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Communication Research
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Self-Generated Versus Other-Generated Statements and Impressions in Computer-Mediated Communication

A Test of Warranting Theory Using Facebook

Joseph B. Walther

Michigan State University

Brandon Van Der Heide

Michigan State University

Lauren M. Hamel

Michigan State University

Hillary C. Shulman

Michigan State University

The warranting principle pertains to impression formation in Internet communication. It posits that perceivers' judgments about a target rely more heavily on information which the targets themselves cannot manipulate than on self-descriptions. Two experiments employed mock-up profiles resembling the Internet site, Facebook, to display self-generated clues and to display other-generated clues about a Facebook user. The first experiment (N = 115) tested perceptions of extraversion. Although warranting was supported, rival explanations (negativity and additivity) also pertained. The second experiment (N = 125) tested perceptions of physical attractiveness. Friends' comments overrode self-comments, supporting warranting theory exclusively. Implications concern boundary-setting research for warranting, and potential effects of social comments on a variety of new information forms.

Key Words: computer-mediated communication • warranting • Facebook • negativity • impression formation

This version was published on April 1, 2009

Communication Research, Vol. 36, No. 2, 229-253 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0093650208330251
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