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Running head: SOCIAL INFLUENCES ON BEHAVIORAL CHANGES & MOTIVATION

Does Social Media & Social Factors effect Motivation and Influence Lifestyle Changes

Rochelle L. Myers

Department of Psychology, Mansfield University

Research Methods 2

Dr. Craig

April 29, 2020

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SOCIAL INFLUENCES ON BEHAVIORAL CHANGES & MOTIVATION

Does Social Media & Social Factors effect Motivation and Influence Lifestyle Changes

Health has always been linked and measured by certain behaviors, or certain lifestyle

habits. This is largely seen in behaviors of a female collegiate athletes’ choices (Greenleaf et al.,

2009). In female athletes, the prevalence on body weight and appearance of themselves

compared to others, is largely a behavior that leads to different lifestyle changes or choices.

Greenleaf, Petrie, Carter, and Reel found that these changes in sports teams, and specifically in

collegiate women athletes, lead to them being directly affected health wise by these lifestyle

choices, that are later seen as unhealthy choices and behaviors to change. Health is influenced by

lifestyle changes and behaviors.

Others Motivation & Lifestyle can Affect Behaviors

Overtime, humans have learned how to conform to certain behaviors that they are

exposed to, especially in certain behaviors demonstrated in their peers and those they surround

themselves with (Kim et al.,2019). This sense of conformity changes one’s motivation in certain

things they may not have had before or their lifestyle choices, because they see how others

handle certain choices. Conforming is a natural behavior for humans to act in because they know

that they are accepted by others if they go along with what others are doing. In women’s’ bodies

specifically, there is a lot of depiction that comes from other people and in Instagram, on how

one should really look. In Witt et al. (2019) they found that this platform of media does not

moderately show enough of everybody type and leaving out body types that are considered “fat”,

“overweight”, “underweight”, anything that does not clearly fit the standard. This is similar to

how others are then motivated to change in order to reach these standards or fit in with the rest of

their peers. Conforming to peers whether it be direct or indirect interactions, changes how people
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SOCIAL INFLUENCES ON BEHAVIORAL CHANGES & MOTIVATION

see each other and are left with the influences by what they see or are surrounded by, whether it

be positive or negative motivating factors and behaviors.

Effects of Social Media on Behaviors

There are multiple platforms of social media, which makes it hard in today’s society to

not be exposed to the pressures that come with it in some way or another. In Ceglarek and Wards

research, they found that social networking sites and social media platforms are a huge part on

how younger adults, specifically teenagers, develop their identity and a sense of who they are

and how they connect with others. This social identity usually makes it very hard for young

adults to feel good about themselves and finding their identities. In the study it stated this by

showing how much of a negative impact social media had on these particular heterosexual young

adults and their mental health. Social media is designed to help us connect with others, but in

doing so, it gets twisted by the societal norms and corrupted by standards and can do the opposite

of having us feel connected. It can make people feel isolated and outcasted, like these teenagers

who had more issues and setbacks in finding their own sense of self and who they wanted to

become.

Social media also is linked to our health and behaviors regarding our health. In Levula et

al. (2016) study, they found how our mental health, in all stages of life are directly associated

with social network factors. It goes on to show that one’s health is affected physically and

mentally by social networks and should be addressed sooner than later in order to prevent the

development of negative health outcomes in adolescents who are already exposed to such

volume of social media and the networks influences.

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SOCIAL INFLUENCES ON BEHAVIORAL CHANGES & MOTIVATION

Social Media & Social Factors Effect Motivation & Influence Lifestyle Changes

Out of all the platforms of social media, Instagram directly affects how its users perceive

body image, whether it being their own or others (Stein et al. 2019). Later on, in Steins research,

they found that this social media and the influence that it had on people’s lifestyles directly

turned into them later developing eating disorders. Social media in this particular study, shows

how critically it can influence lifestyle changes, even if they are negative lifestyle changes for

people. Stein, Krause, and Ohler also found that there was an “overwhelming sense of vanity” in

all of these social media platforms. The viewers of these platforms constantly are aspiring to be

the model that they see portrayed on Instagram or the health influencer, yet those that are

portrayed as the “ideal” or “perfect” body, are struggling to maintain that weight or have the

same body image issues as those that are looking up to them. This study portrays a level of

certainty that social media has on one’s motivation and influence to change their own lifestyles

because it is simply what they see and what they compare themselves to daily. In Sherlock et al.

(2019) they saw that the more time spent on Instagram specifically, the worse that women’s self-

esteem got. They also saw that this directly correlated with higher depressive symptoms, anxiety,

and so on.

Statement of Hypotheses

For the study we conducted, the effects of social media and social factors on motivation and

lifestyle changes will be thoroughly observed. It is hypothesized that

1. Social Media, Specifically Tik Tok, usage (high/low) will influence mental health

levels of the users.

2. Social media, specifically Tik Tok, usage (high/low) will influence eating choices of

the users.
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SOCIAL INFLUENCES ON BEHAVIORAL CHANGES & MOTIVATION

Methods

Participants

The participants within this study were going to be recruited from Intro to General

Psychology classes at Mansfield University. All of the participants would voluntarily sign

themselves up when passing around the sheet within these classrooms. In order for this study to

work, there will need to be 50-100 participants to be involved. All those attending class, that

signed up to be a part of the study ranged in age from 18-24. The participants were split up into

two groups, controlled and experimental by random sampling. All participants, in both groups

were required to fill out an informed consent form before the study started. They were allowed to

proceed with the research study, upon completion of this form.

Materials

For both the controlled and experimental group, they will be given questionnaires needed

to complete as well as watch a Tik Tok video and be able to respond to that. The participants will

also be given the opportunity to have a snack that is going to be a part of the study design and

prepared in advance. Along with those, the participants will also be asked to fill out 3 different

inventories for further assessment. They will be given the Beck depression inventory, and

anxiety inventory, as well as a self-esteem scale.

Beck Depression Inventory. This inventory measured characteristic and attitudes that are linked

and symptoms of depression. It is a 21 item questionnaire that is self-reported and takes about 10

minutes to totally complete. The internal consistency for the BDI rages from .73 to .92 with a

mean of .86 (Beck et al. 1988).

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SOCIAL INFLUENCES ON BEHAVIORAL CHANGES & MOTIVATION

Beck Anxiety Inventory. This measures the presence of anxiety in adolescents as well as adults

and to what extent the anxiety is. It consists of a 21 item questionnaire that is self-reported. The

internal consistency for the BAI is Cronbach’s a=0.92.

Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale. This scale is a self-reported 10 item questionnaire that asks and

measures both positive and negative feelings that one has towards themselves. It is also a 4 point

Likert scale design that ranges from strongly agree to strongly disagree.

Other Materials. Both the control and experimental group will receive a questionnaire that they

are designed to fill out as a pretest and posttest, assessing how the Tik Tok video affected them

and if there was any change in how they felt previously before watching it and after. This will be

a short questionnaire, and self-reported by each participant.

Procedure

After recruitment of the participants, they were then put into a random assignment. After

that, the participants were then asked to come to the study attend at a certain time. Before all of

the participants arrived at the actual study, the snacks were prepared on a table in the back and

the video that was being presented was ready to start and pulled up when they all arrived. The

questionnaire packets and informed consent forms were also laid out on the tables for where they

all chose to sit in the classroom.

During the actual study, the participants were asked to fill out the informed consent form

first, before completing anything else. They all were also informed from this sheet that at any

point if they felt they no longer wanted to be a part of this study or complete the study

requirements; they were allowed to leave at any time without question. Once that was taken care

of and collected, the participants were all then asked to complete a demographic form. This was

then the part of the study where they were given the questionnaires and asked to fill them out
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SOCIAL INFLUENCES ON BEHAVIORAL CHANGES & MOTIVATION

honestly. Once that was done, the participants all watched a short TikTok video compilation of

different types of body shapes and sizes to depict an ideal or perceived “healthy” body type. The

next part of the study is to then allow the participants to pick up a snack and observe their choice

of snack after watching this video. There will be both “healthier” choices of snacks as well as

snacks considered more like “junk food”. Once they all sit back down and have their snack of

their choice, they will then be asked to fill out another small set of questions.

After all of the questions, snacks, and video is administered to the participants, they will

be thanked for their participation and their time and dismissed from the study. Then all of the

scores will be calculated individually. Also, all of the observations that were made about what

snack they chose would be compared to their results from their questionnaires as well as sorted.

Then all of the data will be organized and calculated into SPSS.

Analysis

The study consists of both an experimental group as well as a controlled group, that are divided

by their self-rated high or low social media/Tik Tok usage. The data will be analyzed using the

SPSS, and scoring of the questionnaires both pre and post, Beck Depression Inventory (BDI),

Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and the Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale. A T-Test with a p-value

of .05 will be used to further analyze the data that will be conducted as well.
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References:

Beck, A. T., Steer, R. A., & Brown, G. K. (1996). Beck depression inventory-II. San Antonio,

78(2), 490-498.

Beck, A. T., Steer, R.A., & Garbin, M.G. (1988) Psychometric properties of the Beck Depression

Inventory: Twenty-five years of evaluation. Clinical Psychology Review, 8(1), 77-100.

Greenleaf, C., Petrie, T. A., Carter, J., & Reel, J. J. (2009). Female Collegiate Athletes:

Prevalence of Eating Disorders and Disordered Eating Behaviors. Journal of American

College Health,

Hong, Y., & Kim, S. (2019). Influence of Presumed Media Influence for Health Prevention: How

Mass Media Indirectly Promote Health Prevention Behaviors through Descriptive Norms.

Health communication, 1-11.

Levula, Andrew, Wilson, Andrew, & Harré, Michael. (2016). The association between social

network factors and mental health at different life stages. Quality of Life Research.

Rosenberg, M. (1965). Rosenberg self-esteem scale (RSE). Acceptance and commitment

therapy.

Measures package, 61(52), 18.

Sherlock, M., & Wagstaff, D. L. (2019). Exploring the relationship between frequency of

Instagram use, exposure to idealized images, and psychological well-being in women.

Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 8(4), 482.

Steer, R. A., & Beck, A. T. (1997). Beck Anxiety Inventory.

Stein, J.-P., Krause, E., & Ohler, P. (2019). Every (Insta)Gram counts? Applying cultivation

theory to explore the effects of Instagram on young users’ body image. Psychology of

Popular Media Culture. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000268

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Witt, A., Suzor, N., & Huggins A., (2019). The rule of law on Instagram: An evaluation of the

moderation of images depicting women's bodies.