University of Wisconsin-Madison, 53706, USA.
Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 2013 Mar;39(3):321-31. doi: 10.1177/0146167212474694. Epub 2013 Jan 28.
Social network sites, such as Facebook, have acquired an unprecedented following, yet it is unknown what makes them so attractive to users. Here we propose that these sites' popularity can be understood through the fulfillment of ego needs. We use self-affirmation theory to hypothesize why and when people spend time on their online profiles. Study 1 shows that Facebook profiles are self-affirming in the sense of satisfying users' need for self-worth and self-integrity. Study 2 shows that Facebook users gravitate toward their online profiles after receiving a blow to the ego, in an unconscious effort to repair their perceptions of self-worth. In addition to illuminating some of the psychological factors that underlie Facebook use, the results provide an important extension to self-affirmation theory by clarifying how self-affirmation operates in people's everyday environments.
社交网站（如 Facebook）拥有前所未有的用户群体，但尚不清楚是什么让它们对用户如此有吸引力。在这里，我们提出，这些网站的受欢迎程度可以通过满足用户的自我需求来理解。我们使用自我肯定理论来假设人们为什么以及何时会花时间在他们的在线个人资料上。研究 1 表明，Facebook 个人资料在满足用户自我价值和自我完整性的需求方面具有自我肯定的意义。研究 2 表明，在自尊心受到打击后，Facebook 用户会被吸引到他们的在线个人资料中，这是一种无意识地修复自我价值感的努力。除了阐明一些构成 Facebook 使用基础的心理因素外，这些结果还通过阐明自我肯定在人们日常环境中的运作方式，为自我肯定理论提供了重要的扩展。
