Effects of Social Media on the Self-Esteem of Selected Female Third Year College Students of San

Beda College

An Undergraduate Thesis Proposal

Presented to
the Faculty of the Department of Psychology
College of Arts and Sciences
San Beda College
In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree
Bachelor of Science in Psychology

By:
Foronda, Elaine Louise
Gelito, Kaila Marie
Leonador, Anjaelou Blesz
Santos, Ma. Porscha Audrey
2016
TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Theoretical Framework
Social media have been widely accepted because of its beneficial advantages to the everyday
lives of every individuals. One advantage of this is that people are now more open to expressing
themselves. Second, it gives people more information about the trending topic hassle-free. Third, it
promotes a more effective communication to people who are distant with each other.
According to a psychologist named Alfred Adler, social influence plays an important role to an
individual to become motivated and to strive for success (Feist & Feist, 2013). But over a decade ago, it
has been thought to promote negative psychosocial well-being (Gonzales & Hancock, 2011).
Social media sites are designed to share information about the self with others, including
likes/dislikes, hobbies, and personal musings via wall posts, and status updates. One famous social
media is Facebook. It has been believed that Facebook (FB) can enhance the social self-esteem of
individuals, measured as perceptions of ones physical appearance, close relationships, and romantic
appeal, especially when users received positive feedback from Facebook friends. According to Maslows
theory, it is important for an individual to sustain his or her needs to feel love, be loved and the sense of
belonging (Feist & Feist, 2013). Also, individuals with low self-esteem may see particularly positive
benefits from the social opportunities provided by Facebook (Gonzales & Hancock, 2011). According to
Objective Self Awareness (OSA) theory, humans experience the self as both objective and subjective.
Conscious attention is bidirectional one can focus either on noticeable aspects of the self (objective selfawareness) or noticeable aspects of the environment (subjective self-awareness) (Vallacher, 1978). For
example, the self as subject is found in daily experiences of life (e.g., waiting for the taxi to arrive, eating
dinner, watching TV). In those experiences the self is an active participant in life and is not selfconscious. However, people become the object of [their] own consciousness when they focus attention
on the self, which can have both positive and negative effects. People are prone to self-evaluation based
on broader social standards and norms (Duval & Wicklund, 1972). This usually results in a greater sense
of self-effacement, or reduced ratings of self, and increased pro-social behavior. Focusing attention on the
self brought about objective self-awareness, which initiated an automatic comparison of the self against
standards (Silvia & Duval, 2001). Another supporting concept is the Hyperpersonal Model (Walther,
1996). Walther posits that affordances of the internet allow users to selectively self-present themselves in
asynchronous media. People can take their time when posting information about themselves, carefully

selecting what aspects they would like to emphasize. One evidence of selective self-presentation can be
seen in social media dating sites, e-mails, Facebook and Twitter.
Conceptual Framework
Statement of the Problem
The present study wants to investigate the effects of likes in the social media in the self-esteem of
selected female third year college students. Specifically, it aims to answer the question:

1. Does the number of likes they get on Facebook affect the self-esteem of the selected female
college students?
Hypothesis
In this study, we hypothesize that there is a big impact in the self-esteem of the selected female
students the number of likes they get from Facebook.
Significance of the Study
The significance of this research is to have an understanding on how social networking sites
affects the self-esteem of a person based on the likes they get, specifically on Facebook. Furthermore, this
research will serve as a guide and a theoretical model for future studies involving self-esteem and social
media. The researchers also aim to know if the likes that the participants' get on Facebook decrease or
increase their self-esteem.
Definition of terms

CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW
Facebook is one of the social networking sites available around the world. It was established in
2004, and since then, it has grown stronger. It provides technological features that allow users to present
their identity with personal information to others such as friends, family members, co-workers or even
strangers. Users can also share status, photos, videos, messaging and more with their friends on the
network. Users also have the right to hide their photos, videos or status on the network. Facebook has
attracted a big amount of people every day. Many people are gradually getting addicted to it because it is
a great social networking site for users to stay in touch with friends and family members. (Omolayo,
Balogun, & Omole, 2013). Lenhart and Madden (2007) presented the viewpoint of several adolescents
who participated in a focus group in which they indicated that they associated positive feelings with
friends posting on their profile wall.
Self-esteem
Self-esteem is defined "as a subjective and realistic self-approval. According to this definition,
low self-esteem would be characterized by negative emotions associated with the various roles in which a
person operates and by either low personal value or inaccurate self-perceptions (Denti et al.,2012).
Rosenberg (1965) also made an important contribution to defining self-esteem by introducing the concept
of worthiness. Worthiness is whether a person judge himself/herself as good or bad. It is an evaluative
attitude towards oneself and the extent to which the individual believes himself/herself to be capable,
significant, successful and worthy. Further, self-esteem was important to a persons identity and
awareness, and that high and low self-esteem would influence behavior in positive and negative ways
respectively. Humans have a need for self-esteem, and it is essential that self-esteem should be maintained
and/or raised for quality of life (Kramer & Winter, 2008).
Facebook and Self-esteem
Kross et al. (2013) reported that loneliness was a significant contributor to Facebook. Their study
shows how Facebook use is linked to declines in subjective well-being, including how people feel from
moment to moment and how satisfied they feel with their lives.
Additional study suggested that Facebook and online social networking is associated with several
psychiatric disorders, including depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem (Pantic, 2014).
Similarly, results of another study indicated that social comparisons made on Facebook are
associated with depressive symptoms. Engaging in frequent social comparisons can negatively impact

ones mental well-being. Even further, individuals with low self-esteem may end up feeling worse due to
the effects of social comparison on social networking sites such as Facebook (Steers, Wickham, &
Acitelli, 2014).
However, some studies indicated that there were some positive effects of Facebook on selfesteem. One study found that Facebook can enhance social self-esteem, including perceptions of ones
physical appearance, relationships, and romantic appeal, especially when one receives positive feedback
from their peers, notably their friends on Facebook (Gonzalez & Hancock, 2011).
This was reinforced by a study of Tazghini & Seidlecki (2013) that people with high self-esteem
reported that they like the ability to share pictures, thoughts, and ideas with others compared to
individuals with low self-esteem.
Synthesis
Some studies found positive effects, and yet other studies found no significant differences
between Facebook and self-esteem. One reason may account for the inconsistent findings on the effects
of Facebook on the self-esteem. Many studies have treated the independent variable Facebook use,
Internet use or the overall time spent on Facebook as a one dimensional-construct. It seems only few have
systematically investigated a specific feature of Facebook that may affect the self-esteem of an individual.
Based on the gaps identified, we aim to measure self-esteem of female students according to the number
of likes they have acquired on Facebook (posts, pictures, shares, etc.).

REFERENCES
Denti, L., Nilsson, I., Barbopoulos, I., Holmberg, L., Thulin, M., Wendeblad, M., Davidsson, E.
Swedens Largest Facebook Study: A Survey of 1,000 Swedish Facebook Users. Gothenburg
Research Institute, April 2, 2012.
Gonzales, A. & Hancock, J. (2011). Mirror, mirror on my Facebook wall: Effects of exposure to Facebook
on self-esteem. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 14(1-2), 79-83.
Kramer CN, & Winter S (2008). Impression management 2.0: the relationship of self-esteem,
extraversion, self-efficacy, and self-presentation within social networking sites. Journal of Media
Psychology, 20(3), 106116.
Krosss, E., Verduyn, P., Demiralp, E., Park, J., Lee, D.S., Lin, N., et al. (2013) Facebook Use Predicts
Declines in Subjective Well-Being in Young Adults. PLoS ONE, 8(8): e69841.
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0069841
Lenhart, A., & Madden, M. (2007). Teens, privacy and online social networks: How teens manage their
online identities and personal information in the age of MySpace. Retrieved from
http://www.pewinternet.org/~/media//Files/Reports/2007/PIP_Teens_Privacy_SN
S_Report_Final.pdf.pdf
Omolayo, B.O., Balogun, S.K., & Omole, O.C. (2013). Influence of exposure to facebook on self-esteem.
European Scientific Journal, 9(11), 148-159.
Rosenberg, M. (1965) Quoted in Cross, K.P. Adults as learners. London: Jossey-Bass, 1981
Steers, M., Wickham, R., & Acitelli, L. (2014). Seeing everyone elses highlight reels: how Facebook
usage is linked to depressive symptoms. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 33(8), 701731.
Tazghini, S. & Siedlecki, K. (2013). A mixed approach to examining Facebook use and its relationship to
self-esteem. Computers in Human Behavior, 29, 827-832.

CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
Design
Participants
Measures
Procedure
Data Analysis
Limitations of the Study
Only the selected third year female college students are given the chance to participate in the
study. This study only focuses in the students with age ranging from 19 to 20 years old. The researchers
will concentrate to a certain location, which is San Beda College Mendiola. The present study only
focuses on the department (Department of Psychology) out of the ten remaining departments (Department
of Accountancy, Department of Legal Management, Department of Economics, Department of Marketing,
Department of Human Biology, Department of Operations Management, Department of Entrepreneurship,
Department of Financial Management, Department of Human Resource Development Management,
Department of Information and Communications Technology) of the college since it is more convenient
to the researchers and can also be a factor to them to meet the target of the allotted time given to them.

REFERENCES