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In this study, the authors examined self-objectification, along with three traits, known as the “Dark Triad”: narcissism, psychopathy, and machiavellianism. They’re called “dark” because they have an almost evil connotation and are associated with a callous and manipulative way of interacting with other people.
To examine the association between selfies and personality, Fox and Rooney used data from a nationally representative sample of 1,000 men between 18 and 40 years old.1 Participants completed personality questionnaires assessing the dark triad and self-objectification. They were asked how many selfies they had taken and posted on social media in the last week, as well as how many other photos they had posted and how much time they spent on social media sites. They were also asked to rate how often they used various methods to make themselves look better in pictures, such as cropping, filtering, and re-touching.
Results showed that both narcissism and self-objectification were associated with spending more time on social networking sites, and with more photo-editing. Posting numerous selfies was related to both higher narcissism and psychopathy, controlling for the overall number of other types of photos posted.
This study suggests that narcissists are more likely to show off with selfies and make extra effort to look their best in these photos, which psychopathic men took more selfies but were less likely to edit their photos.
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Source material from Psychology Today