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Self‐expression and relationship formation in high relational mobility environments: A study of dual users of American and Japanese social networking sites
Author(s) -
Takemura Kosuke,
Suzuki Satoko
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
international journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.75
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1464-066X
pISSN - 0020-7594
DOI - 10.1002/ijop.12208
Subject(s) - dual (grammatical number) , psychology , social psychology , individualism , expression (computer science) , competition (biology) , social network (sociolinguistics) , dual role , association (psychology) , social media , world wide web , ecology , computer science , political science , art , chemistry , literature , law , combinatorial chemistry , psychotherapist , biology , programming language
This study proposes that self‐expression motivation, an aspect of independent/individualistic psychological tendencies, aids in the formation of social relationships when social relationships are open and mobile. In societies characterised by high relational mobility (e.g., North America), which creates market‐like competition in social relationships, individuals must express their uniqueness and worthiness to form new social relationships. Self‐expression motivation has a relatively weak effect on relationship formation in low relational mobility societies (e.g., Japan), where social relationships are generally predetermined. This hypothesis was examined and supported through a study on dual users of two social networking sites—Facebook and Mixi (the “Facebook of Japan”). As expected, relational mobility was higher on Facebook than on Mixi. Moreover, the association between self‐expression motivation and the number of new friends met on Facebook/Mixi was more positive for Facebook than it was for Mixi. The social functionality of independent tendencies is then discussed.