This thesis explored MySpace and Facebook, two popular social networking sites (SNS), from the perspectives of the uses and gratification model and impression management theory. As a qualitative exploratory study, this thesis had three objectives. First, it investigated why young people use SNS. Second, it sought to discover how members use SNS for self-presentation. Finally, it aimed to contribute to the current body of literature and serve as a basis for future qualitative and quantitative studies on SNS. The focus groups that were conducted for this thesis elicited ten themes that provided insights on the motivations and behaviors of individuals who use SNS for needs fulfillment and impression management. These themes included: 1) efficient communication, 2) convenient communication, 3) curiosity of others, 4) popularity, 5) relationship formation and reinforcement, 6) self-enhancement, 7) otherenhancement, 8) self-disclosure, 9) conformity and 1 0) identity-management. Based on the first five themes, the study suggested that an emerging theory of instant gratification is being developed. The theory helps researchers explain why young people use SNS and predict what factors motivate young people to get ,_ involved heavily in SNS. Based on the second five themes, this study confirmed the relevance of Goffi:nan's theories of the presentation of the self in explaining how young people manage their impressions through SNS. As a powerful socialization agent, SNS provide new opportunities and diverse ways of presenting one's self online. Though there are some evident differences between online and face-to-face social interaction, it is clear that Goffman's theories will continue to help researchers explain self-presentation within the context of SNS.

The objective of this study is to examine the emotional regulation strategies used by Walt Disney World on-stage employees as a way to fulfill requirements set forth by the company. Ten Disney on-stage employees were interviewed off-property in Orlando. The emotional regulation framework was divided into several categories: (1) a distinction between deep acting and surface acting, (2) emotional deviance, and (3) emotional exhaustion. “Surface acting” is a strategy by which employees display company-imposed emotions not genuinely felt, whereas “deep acting” occurs when employees do feel the emotions that they are required to express (Hochschild, 1983). Throughout the data reduction process, five key themes surfaced as the most relevant to the initial research questions: (1) Self-Motivated Deep Acting, (2) Organizational Expectations for Surface Acting, (3) “Back-Stage” vs. “Front-Stage” Dichotomy, (4) Benefits of Emotional Training, and (5) Negative Effects of Emotional Regulation. Overall, the researcher found that a key strategy of emotional regulation that Disney employees use frequently is surface acting, although deep acting was found to be more successful. In addition, while emotional exhaustion was a common problem among employees, very few of them will actually engage in emotional deviance in order to avoid the negative consequences of surface acting. Lastly, it was found that highly skilled Walt Disney World employees will have already internalized emotional regulation training and display rules that manage emotional behavior. Therefore, it becomes less essential for the Disney Company to formally monitor its employees’ facial expressions and emotional behavior in the future

Technological advances will allow virtual agents to increasingly help individuals with daily activities. As such, virtual agents will interact with users of various ages and experience levels. Facial expressions are often used to facilitate social interaction between agents and humans. However, older and younger adults do not label human or virtual agent facial expressions in the same way, with older adults commonly mislabeling certain expressions. The dynamic formation of facial expression, or motion, may provide additional facial information potentially making emotions less ambiguous. This study examined how motion affects younger and older adults in recognizing various intensities of emotion displayed by a virtual agent. Contrary to the dynamic advantage found in emotion recognition for human faces, older adults had higher emotion recognition for static virtual agent faces than dynamic ones. Motion condition did not influence younger adults' emotion recognition. Younger adults had higher emotion recognition than older adults for the emotions of anger, disgust, fear, happiness, and sadness. Low intensities of expression had lower emotion recognition than medium to high expression intensities.