The Brunswikian Lens Model describes the process of how we evaluated and make inferences of the personality characteristics of others based on their behavior cues. This model makes the assumption that behavior is a byproduct of personality and should be judged as such. We as observers should consider these environmental cues as a lens through which to view targets. Cue validity refers to a cue correctly representing the target’s personality. Cue utilization refers to the fact that observers do not make inferences based on all cues, but select certain environmental cues. Functional achievement is the link between the two when cue validity and cue utilization both happen. In other words, the observer makes an accurate inference about the target’s personality by choosing a cue that is reflective of the target’s personality.
For this assignment, I choose to analyze Beth, a facebook friend who I am an acquaintance of. I found her to be overly bubbly and slightly annoying. I noticed she has 693 friends at her school, which is highly suspicious. She also has added many of the new applications, meaning I have to scroll down for five minutes to reach her long list of groups. She has a detailed and perky information section. My cue utilization focuses on her daily, sometimes hourly status, updating (which is the biggest annoyance). This made me think she is a needy person who spends too much time on facebook. As for cue validity, my knowledge of her over time shows that this is true. Since my inference has both cue validity and utilization, functional achievement occurs.
According to Goslin et al., there are four mechanisms that link individuals to environment. First, self-directed identity claims are statements by the target that benefit the target and reinforce self-view. This would be the about me section where Beth states she is a social butterfly, which is something she probably believes about herself and is reassuring herself is true. Second, other directed identity claims are statements by the target to reinforce desired view by others. This would include the number of groups Beth joined that are “socially desirable” such as “ridiculously good looking people”. This is something she wants to be associated with by people who view her facebook. Third, interior behavioral residue is a reflection of past behaviors or possible future behavior within the immediate environment. Beth’s minifeed whos me that she recently updated asking friends to pet her facebook pet falls under this category since it reflect behavior within facebook of needing people to be active and involved with her profile. Fourth, exterior behavioral residue is a reflection of past behaviors or possible future behavior outside the immediate environment. Her update about her being unable to stay awake in bio class is an example since this tells me something about her personality outside of facebook.
I can make inferences on Beth’s personality based on my observations. Beth’s extremely cheerful personality, as judged by her posts and about me, made me think she is a bit neurotic. Her constant facebook activity such as excessive status updating and adding new friends made me think of her as extroverted. I consider her open since she has a reveals personal details on her facebook wall such as about her strengths and weaknesses in the about me section (social butterfly who is a sucker for musicians). Reading the content of her notes and updates, I saw that she is generally agreeable and makes positive and upbeat comments. Her lack of response to other people’s comments on her wall makes me think she is not very conscientious. This was hard for me to judge, so I looked at her wall-to-wall conversations to see if and to what extent she responded to other people.
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5 comments:
Linda,
Most people analyzed a friend’s facebook profile, which made this assignment a lot easier. Your post stood out to me because you took the extra step to examine the profile of an acquaintance, making your observations much more objective. I’ve seen many people like Beth who have overly comprehensive facebook profiles, decked out with applications and seemingly meaningless groups. She was probably trying to capitalize on the assimilation effect, which states that people judge others based who they associate themselves with. I think it is interesting that you looked at her wall-to-wall conversations because we discussed in class today how wall-posts have greater effects than photos. You judged her as neurotic and not conscientious based on her wall-posts. I do agree that wall-posts are very telling, but it is important to remember that facebook users do have some degree of control over their wall-posts, since they can delete posts that are unfavorable. Overall, great job on a very thought-provoking post!
Linda,
Nice post! It is very informative, logical, and contains a lot of good information. A lot of the information you provided was factual, which made reading the post easier to understand and relate to. The overall topic is familiar and well-written. Nice job overall.
It was interesting to read a post about the Brunswikian Lens Model because I chose to do option #1 for this assignment. From your explanations, it is apparent that you really understand this topic and can relate to it. I enjoyed reading how you analyzed your acquaintance's Facebook profile. The constant scrolling down people's profile based on how many applications they have, has been a burdon of mine. Your comments about reading wall posts were also very intriguing and I agree that they display a lot of information about a person. Overall, nice job and I'm looking forward to reading more of your posts.
I liked your post because I feel that I can relate to it in many ways. I have noticed that many high school students are obsessed with facebook. Friends of mine who are in high school have way too many friends, wall posts, applications, and pictures. At first I thought they were needy people who wanted to look cool but took it a step too far. Then I realized that there is a whole new generation of Facebookers out there. I feel that we use facebook for its true intent-networking and keeping in touch with friends. Younger people feel that it is an essential part of their social scene, and obsess over sharing every little detail of their uninteresting lives with the rest of the world. Using the Brunswikian Model is a useful way of assessing someone but it still must be taken with a grain of salt. There is a lot of subjective interpretations that vary person to person. For example, you think that this girl is borderline annoying and has nothing better to do than go on facebook. I think she is just an average high school facebook participant, fitting in with the rest of her “generation”.
Overall you did a good job, and since she is your friend you probably know her better than I do. I feel you had a very good grasp of all components of the Model…great job!
Linda,
Great post! You clearly explained and applied the Brunswikian model in assessing your friend’s facebook profile. However, what I found interesting about your post was that you thought your friend was a “needy” person because she has over 600 friends and all the new facebook applications. I found it interesting because I have a friend just like Beth, who spends a lot of her time on facebook; however, instead of viewing her as “needy,” my impression of my friend is more positive because I tend to think that all those things indicate that she is a very active, involved, open, good at social networking and utilizing her networks.
Katherine
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