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Description

TikTok is a short-form video platform where users create and share content that is often centered around humor, trends, and everyday social experiences. In face-to-face interactions, people typically rely on immediate feedback to navigate conversations, often using approval seeking behaviors to gain positive reactions and rejection-avoidant behaviors to reduce the risk of negative judgement. While these motivations are well-established in in-person settings, less is known about how they function in digital environments like TikTok, where teens privately share humorous content without immediate social cues to guide their interactions. My general hypothesis was that both rejection avoidance and approval-seeking behaviors will be prevalent in adolescents’ digital behaviors and shaping if they choose to share or limit sending videos

Publication Date

5-19-2026

City

St. Cloud, MN

Keywords

TikTok, Social media, Humor, Social bonding, Adolescent girls, Approval-seeking behavior, Rejection-avoidant behavior, Communication, Interpersonal relationships

Disciplines

Communication Technology and New Media | Graphics and Human Computer Interfaces | Interpersonal and Small Group Communication | Other Mental and Social Health | Other Social and Behavioral Sciences

Comments

InnovateHER: Minnesota Women's Health Day

Approval Motivations in Sharing Humorous TikTok's

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