Spontaneous approach reactions toward social media cues

Abstract

Why is it difficult to resist social media temptations? One reason might be that social media users have strong and spontaneous approach reactions to social media cues. In the present study, daily Facebook users (N = 228) completed a Stimulus-Response Compatibility (SRC) task, which assessed their spontaneous approach reactions to Facebook cues. Results showed that participants were faster in approaching than avoiding Facebook related (vs. control) pictures, regardless of their general tendency to experience Facebook self-control failures. Thus, contrary to expectations, spontaneous approach reactions to social media cues were not related to people's daily experienced social media self-control failure.

Publication
In: COMPUTERS IN HUMAN BEHAVIOR, (103), pp. 101-108, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2019.08.028