A Study on Gender Differences in the Incorporation of Pragmatic Strategies of Self-Praise in China's Online Social Media

This study examines self-praise, a prevalent speech act frequently observed in both routine conversations and social media contexts, where it may be encountered more regularly due to its potential to violate politeness norms and threaten another's face. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, this research analyzed 200 self-praise posts randomly selected from Hupu, a platform predominantly used by male users, and Xiaohongshu, primarily frequented by female users. The primary focus of this investigation was to explore the gender-based differences in the pragmatic strategies employed for self-praise on online social platforms. To strengthen the findings, semi-structured online interviews with users were conducted, enabling a triangulation of data sources. The results indicate that both male and female users consistently prefer implicit self-praise strategies, with 62.3% of male and 50.6% of female users adopting this approach. However, notable disparities emerge in the motivations underlying these strategies: female users exhibit heightened concern for personal privacy and are influenced by traditional values emphasizing modesty, whereas male users are more significantly influenced by psychological factors, such as vanity and the pursuit of fame and fortune. This study highlights the importance of cultural and psychological factors in shaping gendered self-praise behaviors in the digital realm, underscoring the need to consider these factors in future studies on self-presentation in online spaces. It also points to the influence of broader social phenomena, such as network group psychology, on self-presentation strategies, emphasizing the interaction between individual psychological drivers and the social dynamics of digital communication.