Imaginary audience
 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2007) |
The imaginary audience refers to an egocentric state where an individual imagines and believes that multitudes of people are enthusiastically listening to him or her at all times. Though this state is often exhibited in young adolescence, people of any age may harbor a fantasy of an imaginary audience.
In extreme cases, belief in an imaginary audience can lead to paranoia as the sufferer believes he or she is being watched by an invisible audience at all times. Fearing that he or she is being observed and evaluated, such an individual may develop a phobia of making mistakes or looking foolish in public.
In the case of online social networks, a person will never know who views their profile, their friends, and their comments. An imagined audience provides a necessary way of envisioning who should be present. By imagining an audience, people are able to navigate the social situation required in crafting a profile. Yet, their audience online may not be who they think it is.[1]
[edit] References
- ^ boyd, danah. "Why Youth (Heart) Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life."
[edit] See also
 |
This developmental psychology-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
