The Conceptual Structure And Measurement Of Online Self-expansion,and Its Empirical Studies

With the development of information technology in the last two decades,Internet has been becoming an integral part of our daily lives,it not only has created a new form of social life,but also has brought great changes on lifestyle.So Intermet certainly will greatly influence individuals' develpoment.In this context,research on cyberpsycholigy and behavior has got many attentions,especially,research about the influences of Internet use on individuals' physiological development,social development,as well as cognition and thinking has accumulated a lot of results.As the center of individuals' psychological universe,"Self" not only has important adaptational functions,but also has always been the core issue of psychology.However,the current research on the relationship between Internet use and "Self" is relatively lacking and scattered.Under the perspective of the Social Constructionism of self,especially the Self-expansion Model,the current research investigated the relationship between Internet and self-expansion online,with integration of a variety of research methods.First,this research investigated the basic connotation and structure of online self-expansion,and further developed the corresponding questionnaire to measure it.Then,under the perspective of processing advantage for self-related information,this research used experimental method to provide empirical evidence for online self-expansion,in behavioral and cognitive level;and this research also used questionnaire survey to investigate the relationship between online self-expansion and the structure of self-knowledge,and further to provide empirical evidence for online self-expansion under the perspective of self-knowledge' structure.On this basis,this research further investigated the adaptational functions of online self-expansion,using questionnaire survey.(1)To preliminarily examine the basic concept and structure of self-expansion.15 undergraduate students were recruited to participate in an interview,and the interview data was analyzed by the Consensual Qualitative Research method.The Results showed that,self-expansion could occur in a variety of online environments:online game,online communication(Instant messaging,Social networking sites and BBS),online shopping and online searching.Online self-expansion depended on two basic ways-new role and identity,as well as new experience,which were universal in the usage of Internet.Online self-expansion embodied in five aspects:the acquisition of new identities and roles,the increase of knowledge or resources,the ascension of feelings of competence,the acquisition of new angle of view,and sense of personal growth.(2)To develop the corresponding measuring tool,firstly,the initial questionnaire items was developed basing on the existing measuring tools of self-expansion,and the interview contents in the above study.Then,the preliminary survey and final survey was conducted among 411 and 486 undergraduate students respectively.At last,exploratory factor analysis,reliability analysis and validity analysis were conducted on these data.The results showed that,the final version of Self-expansion questionnaire consisted of sixteen items,which could be divided into three dimensions:the acquisition of new experience and new angle of view,the acquisition of new identities and sense of personal growth,as well as the increase of knowledge or resources.This questionnaire had good reliability and structure validity,and could be used as an effective measurement tool for online self-expansion.(3)As online self-expansion is a new phenomena and concept,it needs more empirical evidence.This study aimed to provide empirical basis for self-expansion from the perspective of self-related information processing,in both behavioral and cognitive neuroscience level.First,50 urtdergraduate students were recruited in the visual search task,Participant' own name,nickname,a friend's name,and a name of celebrity were used as experimental materials.And the results showed that,there existed no significant difference on the visual search speeds for participants' own name and frequently-used nickname,while the search speeds for these two names were significantly faster than that of reference names(name of a friend,and name of a celebrity).Then,15 undergraduate students were recruited in the ERP experiment with Oddball paradigm,participant' own name,nickname,a name of celebrity,and a name of stranger were used as experimental materials.And the results showed that,there also existed no significant difference on the amplitude and latency of P3 induced by participants' own name and frequently-used nickname,while the amplitude and latency of P3 induced by these two names were significantly higher or longer than that induced by the name of a celebrity and the name of a stranger.These two results revealed that,individuals showed the similar processing advantage for the information related to online self(one's nickname)and real self(one's own name),namely the self onlie was icluded into individuals' self.This further provided empirical evidence for online self-expansion.(4)On the basis of the study above,in order to further provide the empirical basis for self-expansion from the perspective of self-knowledge' structure,a questionnaire survey about self-expansion online,self-complexity,and self-concept clarity,was conducted among 847 undergraduate students.The results showed that,online self-expansion could significantly positively predicted self-concept clarity,while could significantly negatively predicted self-complexity.This suggested that,online self-expansion was bound to reflect on the structure of one' self-knowledge,which also provided further empirical evidence for online self-expansion.(5)To examine the adaptational functions of online self-expansion,a questionnaire survey about self-expansion online,internet use,depression,general self-efficacy,life satisfaction,as well as the positive and negative affect,was conducted among 1108 undergraduate students.The results showed that,internet was positively correlated with online self-expansion;online self-expansion was also positively correlated with general self-efficacy and subjective well-being,while negatively correlated with depression.Further analysis of mediating effect showed that,online self-expansion could play a mediating role in the effect of Internet use on individuals' social adaption(general self-efficacy,subjective well-being,and depression).These results revealed that,online self-expansion has the similar adaptational functions with the self-expansion in real life.Combining the social background of information era with the core issue of psychology,from the perspective of self-expansion,this study investigated the conceptual structure and measurement of online self-expansion,and its empirical evidences and adaptational functions.The results revealed that,internet expanded one's self,namely,the online self is the expansion and extension of one,s real self.This only could deepen our understanding on the essence of Internet and Self,as well as the relationship between them,but also could integrate the relevant research on Internet and Self,and make us view the influence of Internet on individuals more in-depth and comprehensively.