Facebook：真实的自我

美国UT-Austin大学的心理学教授Sam Gosling研究发现，在Facebook这样的社交网上，人们的个人形象接近真实，并没有大家所预想的那样，。
被试：
Facebook和德国StudiVZ、SchuelerVZ三个社交网上，236位与大学生年龄相仿的被试
实验程序：
让他们完成大五人格测试，并让他们描述他们理想中的自我。然后让他们浏览Facebook上，其他人（陌生人）的个人主页，并让他们评价这些人的性格。
结果：
尽管被试们所描述的理想中的性格，与真实性格可能会有所出入。但他们在Facebook上提供的信息，给其他人留下的印象却接近于他们真实的形象。而且，在大五人格的内向----外向维度上，他们给其他人所留下的印象与他们真实的性格十分靠近，而在神经质（neuroticism）维度上，最不准确。
解释：
通过这些社交网，人们想被其他人了解的欲望得到满足，而且人们也并没有夸大自己。这也许是这类网站兴旺的原因。
原文
Facebook Profiles Capture True Personality
http://www.utexas.edu/news/2009/12/01/facebook_psychology/
Online social networks such as Facebook are being used to express and communicate real personality, instead of an idealized virtual identity, according to new research from psychologist Sam Gosling at The University of Texas at Austin.
"I was surprised by the findings because the widely held assumption is that people are using their profiles to promote an enhanced impression of themselves," says Gosling of the more than 700 million people worldwide who have online profiles. "In fact, our findings suggest that online social networking profiles convey rather accurate images of the profile owners, either because people aren't trying to look good or because they are trying and failing to pull it off.
"These findings suggest that online social networks are not so much about providing positive spin for the profile owners, but are instead just another medium for engaging in genuine social interactions, much like the telephone."
Participant
236 profiles of college-aged people from the United States (Facebook) and Germany (StudiVZ, SchuelerVZ).
Procedure
The researchers used questionnaires to assess the profile owners' actual personality characteristics as well as their ideal-personality traits (how they wished to be). The personality traits included: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness.(Big Five)
In the study, observers rated the profiles of other people they did not know. These ratings were then compared to the profile owners' actual personality and their ideal-personality.
Results
Personality impressions based on online social network profiles were accurate and were not affected by profile owners' self-idealization.
Accuracy was strongest for extraversion—paralleling results of face-to-face encounters—and lowest for neuroticism. Those findings were consistent with previous research showing that neuroticism is difficult to detect without being in person.
"I think that being able to express personality accurately contributes to the popularity of online social networks in two ways," says Gosling. "First, it allows profile owners to let others know who they are and, in doing so, satisfies a basic need to be known by others. Second, it means that profile viewers feel they can trust the information they glean from online social network profiles, building their confidence in the system as a whole."