Loving your selfie

Have you seen a “selfie stick” yet? It is an extendable metal stick that has an attachment at the end for your smartphone and it allows you to take “selfies” from a greater distance than the length of your arm. It is a measure of how much the selfie has become everyday practise that such a product has found traction. All of which directs us to consider what the selfie may reveal about us. Never before have we had the technology to so readily take pictures of ourselves. A decade ago people were still needing to hesitantly approach a stranger and ask, “Sorry, could you take a picture of me and my bizarrely dressed friend here?” Now you just extend your arm (or your stick) and take a picture of yourself anywhere and anytime and then distribute it through social media (usually to the bemusement of any seeing it). We all know that some people are more prone to the selfie than others and in a new study researchers wanted to discover what a propensity to selfies reveals about personality.

At the end of last year (on 31st December 2014 to be exact) we conjectured that selfie taking reflected extraversion which may in turn boost immunity. This study however set out to specifically see what personality traits are linked with selfie taking and distribution.

The study involved 800 men aged between 18 and 40. The men completed surveys regarding their posting behaviour on social media and how much they edited their photos before posting by cropping, filtering, or using photo-editing software. The men then also completed questionnaires that assessed them for certain personality traits.

It emerged that men who took and posted more selfies scored higher on narcissism and psychopathy. Men who tended to edit their photos more before posting also scored higher on the scale for narcissism and self-objectification. It should be noted that all men studied fell within the “normal” range and were not actually narcissists or psychopaths but selfie takers definitely tend higher in these areas.

To be clear what we are talking about, narcissism is a belief that you are more intelligent, attractive, and generally better than others although there is usually an underlying insecurity. Psychopathy involves a lack of empathy and regard for others and a tendency toward impulsivity. It is this impulsiveness that was probably the reason why men who scored high on psychopathy did not edit their selfies as much as they just couldn’t wait to get their image out there.

It is not all light-hearted of course as self-objectification is linked to depression and eating disorders.

Gentlemen, you might have to rethink your attitude to that Christmas gift; maybe whoever gave you that “selfie stick” really was “sticking it to you” as a narcissistic psychopath?