The Conversation (0)
Science & Tech
Dina Rickman
Jan 07, 2015
Men who take more selfies have higher than average traits of narcissism and psychopathy, a study from academics at Ohio State University has found.
The research, published in the journal of Personality and Individual Differences, looked at 800 men between the ages of 18-40 who completed an online survey about how many photos they posted on social media, and another questionnaire looking at their personality traits.
It also found men who edited their selfies before posting them were more likely to have traits of narcissism but editing selfies was not linked to psychopathic traits.
Professor Jesse Fox, the study's lead author, said while it may not be surprising that men who spend a lot of time posting selfies and editing them are more narcissistic, it had not yet been confirmed in a scientific research. For Fox, the "more interesting finding" was that selfie-obsessed men had more psychopathic traits and self-objectified, which means valuing oneself primarily on the basis of appearance.
"We know that self-objectification leads to a lot of terrible things, like depression and eating disorders in women," Fox said. "With the growing use of social networks, everyone is more concerned with their appearance. That means self-objectification may become a bigger problem for men, as well as for women."
While the research found the number of selfies posted were linked to narcissistic and psychopathic traits, that does not mean your male friends posting copious selfies are full-blown psychopaths or narcissists. While some of the men in the study had higher than average traits of these characteristics, they all scored within normal ranges of human behaviour.
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