Is There a Link between the Misconception that There is...

A popular misconception when it comes to college life is that almost every college student parties on the weekends and participates in binge drinking. Angela K. Fournier, Erin Hall, Patricia Ricke, and Brittany Storey performed this study to identify if there is a link between this misconception and the presence of alcohol-related content on social media such as Facebook and Twitter. One of the theories that Fournier, et al. (2013, p.86) discuss in the article is the Social Norms Theory. The idea of the Social Norms Theory is that our perceptions of how other people think and act affect how we think and act. The theory focuses mainly on how perceptions of unhealthy behavior can lead to more unhealthy behavior, such as binge drinking†¦show more content†¦Fournier, et al. (2013, p.88) proposed the hypothesis that â€Å"participants who viewed alcohol-related content [on Facebook] would estimate college alcohol norms to be higher than those shown a profile without alcohol-rela ted content†. To perform the study, 57 undergraduate college students were selected to participate. The students participated under the condition that they would receive extra-credit for a psychology class. Of the 57 participants, 18 were males and 39 were females. Ages of participants ranged from 18-33 with about 70% of them being freshman students. In this study, participants were randomly selected to view one of two fictional Facebook profiles created by Fournier, et al. One of the pages included alcohol-related content, while the other did not. After the participants were exposed to one of the profiles, they were then asked to fill out a questionnaire which asked about their use of social media, use of alcohol, participant’s perception of drinking norms in college, and also included questions about the profile they viewed (Fournier, et al. 2013, p.89). For the most part, Fournier, et al. came up with the results they expected to see to support their hypothesis. Jus t as they expected, almost 97% of the participants acknowledged that they use Facebook. Those who said they had an account spent a mean of 4.78 hours a weekShow MoreRelatedDeveloping Management Skills404131 Words   |  1617 PagesInterior Design: Suzanne Duda and Michael Fruhbeis Permissions Project Manager: Shannon Barbe Manager, Cover Visual Research Permissions: Karen Sanatar Manager Central Design: Jayne Conte Cover Art: Getty Images, Inc. Cover Design: Suzanne Duda Lead Media Project Manager: Denise Vaughn Full-Service Project Management: Sharon Anderson/BookMasters, Inc. Composition: Integra Software Services Printer/Binder: Edwards Brothers Cover Printer: Coral Graphics Text Font: 10/12 Weidemann-Book Credits and acknowledgments