On the correlates of passion for screen-based behaviors: The case of impulsivity and the problematic and non-problematic Facebook use and TV series watching Gábor Orosz a,b, ⁎, Robert J. Vallerand c,d , Beáta Bőthe a , István Tóth-Király a , Benedek Paskuj e a Institute of Psychology, University of Eötvös Loránd, Budapest, Hungary b MTA Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, Budapest, Hungary c Laboratoire de Recherche sur le Comportement Social, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada d Institute of Positive Psychology and Education, Australian Catholic University, Australia e Department of Psychology, University College London, London, UK abstract article info Article history: Received 23 February 2016 Received in revised form 27 May 2016 Accepted 30 May 2016 Available online xxxx The purpose of the present research was to look at the correlates of passion toward screen-based activities. In two studies, we aimed to test the role of impulsivity as a predictor of obsessive (but not harmonious) passion for Facebook use and series watching. We also aimed to distinguish between problematic and non-problematic correlates as pertains to Facebook use and TV series watching. Based on the Dualistic Model of Passion, it was hypothesized that Harmonious passion would be positively associated with adaptive correlates and Obsessive passion to less positive and even negative ones in both types of activities. In two studies, young adults (Study 1 = 256; Study 2 = 420) completed the Passion Scale with respect to Facebook use and series watching, respec- tively, the UPPS Impulsivity Scale, and scales measuring problematic and non-problematic correlates associated with engaging in such activities. The results provided support for the proposed model: Impulsivity predicted ob- sessive (but not harmonious) passion. Obsessive passion was positively associated with negative correlates such as Facebook overuse whereas harmonious passion was positively associated with adaptive correlates such as self-development through series watching. These results suggest that it is the type of passion underlying activity engagement that determines what is experienced. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Facebook use Series watching Impulsivity Harmonious passion Obsessive passion In Indonesia and in the Philippines people spend an average more than 500 min every day looking at screens. In the USA this number is 444 min that includes 147 min spent watching TV, 103 min in front of a computer, 151 min on a smartphones, and 43 min with a tablet (Quartz, 2014). Over the recent years, screen-based activities as series (or TV show) watching and Facebook use slowly became a significant part of the leisure time activities. In a recent study of the Netflix Media Center (2013), 73% of binge-watching streamers—those who watch more than one episode per occasion—have positive feelings toward this activity and 80% of them claim that they would rather watch an ep- isode of a good series than to watch and read the social media activity of their friends. Most recently, Netflix started to broadcast in more than 200 countries, reaching viewers all around the globe (Netflix, 2016). In addition to the growing popularity of series watching, social media use is also a prevalent phenomenon. Facebook is currently the most popular social networking site, overtaking Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Goo- gle Plus (Ebizmba, 2015). As of January 2015, it had more than one billion active users with almost half of them (48%) using it every day. In light of the huge number of users and viewers, it becomes important to ask about the correlates supposedly derived from both series watching and Facebook involvement. Although there were in-depth psychological studies about the motivations underlying series watching in the 1980s and 1990s (e.g., Babrow, 1987; Livingstone, 1988; Perse & Rubin, 1988), there has been much less research in the last 15 years (e.g., Bondad-Brown, Rice, & Pearce, 2012). However, in the case of Facebook, the literature is equivocal on this issue: it would appear that some users derive negative outcomes while others experience positive benefits. The positive sides of Facebook use includes facilitated contact with friends (Ellison, Steinfield, & Lampe, 2007), reducing loneliness (Burke, Marlow, & Lento, 2010), experiencing some entertainment (Tosun, 2012), and relieving boredom (Lampe, Ellison, & Steinfield, 2008). However, the negative sides include its problematic use or over- use (Satici & Uysal, 2015), addiction (Andreassen, Torsheim, Brunborg, & Pallesen, 2012), 1 or more specifically exaggerated self-disclosure and Personality and Individual Differences 101 (2016) 167–176 ⁎ Corresponding author at: Institute of Psychology, University of Eötvös Loránd, Budapest, Hungary. E-mail address: gaborosz@gmail.com (G. Orosz). 1 In the scientific literature, addiction and problematic use are generally used as syno- nyms. However, “problematic use” indicates the lack of clinical evidence of an actual ad- diction with the use of self-reported data, whereas “addiction” is typically based on clinical evidence (Ross, Mansson, & Daneback, 2012). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2016.05.368 0191-8869/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Personality and Individual Differences journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/paid