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Caravel Undergraduate Research Journal

Abstract

The objective of this study was to assess if narcissism can be predicted through social media behaviors such as frequency of posts, posting selfies, and social media presence on a variety of platforms. This study was conducted through a questionnaire related to social media use and a brief assessment from the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI- 16). Results indicated that social media use per day was significantly different between people who post selfies and those who do not. Participants that scored higher for narcissism used social media less but posted significantly more selfies. Results were not significant in predicting narcissism through other social media behaviors tested. This data was consistent with recent literature linking narcissistic characteristics with selfie posting behaviors. With social media serving as a place for narcissists to achieve excessive admiration from others, it is logical to assess narcissism through social media. However, these results imply that narcissism cannot be determined solely through one’s behavior on social media. Perhaps social media behaviors are far more complex than hypothesized. Such behaviors that were hypothesized to be correlated with narcissism may be more strongly correlated to factors such as low self-esteem and attention seeking behavior. Further research will be needed to assess this.

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