Facebook fiends tend to be narcissistic, insecure: York U study

TORONTO, September 7, 2010 -- Narcissists and those with low self-esteem gravita
te toward Facebook as a self-promotional tool and tend to be heavier users of th
e site, according to a study by a York University psychology student.
Soraya Mehdizadeh examined the online habits and personalities of 100 Facebook u
sers at York University ranging in age from 18-25 years old. Her study, publishe
d in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, found that in
dividuals higher in narcissism and lower in self-esteem spent more time on the s
ite and filled their pages with more self-promotional content.
We all know people like this. They re updating their status every five minutes and
the photos they post are very carefully construed, says Mehdizadeh. The question i
s, are these really accurate representations of the individual or are they merel
y a projection of who the individual wants to be?
Mehdizadeh says she was struck by the fact that those with lower self-esteem wer
e more apt to use this social networking tool.
I believe the next question to be answered is whether or not the use of such webs
ites could be used to improve one s self-esteem and overall sense of well-being. T
his sort of finding may have great implications in the lives of the socially anx
ious or depressed, she says.
In the study, five features of participants Facebook pages were assessed for self
-promotion: the about me section, the main photo, the first 20 pictures on the view
photos of me section, notes, and status updates.
For the purpose of the study, self-promotion was defined as any descriptive or v
isual information that attempted to persuade others about one's own positive qua
lities. For example, facial expression (striking a pose or making a face) and pi
cture enhancement (using photo editing software) were assessed in the main photo
and view photos of me sections. The use of positive adjectives, self-promoting mo
ttos, and metaphorical quotes were examined in the about me section. Self-promotio
n in the notes section could include posting results from Facebook applications
including my celebrity look-alikes, which compares a photo of the user to celebrit
ies, or vain online quiz results.
The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale was used to measure participants self-esteem. Nar
cissism was assessed using the Narcissism Personality Inventory.
Mehdizadeh also looked at the role of gender: she found that men displayed more
self-promotional content in the about me and notes sections, whereas women demonst
rated more self-promotion in the main photo section. No significant difference b
etween the sexes was observed with regards to content in view photos or status upd
ates.
The research was conducted as part of Mehdizadeh s undergraduate thesis in the Bac
helor of Psychology program in York s Faculty of Health.
I thought this was an interesting way to apply theoretical paradigms in psycholog
y to online self-presentation, which is still a fairly new concept, she says.
To view the study, visit: http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/full/10.1089/cyber.20
09.0257
Abstract of the paper of Soraya Mehdizadeh (Title of the paper: Self-Presentatio
n 2.0: Narcissism and Self-Esteem on Facebook)
Online social networking sites have revealed an entirely new method of self-pres
entation. This cyber social tool provides a new site of analysis to examine pers
onality and identity. The current study examines how narcissism and self-esteem
are manifested on the social networking Web site Facebook.com. Self-esteem and n
arcissistic personality self-reports were collected from 100 Facebook users at Y
ork University. Participant Web pages were also coded based on self-promotional
content features. Correlation analyses revealed that individuals higher in narci
ssism and lower in self-esteem were related to greater online activity as well a
s some self-promotional content. Gender differences were found to influence the
type of self-promotional content presented by individual Facebook users. Implica
tions and future research directions of narcissism and self-esteem on social net
working Web sites are discussed.
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