How strong is the association between social media use and false consensus?
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In series of studies, we sought to assess the extent to which social media use was related to the false consensus effect. Study 1 (N = 493) and Study 2 (N = 364, preregistered) assessed the relationship between social media use and the false consensus effect for three psychological characteristics: political attitudes, personality traits, and fundamental social motives. Study 3 (N = 875) explored lay beliefs about the strength of the relationships between social media use and false consensus effects. Across studies, we found that heavier use of social media was associated with stronger false consensus effects. However, these effects were smaller in magnitude than lay beliefs about these linkages.
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Heavy social media users are prone to false consensus effects, overestimating how widely held their views are.
“In fact, heavy social media users are prone to false consensus effects, meaning they overestimate how widely held their views are (Bunker & Varnum 2021).”
From Social Media and Morality. (2024) · cites this paper as Bunker & Varnum 2021
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- Authors
- Bunker, C. J., & Varnum, M. E. W.
- Affiliations
- Arizona State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Bunker, Cameron J.
- Venue
- Computers in Human Behavior
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2021-12
- Volume
- 125
- Pages
- 106947
- ISSN
- 0747-5632 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3178071136
- Cited by
- 30
- References
- 55
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 1 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 5.20
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Computers in Human Behavior (publishedVersion)
- PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Arizona State University
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Social Sciences › Communication › Social Media and Politics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
- Keywords
- social media use, false consensus effect, political attitudes, personality traits, fundamental social motives, lay beliefs, self-other perception
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