A psychology study from Harvard University reveals why we love to share personal information in social networking sites (Image: wonderfully complex (CC) via Flickr)

A new research conducted at Harvard University reveals why some of our friends in Facebook love sharing about their thoughts, what they just did or had, and do it whenever they can.

Using cognitive methods and neuro-imaging, Jason Mitchell and Diana Tamir of the Department of Psychology at Harvard University found out that disclosing personal information gives us the sense of being rewarded, similar to when we just had sex or had just eaten.

Most of us spend around thirty to forty percent of what we talk about sharing our personal information. According to Mitchell and Tamir, this is because we highly value self-disclosure.

The researchers further added that when we disclose subjective personal information about ourselves, this engages a trigger in our brain that gives us a sense of value, similar to what we perceive when parts of the brain are activated when we obtain pleasure out of intrinsic rewards, including money, sex or food.

Furthermore, an interesting result showed that some of the participants were willing to do without money if it meant being able to share their personal experiences in social networking sites.

As a kind of preliminary to the research discussions, the researchers also pointed out how more than eighty percent of posts found in social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter are about users’ personal current experiences.

The results of this study can be read in the National Academy of the Sciences Proceedings.

About Neal Alfie Lasta

I enjoy learning and writing about social media and the latest in mobile updates.