Peer Influence via Instagram: Effects on Brain and Behavior in Adolescence and Young Adulthood
Open accessAbstract
Mobile social media often feature the ability to "Like" content posted by others. This study examined the effect of Likes on youths' neural and behavioral responses to photographs. High school and college students (N = 61, ages 13-21) viewed theirs and others' Instagram photographs while undergoing functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). Participants more often Liked photographs that appeared to have received many (vs. few) Likes. Popular photographs elicited greater activity in multiple brain regions, including the nucleus accumbens (NAcc), a hub of the brain's reward circuitry. NAcc responsivity increased with age for high school but not college students. When viewing images depicting risk-taking (vs. nonrisky photographs), high school students, but not college students, showed decreased activation of neural regions implicated in cognitive control.
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Instagram users' own pictures presented with many Likes elicit stronger activity in the ventral striatum than pictures with few Likes.
“The power of such feedback has also been proven neuroscientifically, when Instagram users are confronted with their own posted pictures from their account which were manipulated by being presented either with many or few ‘Likes’ (in this case hearts [74]). Pictures being presented with many Likes elicit stronger activity in the ventral striatum, an area involved of the processing of a rewards [74,”
From Addictive Features of Social Media/Messenger Platforms and Freemium Games against the Background of Psychological and Economic Theories (2019) · cites this paper as [75]
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- Authors
- Sherman, L. E., Greenfield, P. M., Hernandez, L. M., & Dapretto, M.
- Affiliations
- Temple University (US)
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Corresponding author
- Sherman, Lauren E
- Venue
- Child Development
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2018-01-01
- Volume
- 89
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 37-47
- ISSN
- 0009-3920 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-8624
- PMC
- PMC5730501
- OpenAlex
- W2625713807
- Cited by
- 196
- References
- 48
- Citations by year
- 2026: 18 · 2025: 20 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 24 · 2022: 22 · 2021: 27 · 2020: 33 · 2019: 22 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 2
- FWCI
- 45.40
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- europepmc.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Child Development (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- eScholarship (California Digital Library) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Drug Abuse (F31 DA038578-01A1, F31 DA038578‐01A1)
- National Center for Research Resources (C06RR012169, C06RR015431, S10OD011939)
- Brain Mapping Medical Research Organization, Brain Mapping Support Foundation
- Pierson- Lovelace Foundation
- The Ahmanson Foundation, Capital Group Companies Charitable Foundation
- William M. and Linda R. Dietel Philanthropic Fund
- Northstar Fund
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Keywords
- Instagram, peer influence, adolescents, young adults, nucleus accumbens, reward processing, risk-taking, cognitive control, age differences
- MeSH terms
- Facial Recognition, Peer Influence, Adolescent, Adult, Cerebral Cortex, Female, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Nucleus Accumbens, Photography, Risk-Taking, Social Behavior, Social Perception, Young Adult, Executive Function, Social Media
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