Angela Zhou
Research Mentor: Lauren Girouard
Mentor Department: Psychology, LSA
Author(s): Not Available
Session: Session 7 (4:00 PM – 4:50 PM)
Presentation Type: Poster 26
Abstract
As children begin getting exposed to the internet at progressively younger ages, discussions about children’s beliefs about internet safety and the way information exists online have become more and more salient. Previous research has found that children are more likely to think of privacy of information online as an interpersonal issue rather than an institutional one, and this study aims to dig deeper in the specificities of who specifically children feel comfortable sharing sensitive information with through a mixed-methods survey. Participants ranging from ages 6-13 are asked questions about who they think should be allowed to post their information online, who should be allowed to view their information online, and whether or not they have searched up information about other people on the internet. We will then examine the relationship between those participants who said yes to having searched up information about people they do know in real life and their beliefs about how their own information should be interacted with. The expected outcome of this study is that those participants who have searched up information about other people online will believe that it’s OK to do that, and in turn be more open to sharing their own information online for others to search.
