Even an expert eye does not escape the fact that there are significant differences in behavior in the usual use that people make social network.
In fact, there are subjects who often update their “state” by commenting on daily activities, sharing external content or exposing controversies on certain topics; while other individuals use the network especially for observe the activities of otherswithout exposing yourself that much.
In recent years, some investigations have turned to the possible link between Personality aspects and patterns of Use of social mediawithout however obtaining unique or significant data.
Recently a pool of American psychologists (Hart et al., 2015) has again opened the topic by proposing an analysis of the association between Use of Facebook and personalityusing the adult attachment model as a theoretical frame.
With the term “adult attachment style” we refer to the set of thoughts, emotions and behaviors of each individual within the intimate relationships (Mikulincner & Shacer, 2007).
These peculiar relational methodswhich base their origin in the “internal operating models”-that is, the representations of themselves and others, developed following the relationships of child-generator attachment (Bowlby, 1969/1988)-influence individual attitudes even in the wider social relationships, as well as in narrow ones (Mikulincer & Shacer, 2007).
There are two dimensions that connote adult attachment styles: anxiety and avoidance.
The “insecure” attachment styles On the one hand, they are characterized by an hyperactivation of the attachment system and, on the other, by a deactivation of the attachment itself.
While in the first case the anxious dimension that pushes the individual to conquer the affection of others and constantly seek intimacy in relationships, in the second style, in the second style avoidance with a clear reduction in the search for intimacy and an increased emotional autonomy. Finally it “safe” attachment style It is characterized by low anxiety and low avoidance.
Given the undisputed utility of this model in understanding the individual motivations that guide social behaviors, Hart and colleagues have hypothesized that the subjects with anxious attachmentguided by abandonment expectations within relationships and therefore very sensitive to the judgment of others and very inclined to create early intimacy in relationships, they could seek – even in the use of Facebook – greater attentions and positive feedback (the well -known “likes”).
On the contrary the style of preventive attachmenttypical of those who feel uncomfortable with respect to intimacy and with the tendency to neglect relational needs, could prepare individuals to maintain a “safety distance” in their involvement even in the “social community”, limiting the shares of their “states” and showing themselves in the least worried about the judgments of others.
The study (Hart et al., 2015), which involved a group of 267 participants between 19 and 73 years old, all of American nationality but of different ethnic extraction, has assessed the Adult attachment styles of these subjects, some personality variables (introversion/extroversion) and their patterns in theUse of Facebookaccording to the following parameters: sensitivity to others ‘feedback, search for others’ feedback, attention received from others, management of the privacy of your profile and general level of activity (time spent on Facebook, access frequency, quantity of comments made to updates of the atri users).
The results of the investigation highlighted a positive association between style of anxious attachment And individual inclination towards a use of Facebook characterized by varied state updates and frequent comments and shares.
In addition, individuals with anxious style appeared significantly more worried than others’ feedback and therefore more attentive to the appreciation that their “posts” could receive.
Against forecasts, the style of preventive attachment Instead, it was not a predictive of a lower use of Facebook: the less active participants on this plan were found to be (quite intuitively!) The more introverted ones.
One of the possible explanations of the non -significance of the link between avoiding style and divestment in social media can also be linked to the fact that the avoidant subjects do not feel very threatened by the involvement on Facebook which is in any case lower than the degree of intimacy that can be expected in common relational contexts.
In conclusion, the investigation by Hart and colleagues seems to have opened an interesting study area that will surely be deepened in the near future, the date of the use of Facebook and social networks is increasingly having in our lives, up to constitute a context of alternative socialization (to the real one) which, however virtual, generates and reinforces real relational dynamics.
