Stop Pushing Me Away: Relative Level of Facebook Addiction Is Associated With Implicit Approach Motivation for Facebook Stimuli.

The use of Facebook and other social media sites has increased to the point that some consider it to be a behavioral addiction. Previously, research has used the Approach-Avoidance Task to measure implicit approach and withdrawal tendencies in response to a variety of stimuli, including alcohol, desserts, cigarettes, spiders, and cannabis. When responding to these types of stimuli, individuals typically evidence an approach bias toward appetitive images and a withdrawal bias in response to undesirable and/or fearful stimuli. The present study was designed to test the validity of an adapted version of the Approach-Avoidance Task by investigating how self-reported Facebook addiction tendencies, measured via the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale, predicted automatic approach tendencies toward Facebook-related stimuli using the Facebook-Approach-Avoidance Task. Participants with higher self-reported tendencies of Facebook addiction tended to approach Facebook-related stimuli faster. The present study is the first to indicate a relationship between self-reported Facebook addiction tendencies and implicit approach motivation using a behavioral measure. This finding provides initial support for the use of the Facebook-Approach-Avoidance Task as a measure of Facebook addiction, and further validation could lead to the development of additional assessment and training paradigms in the future.