The media marshmallow test : psychological and physiological effects of applying self-control to the mobile phone
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- This research draws on a classic delay of gratification framework from psychology, the Marshmallow Test, to examine the effects of exercising self-control with the mobile phone. A total of 125 subjects were randomly assigned to sit in an unadorned room for six minutes and either (a) use their mobile phone, (b) sit with their device but resist using it, or (c) sit alone with no phone. Participants self-reported more concentration difficulty and more mind wandering with no device present compared to using the phone, while resisting the phone reduced concentration difficulty relative to sitting without the device. Baseline-subtracted skin conductance data were consistent with this pattern, as participants eventually displayed more physiological arousal without their phone relative to those who resisted their phone. Subjects also wrote about their experience and their verbal descriptions revealed that participants who used the phone reported the content of their mobile phone activities (e.g., applications used, videos watched) and assigned agency to the device compared to people who did not use the phone and assigned agency to the self. Participants who resisted the phone and felt tempted to use it wrote about their self-control challenge and displayed negative psychological costs (e.g., less enjoyment, less entertainment, more boredom), while participants who were not tempted did not face negative consequences. Together, the dissertation findings suggest that self-control with media is a complex psychological phenomenon that can affect an individual to the extent that he or she perceives the device as a temptation.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic resource; remote; computer; online resource |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Place | California |
| Place | [Stanford, California] |
| Publisher | [Stanford University] |
| Copyright date | 2018; ©2018 |
| Publication date | 2018; 2018 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Markowitz, David Matthew |
|---|---|
| Degree supervisor | Hancock, Jeffrey |
| Thesis advisor | Hancock, Jeffrey |
| Thesis advisor | Bailenson, Jeremy |
| Thesis advisor | Pennebaker, James W |
| Thesis advisor | Reeves, Byron, 1949- |
| Degree committee member | Bailenson, Jeremy |
| Degree committee member | Pennebaker, James W |
| Degree committee member | Reeves, Byron, 1949- |
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Communication. |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|---|
| Genre | Text |
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | David Matthew Markowitz. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Communication. |
| Thesis | Thesis Ph.D. Stanford University 2018. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2018 by David Matthew Markowitz
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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