Washington: If you are obsessed with taking selfies and sharing them on social media sites, you may want to take a step back, as a new research claims that men who post more selfies online show anti-social traits.
The study showed that such men scored higher on measures of narcissism and psychopathy, and in addition, men who were more likely to edit their selfies before posting scored even higher in narcissism and self-objectification, which measures how much they prioritize their appearance.
Jesse Fox, lead author of the study and assistant professor of communication at the Ohio State University, said that though the results weren't surprising, this was the first time it has actually been confirmed in a study.
Fox added, what was interesting was that they also scored higher on another anti-social personality trait, psychopathy, and were more prone to self-objectification.
Fox emphasized that the results didn't mean that men who post a lot of selfies were necessarily narcissists or psychopaths. The men in the study all scored within the normal range of behavior - but with higher than average levels of these anti-social traits.
Narcissism is marked by a belief that you're smarter, more attractive and better than others, but with some underlying insecurity. Psychopathy involves a lack of empathy and regard for others and a tendency toward impulsive behavior.
The sample included 800 men from age 18 to 40 who completed an online survey asking about their photo posting behavior on social media. The participants also completed standard questionnaires for anti-social behaviors and for self-objectification.
Results showed that posting more photos was related to narcissism and psychopathy, but psychopathy was not related to editing photos. Editing photos was also related to higher levels of self-objectification, which has been rarely studied in heterosexual men, Fox said.
Self-objectification involves valuing yourself mainly for your appearance, rather than for other positive traits.
Fox said she believes there is a self-reinforcing cycle when it comes to self-objectification. People who score higher on self-objectification post more selfies, which leads to more feedback from friends online, which encourages them to post even more photos of themselves.
The results are published online in the journal Personality and Individual Differences.
