Relationship between symptoms of social network addiction and impulsive behavior

• Grant number: 21/01076-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: July 01, 2021
• End date: February 28, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Fábio Leyser Gonçalves
• Grantee: Luan Brito Moraes da Silva
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências (FC). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Bauru. Bauru , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This project is based on a literature that indicates possible harm that the use of social networks may cause, especially in abusive or dependent users. Since a large percentage of the Brazilian population uses various social networks, it is inferred the need to investigate this phenomenon with a focus on the most popular social networks in Brazil, namely Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Within addiction studies, the concept of impulsive behavior has been correlated with addiction on various substances and behaviors. Based on this, this study aims to apply three instruments to generate analysis data, one on habits in social networks, another to measure the level of dependence and a delay discounting task to measure impulsive behavior. Thus, it will be possible to make a comparative analysis between the subjects about the sociodemographic data, habits in social networks, patterns of impulsive behavior and the symptoms of dependence. Verifying the hypothesis that users who are more addicted show a higher incidence of impulsive behavior, besides a comparison between users of the three most popular social networks in Brazil.