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- May 8, 2013
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Source: B.NewsBeware of men who post a lot of selfies – they may be psychopaths
Men who post incessant photos of themselves online have been revealed to show a higher measure of narcissism (understandably) and psychopathy.
Adding to the matter, those vain ones that are more likely to edit their selfies display an even greater tendency to self-objectify than the norm.
Although it's no surprise that men who spend a lot of time in front of the camera (and behind it, editing) are more narcissistic, this is the first time it's actually been confirmed in a study.
Ohio State University quizzed 800 men between 18 and 40 in an online survey about their photo-posting behaviour on social media. The same participants then followed this up with a standard questionnaire, detecting anti-social behaviours and self-objectification.
The guys were asked how often they posted photos and if they edited them before sharing them online – this included cropping, filters and even Photoshopping.
"Most people don't think that men even do that sort of thing, but they definitely do," Jesse Fox, lead author of the study and assistant professor of communication admitted.
As the results came in, the team determined a strong link between the number of photos posted and the level of narcissism and psychopathy. Psychopathic tendencies did not relate to editing behaviour.
"That makes sense because psychopathy is characterised by impulsivity. They are going to snap the photos and put them online right away. They want to see themselves. They don't want to spend time editing," Fox explained.
To clarify, narcissism is highlighted by the belief that you're smarter, more attractive and better than others, despite some underlying insecurity.
Psychopathy involves a tendency of impulsive behaviour as well as a lack of empathy and regard to others. Self-objectification is valuing your self-worth against your appearance rather than other positive traits, such as personality or accomplishments.
"The more interesting finding is that they also score higher on this other anti-social personality trait, psychopathy, and are more prone to self-objectification," Fox said.
While the team at Ohio State Univesity emphasised their findings don't mean all men that post a lot of selfies are narcissists or psychopaths, they do believe the link between the three may be a slight cause for concern.
"We know that self-objectification leads to a lot of terrible things, like depression and eating disorders in women," Fox said.
"We are all concerned with our self-presentation online, but how we do that may reveal something about our personality.
"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."
