January 13, 2015
File Art /for PhillyVoice
'Selfies' of the 17th century highlighted in Dutch exhibition
Here’s validation that Facebook friend who’s always littering your news feed with selfies may have some anti-social traits.
A new study by Ohio State University found that men who posted a bunch of photos on social media scored higher on measures of psychopathy and narcissism.
The study looked at the social media habits of 800 men between the ages of 18 and 40.
In addition to asking how often they posted photos, researchers looked at whether the men edited and added filters to enhance their photos, a sign of narcissism.
“Most people don’t think that men even do that sort of thing, but they definitely do,” said Jesse Fox, the study’s lead author.
It's not surprising men who post a lot of selfies and spend more time editing them are more narcissistic, Fox said. But this is the first time it has actually been confirmed in a study.
As for showing psychopathic traits?
"...psychopathy is characterized by impulsivity," she said. "They are going to snap the photos and put them online right away. They want to see themselves. They don't want to spend time editing."
While this study didn’t include women, Fox said she’s currently conducting follow-up work, which suggests the same findings apply to selfie-obsessed girls, too.
The results of the study are published online in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.
Read the full Ohio State University article here.
