Li, W., Knobloch-Westerwick, S., Sude, D.J., & Cosma, C. (2023). “You see you” (UCU): Self-representation affordance moderates bandwagon-cues’ impacts on selective exposure. Media Psychology.
For a free eprint, see:
https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/DUPBJEZNHQBNG74SQ9MZ/full?target=10.1080/15213269.2023.2256662
In this article, my colleagues, Wenbo Li, Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick, and our always-capable student programmer, Chris Cosma, tested and refined, across two studies, Dr. Knobloch-Westerwick’s User Connectedness and Uniqueness Model (UCU) model. Note: Dr. Knobloch-Westerwick originated the theory. Dr. Li and Dr. Knobloch-Westerwick led the study development and data collection. My primary tasks were theory refinement, clarification of cour contribution to the field, and presentation of statistical analyses.
The UCU model takes the psychological concept of optimal distinctiveness and uses it as a lens through which to understand the psychology of social media. In this project we combined experimental manipulation of user self-representations (e.g., profiles) and observed browsing behavior for content randomly assigned to different amounts of aggregate user statistics (e.g., likes). To this end, Mr. Cosma constructed a custom-built emulation of a social media environment.
The key takeaway from study 1 is that when users become too focused on their individual selves, browsing popular social media content can bring balance, restoring their sense of connection to a broader community of users; when instead users feel too publicly “exposed,” they may spend more time on niche content.
From the UCU model perspective, niche content provides two potential rewards, each reflecting conceptualizations of optimal distinctiveness in social psychology. On the one hand, niche content may make the user feel special, their knowledge of niche content can help them to stand out from the crowd. On the other hand, it can also be easier to imagine forming valuable social connections with a smaller group of people. It’s hard to truly relate to a massive crowd.
For the second study of this paper, which launched in the lead up to the 2020 election in the U.S., the political content we employed had more sway over people’s behavior. This time, users who were more privately focused read content that was both popular and like-minded. According to the UCU model, a large and like-minded public is best for restoring our sense of social connection when we are feeling too aware of our individuality.
Further, potentially because of the politically polarized environment, and potentially because of a clever change in the study design, users who were too publicly focused did not simply seek out niche content. Instead, their exposure patterns were more balanced, with reading time distributed equally across popular and niche, politically likeminded and politically differentminded, content. The change in study design was as follows: Users were constantly reminded that other people were on the site with them, as these individual’s names and profile avatars were displayed while the participant browsed. Constantly reminded of the presence of other people, in a pre-election context characterized by heightened social polarization, it seems that participants may have engaged in balanced browsing to prepare for whatever audience they would encounter, either on the site itself or out there in a polarized world.
When should you use the UCU model? Think about the UCU model whenever you are considering how people position themselves between the popular and the niche in order to navigate the rewards and punishments of social life.
Daniel Sude Consulting 