your blog. Very interesting. As with you, I chose option number and came to similar findings... as my title states, "Looking through the Lens: A Limited Perspective". In describing the self-directed identity claim, you chose the perfect example... inside jokes such as her "engaged" relationship status. Also, the interior behavioral residue is sometimes hard to distinguish, but you did a nice job in describing the newsfeed posting information on her wall posts and comments. Finally, I also had a hard time determining neuroticism in a profile, which I really do not feel is possible to adequately assess online.
Hi Angela,
I think you did a great job giving lots of examples of how the Brunswikian model applied to your friends facebook profile. You seem to be very close with her so it added credability to your assessments and allowed for a more in depth and meaningful analysis. You were able to provide insight such as the fact that even though she is engaged to a good friend of her, this is obviously a joke because she is in a committed relationship. This is something you may not know if you analyzed someone else.
I think you could have gone in more depth with the five factors. While you briefly touched on them at the end, I think it would have been beneficial to explain them and apply them throughout your post. You certainly had enough good examples of her openness and extraversion etc.
Great job in all! :-)
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