Abstract
This study took innovative perspectives in studying the college students’ online identities in China. Three modes of online identities were found to satisfy the participants’ different needs, which indicate the principle of what is lacking tends to appear online. The logic of ‘imagination–reflection circle’ explains these online behaviours and show the ‘rationality’ in choosing among different identities to fulfill the users’ different needs according to different online settings. The college students showed a better control of themselves compared with their period of adolescences. Under this situation, most of the online experiments are beneficial to these college students, except when the transition between different identities is difficult.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 67-95 |
| Number of pages | 29 |
| Journal | Culture and Psychology |
| Volume | 27 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Mar 2021 |
Keywords
- Online identity
- development of identity
- imagination
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Psychology
- Cultural Studies
- Anthropology
- Sociology and Political Science