According to a new research, narcissists like fellow narcissists on Instagram.
The research says that people who show attention-seeking behaviour on the platform, such as taking selfies, are more likely to be narcissists.
According to the study, those who post selfies to Instagram are more likely to follow 'arrogant' and 'attention-seeking' users, meaning narcissists are drawn to other narcissists on the platform.
The research, conducted by the Sejung University in Seoul, South Korea, focused on so-called ‘grandiose narcissism’, which is linked to self-admiration and higher self-esteem.
They studied 276 adult Instagram users, asking participants how much they agreed with statements such as 'I really like to be the centre of attention,' and 'I like to look at my body.’ Instagram users who posted lots of selfies showed higher narcissism scores.
Participants were then asked to assess the perceived narcissism of other Instagram users and were also asked to rate Instagram users on traits like arrogance and self-confidence.
Lead author of the study Dr Seunda Venus Jin told Broadly that while non-narcissists indicated more negative attitude towards selfies, lower intention to post selfies, and lower intention to follow the selfie-posting Instagram users than narcissists, narcissists indicated higher intention to follow the selfie-posting Instagram users.
This is not the first time that research has linked Instagram users to narcissistic tendencies.
A 2017 survey of almost 10,000 students found that the social media platform is more suited to the self-obsessed than Snapchat, Twitter and Facebook.
