Specificity of Attentional Bias in College Students with Problematic Social Networking Use

Cao Mei; Chen Duanduan; Yang Haibo

doi:10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20250208

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Journal of Psychological Science ›› 2025, Vol. 48 ›› Issue (2) : 346-358. DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20250208

General Psychology, Experimental Psychology & Ergonomics

Specificity of Attentional Bias in College Students with Problematic Social Networking Use

Cao Mei^1,2, Chen Duanduan¹, Yang Haibo^1,3

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Abstract

Existing research has shown that there is an interactive effect between the subjective perception of context and the cognitive response to specific cues in individuals with addiction (Brand et al., 2016; Brand et al., 2019). Regarding this interaction, the dual-process theory (Bechara, 2005) posits that addictive behaviors result from the competition and restraint between an individual's automated impulsive processes and controlled reflective processes. In the occurrence of addictive behaviors, attentional bias is an external manifestation of an individual's cognitive response to specific cues, primarily driven by impulsive rather than rational thinking (Bechara, 2005). This bias makes individuals more sensitive to relevant stimuli in social networks, granting these stimuli greater processing priority and affecting attention allocation (Nikolaidou et al., 2019), which further reinforces the attentional bias (Brand et al., 2016; Brand et al., 2019). In this cyclical process, it increases the individual's craving for these cues, leading to problematic social media use (Kuss & Griffiths, 2017). This includes attention bias towards addiction-related stimuli (Brand et al., 2019; Brand et al., 2016).
The inconsistencies observed in the research may stem from differences in the priority of social network information, meaning that there are varying strengths of cues related to social networks, with higher-priority cues being more likely to produce attentional bias (Field & Franken, 2014). Furthermore, internet addiction should be specified as an addiction to content rather than the medium itself (Starcevic, 2013), a phenomenon that has been validated in the context of smartphone use (Montag et al., 2019; Panova & Carbonell, 2018), and the same applies to problematic social media use. Therefore, social information within social network content has a higher priority compared to the social medium (including social media app icons or vocabulary related to social networks).
This study aimed to investigate the distinctive attentional biases towards social information among college students with problematic social networking use compared to those with normal use. The research addressed two main questions through two experiments: whether individuals with problematic social networking use exhibit attentional bias towards social information and what patterns characterize this attentional bias. The innovation of the study is to examine the social information in social networks rather than the media, and combined approach of behavioral and eye-tracking measures to provide a comprehensive understanding of attentional biases. The use of trial-level bias scores enhanced the sensitivity of detecting attentional biases, which may be more reliable than traditional measures. The integration of eye-tracking technology revealed distinct components of attentional bias, offering insights into the temporal dynamics of attention allocation in problematic social networking use.
In experiment 1, a classic dot-probe task was employed to measure attentional bias in the context of social networking activities. The second experiment integrated the dot-probe task with eye-tracking technology to further explore the specific processing patterns of attentional bias. Participants were selected based on their scores on the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale to distinguish between problematic and normal users. The results indicated that the problematic social networking use group demonstrated significantly higher attentional bias measures, suggesting a specific attentional bias characterized by a vigilance-maintenance pattern.
In conclusion, college students with problematic social networking use exhibit a specific attentional bias towards social information, characterized by a vigilance-maintenance pattern. This finding aligns with the Interaction of Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution (I-PACE) model and the incentive-sensitization theory of addiction, suggesting that social networking cues become salient and attract attention in problematic users. The study contributes to the literature by providing a nuanced understanding of attentional processes in problematic social networking use and offers directions for future research, including expanding the subject pool and exploring neural mechanisms using advanced neuroimaging techniques.

Key words

problematic social networking use / social information / attentional bias / specificity

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Cao Mei, Chen Duanduan, Yang Haibo. Specificity of Attentional Bias in College Students with Problematic Social Networking Use[J]. Journal of Psychological Science. 2025, 48(2): 346-358 https://doi.org/10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20250208

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