New Media Challenges Social contagion on social media

Flashcards on Social Contagion

Social or behavioural contagion

The propensity for a person to copy a certain behavior of others who are either in the vicinity, or whom they have been exposed to.

Social norms

Rules or standards that are understood by members of a group, and that guide and/or constrain social behavior without the force of law.

Theory of normative behaviour

A theory that delineates conditions under which descriptive norms affect behavior, noting that norms do not always guarantee influence.

Social contagion

Copying behaviours of existing users.

Defining emotional contagion

The process by which the emotions of a perceiver become more similar to those of others as a result of exposure to these emotions.

Mimicry

Mimicking or copying emotional expressions.

Category activation

Stimulation of emotional processes.

Social appraisal

Individual looking up to others’ emotions in appraising their own emotions and stimulating similar emotions.

Experimental observation – emotional contagion on Facebook

Captured participants’ subsequent posting behavior. Negativity/positivity of post determined by automated content analysis (based on linguistic inquiry and word count software)

Descriptive Norm

The perceived prevalence of a behavior in a population