Have you ever stalked a friend on Facebook? Don’t shake your head, come on, we all have done it. A recent Ohio State University Study, provides us with some pretty interesting facts as to why we stalk.
The study results suggests that your mood directly effects whose profile you peruse on Facebook. For example, if you’re in a good mood you tend to look at people who are stereotypically “attractive and successful.” Conversely if you are in a bad mood “lurk around the profiles of people who have had more difficulties in their lives.”
Researchers used 168 undergrads to find how moods affect who you look at on Facebook. They began by assigning each student a “terrible” or “excellent” result in a previous exercise. Priming them for either a good or bad mood. Then they were instructed to look at a made-up social media sight called “Social-Link.” The page outlined 8 fake profiles, in which, the profile pictures were blurred out. The key ingredient of the study was the profiles rating system.
“If you need a self-esteem boost, you’re going to look at people worse off than you. You’re probably not going to be looking at the people who just got a great new job or just got married,” said Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick, Professor of Communications and Co-Author of the study.
Here is an image of the front page.
Where do you fit on the scale?
