Addicted to Selfies? You're probably selfish and may be a psychopath - Study

People who share lots of selfies are displaying psychopathic traits, according to a new study.

It found that men who regularly post selfies on sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, are more likely to be narcissistic, impulsive and display other characteristics, such as a lack of empathy.

Researchers also revealed that self-objectification may be a bigger problem for men than previously thought, with many taking the time and effort to edit and improve their selfies, before posting them online.

Psychologists from Ohio State University found that men who posted selfies regularly, scored higher than average for levels of anti-social traits.

For example, men who doctor their images to improve their appearance, show signs of narcissism and self-objectification, said assistant professor of communication Jesse Fox.

Narcissism is most commonly associated with vanity but as a psychological flaw, relates to a feeling of being more intelligent, attractive and better than others, according to the study published in the journal, Personality and Individual Differences. 

Men who put their pictures online as soon as they can are more likely to show signs of psychopathy, which is defined as having a lack of empathy or regard to others and impulsiveness.

Professor Fox explained: ‘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.’

To come to their conclusions, the researchers surveyed 800 men aged between 18 and 40 about their social media output, as well as giving them psychological questionnaires to establish personality traits.

The survey asked them how often they post pictures on sites like Instagram and Twitter and whether they Photoshop their selfies first.

Professor Fox said: ‘It’s not surprising that men who post a lot of selfies and spend more time editing them are more narcissistic.

‘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.

‘Most people don’t think that men even do that sort of thing, but they definitely do.' 

She warned that such behaviour can lead to further problems.

‘We know that self-objectification leads to a lot of terrible things, like depression and eating disorders in women.

‘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.’

Experts linked selfies with mental illness in April last year by suggesting suggested that people regularly searching for the perfect angle from which to portray themselves could in some cases be ill.

One leading psychiatrist said the majority of patients he sees with Body Dysmorphic Disorder take a lot of selfies.

Dr David Veale, a consultant psychiatrist at the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust and The Priory Hospital, told The Sunday Mirror: ‘Two out of three of all the patients who come to see me with Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) since the rise of camera phones have a compulsion to repeatedly take and post selfies on social media sites.’ 

‘Taking selfies is not an addiction - it’s a symptom of Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) that involves checking one’s appearance.’

Cognitive behavioural therapy is often used to help patients moderate their obsessive behaviour relating to their appearance.

Sufferers of BDD can spend hours trying to take pictures that do not show any defects or flaws in their appearance, which they are very aware of but which might be unnoticeable to others.

In one extreme case of the disorder, a British teenager Danny Bowman tried to commit suicide because he was unsatisfied with his appearance in the selfies he took.

He was so desperate to attract girls, he spent 10 hours a day taking more than 200 selfies trying to find the perfect image, but his habit, which began at the age of 15, caused him to drop out of school and lose almost two stone in weight.

In an article for Psychology Today, Dr Pamela Rutledge, Director of the Media Psychology Research Centre in Boston Massachusetts, said: ‘Selfies frequently trigger perceptions of self-indulgence or attention seeking social dependence that raises the 'damned-if-you-do and damned-if-you-don’t' spectre of either narcissism or very low self-esteem.'

















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