7.2 - My Distant Friend on Myspace

For this assignment, I chose to assess a distant friend’s personality through her Myspace profile keeping the Brunswikian Lens Model in mind.

The Brunswikian Lens Model is a process by which individuals make inferences about others’ characteristics. Walther et. al states that this approach suggests that “individuals produce behaviors and generate artifacts that reflect their personalities”. In turn these artifacts are made available to observers, supporting Walther’s assertion that environmental cues function as a lens through which observers make inferences about the underlying characteristics of a target.

Gosling et. al proposed four mechanisms that linked individuals to the environments that they inhabit:
Self- directed Identity Claims: symbolic statements made by the target for his or her own benefit, intended to remind the target of his/her self-image
Other- directed Identity Claims: symbols made by the target in order to selectively self-present himself/herself
Interior Behavioral Residue: traces of the target’s activity in a particular environment (eg. Facebook newsfeed)
Exterior Behavioral Residue: traces of the target’s behavior outside of the particular environment of speculation

When I started to evaluate my friend’s profile, I was surprised to see how much my former cheerleading teammate had changed from high school. Myspace has specific sections set on your profiles that allow you to fill in information about general interests and details including status, here for, orientation, hometown, body type, ethnicity, zodiac sign, children, occupation.

In terms of Self-directed identity claims, the portions of my friend’s profile that actually helped me to recognize her were her associations with groups and general interests. She was a part of our High School’s Myspace group and a cheerleading general interest group. Also, she was sure to put a family picture under her general interest/heroes portion. This was the friend I was knew in high school and to me, these associations served as self-directed identity claims aimed at reminding her of who she once was in high school because they were things that she took a lot of pride in and valued a lot in high school.

The rest of my friend’s profile was full of other-directed identity claims. Posting relationship status, here for: friends, straight orientation and slim/slender body type along with her posted photos all portrayed her in a consistent way that was nothing close to how all of her close friends saw her in high school. This led me to believe that she was purposely selectively self-presenting herself in a way that she wanted to be regarded by her social network.

On Myspace, your profile shows your last login date, serving as the prominent symbol of behavioral residue in the environment. Also, there is a dated blog section that could very well track one’s behavior on Myspace. Also, the number of friends in her network had increased immensely over the past two weeks, serving as an indicator of much activity on Myspace and potentially outside Myspace as well. In a way, I could trace my friend’s behavior through what other people were writing on her comment space in response to things she had commented to them in the first place.

All of my friend’s photo albums on her profile were set in similar party/nightclub/spring break – like environments. The photos served as traces of her activities completely unrelated to Myspace(exterior behavioral residue). Also, her top friends list showcased her new friends in her social circle who also posted comments about their activities together, indicative of her endeavors outside of Myspace as well.

In light of the Brunwikian Lens Model, I believe that the four factors played a huge role in some of the harsh judgments I had made against my distant friend. Based on her posted pictures, top friends list and the comments on her profile, I had automatically assessed that she was a different person from when I met her when I hadn’t even spoken to her in about 2 years. I definitely weighted some cues more than others in terms of using the environment as a lens through which I would assess my friend’s personality. In terms of the Big Five, I think that her profile made her seem open, agreeable, and extroverted but not conscientious. I could not make an accurate assessment on neuroticism but all of the assertions I made based on my friend's profile definitely helped me make strong judgments on the other 4 factors.

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