Self-Perceptions on Social Media vs. Offline Contrast With Those Perceived in Generalized but Not Close Others

Abstract

Self-perception varies across contexts. Do perceptions of others across contexts vary in the same way? Here, a multi-study mapping of context-framed person perception addressed this question. Participants (N = 1748) reported perceptions of the Big Five personality traits specifying two contexts that dominate daily life (offline and social media) regarding three targets: self, the typical person (Studies 1-3, 5), and peers (Studies 4 and 5). The perceptions were examined both within-person via profile agreements and normatively via mean levels. Profile agreement analyses suggested that the similarity between offline and social media contexts was strong in self-perceptions (and perceptions of peers) but moderate in perceptions of the typical person. Mean level analyses further suggested generally lower trait levels on social media vs. offline in self-perceptions (and perceptions of peers). However, perceptions of the typical person showed the opposite or attenuated effects in terms of 3/5 traits (openness, extraversion, and neuroticism). Perceptions of all three targets showed lower levels of agreeableness on social media than offline. Conscientiousness was the only trait to show inconclusive patterns across the studies. Together, the findings suggest that self-perceptions on social media vs. offline contexts contrast with those perceived in generalized (but not close) others.