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Percorrer por autor "Penazzi, Sara"

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  • Sick of social media? : social comparison, fear of negative evaluation, and the decline of posting among Gen Z
    Publication . Penazzi, Sara; Braga, João Niza
    Are we Sick of Social Media? This dissertation investigates whether exposure to idealized content on social media influences Generation Z users' intention to post and whether fear of negative evaluation mediates the relationship. Based on Social Comparison Theory (Festinger, 1954) and studies on social anxiety (Leary, 1983), three hypotheses were formulated: (1) exposure to idealized feeds would reduce the intention to post; (2) this effect would occur indirectly via fear of negative evaluation; and (3) differences in self-esteem and social comparison orientation would moderate the relationship. A between-subjects experiment with 178 participants (randomly assigned to an idealized or neutral feed) was conducted. Measures included posting intention, Brief Scale of Fear of Negative Evaluation, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and INCOM scale. Reliability tests indicated high internal consistency (α > 0.87) and balanced groups. However, additional measures of perceived comparison and self-evaluation showed no significant differences between conditions, suggesting that the stimuli were not intense enough to elicit the expected effect. Although the hypotheses were not confirmed, the results revealed striking trends: most reported passive use of social media; more than half considered abandoning them; Instagram was the most cited for disconnection. Dispositional traits proved to be predictors of fear of negative evaluation: greater orientation toward social comparison was associated with greater fear, and higher self-esteem was associated with less fear. These results may indicate widespread digital fatigue in Generation Z, highlight the dispositional roots of fear of negative evaluation, and underscore the methodological challenges in capturing subtle effects of social comparison.
    2025-10-15Dissertação de mestrado Acesso embargado Ver mais