People who post selfies on inetrnet are considered unstable and less likable, according to a study by the University of Washington.
A new study conducted by psychologists of Washington State University and published in the Journal of Research in Personality (Journal of Personality Research) shows that people who post a lot of self-centered posts on the internet, such as selfies, etc., are considered less satisfied, less successful, more insecure and less open to new experiences.
The study relied solely on posts containing selfies, and compared them to posts containing corresponding photos of faces, but which had been taken by someone else (they were not selfies) and which the researchers called "posies".
RELEVANT: Nobody wants to see your selfies
The research proceeded in two phases. During Phase 1, 30 undergraduate students with an Instagram account were asked to complete a personality questionnaire and agreed to let the researchers use their 30 most recent Instagram posts for the experiment.
These posts were classified as either selfies or posies and the researchers took a screenshot of each post.
During Phase 2, 119 students from different universities rated the screenshots from Phase 1, evaluating them for 13 behavioral traits, such as self-esteem, extroversion, success, loneliness, etc. Importantly, none of the Phase 2 students knew the Phase 1 students nor how many people they were evaluating.
The conclusion is succinctly summarized in the Summary of the study: "Ta objects (users) who posted more selfies were evaluated more negatively (eg, lonelier, less successful, etc.)”.
Something to remember before posting your next selfie… or the next time you see one of your friends posing. Just give him the camera and take a "posie" instead of a selfie. You will look nicer, more successful and less alone.
