Running head: SELFIES IN RELATION TO NARCISSISM AND SELF-ESTEEM 1

Selfie Posting Behavior in Relation to Narcissism and Self-Esteem

University Amsterdam

Bachelor Thesis

Britt van Uden (11283378)

Supervisor: Eddie Brummelman

Words: 5048 Running head: SELFIES IN RELATION TO NARCISSISM AND SELF-ESTEEM 2

Date: 27-01-2019

Table of contents

Abstract 3

Introduction 4

Literature search 6

Study selection 7

Results

Narcissism and selfie posting behavior 7

Self-esteem and selfie posting behavior 12

Discussion 14

References 20

Table 1 24

Running head: SELFIES IN RELATION TO NARCISSISM AND SELF-ESTEEM 3

Abstract

This systematic review investigates how selfie posting behavior is related to narcissism and self-esteem. A common misconception is that narcissism equals an extreme form of self- esteem. However, these concepts differ widely in their association with selfie posting. While narcissism turns out to be associated with selfie posting behavior, self-esteem is not. A stronger association shows among men than women. When considering specific categories of selfies, narcissists post more own selfies than selfies with others. The grandiose subtype of narcissism is a stronger predictor of selfie posting behavior than the vulnerable subtype.

Interestingly, grandiose narcissism only results in selfie posting behavior when self-esteem is low or average and not when self-esteem is high. Therefore, selfie posting behavior could be an unhealthy form of seeking appreciation. Furthermore, selfie posting behavior could increase narcissistic levels. This should all be taken into consideration when forming an appropriate attitude towards selfie posting.

Keywords: selfies, narcissism, self-esteem

Running head: SELFIES IN RELATION TO NARCISSISM AND SELF-ESTEEM 4

Selfie Posting Behavior in Relation to Narcissism and Self-Esteem

In the last few years the use and popularity of social networking sites have grown tremendously. Social networking sites can be used so easily, by smartphone or tablet, that social networking sites have become a considerable part of our daily lives (Kim, Lee, Sung, &

Choi, 2016). At the start of the rise in social media use, both textual as visual material played an important role (Rosen, Woelfel, Krikorian, & Barnett, 2003). Over time there has been a shifting towards photo sharing. Nowadays a ‘picture speaks louder than words’ belief has arisen, giving photos a status text cannot achieve (Marwick, 2015). Therefore, Instagram, a popular mobile photo sharing application, is outgrowing Twitter with regard to the number of users (Lee, Lee, Moon, & Sung, 2015). The rise in photo sharing has led to the discovery of a new phenomenon: the snapping and posting of amateur self-portrait photographs on social networking sites, better known as ‘‘selfies’’. The word selfie has become part of the contemporary language and is defined as a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically with a smartphone or webcam and shared via social media (Oxford Dictionaries, 2013).

Selfies now dominate popular social networking sites. For example, Instagram presents over

238 million photos with the hashtag #selfie and over 126 million with the hashtag #me

(Weiser, 2015).

The question that arises is: what could explain this increasing popularity of selfies? An answer to this question could possibly be found in another interesting phenomenon that has been growing over the last few decades. Between 1979 and 2006 narcissism levels have risen with 30 percent (Twenge, Konrath, Foster, Keith Campbell, & Bushman, 2008). Narcissism is therefore an interesting concept to consider when trying to explain the rise in selfie posting Running head: SELFIES IN RELATION TO NARCISSISM AND SELF-ESTEEM 5 behavior. Narcissists have a magnified positive self-image based on their appearance, popularity and status (Campbell, Rudich, & Sedikides, 2002). This inflated self-image results in a preoccupation with attention and admiration (Morf & Rhodewald, 2009). Social networking sites are easily accessible platforms to seek this attention, because these platforms make it possible for narcissists to increase their attractiveness and thereby obtain positive responses by others (Kapidzic, 2013). Posting selfies on social networking sites can therefore be seen as self-promoting behavior (Mehdizadeh, 2010), which attracts narcissists. That is why it is hypothesized that narcissism is positively associated with selfie posting behavior.

When investigating this association, it is important to keep in mind that narcissism is a heterogeneous construct which can be divided in two forms, referred to as grandiose and vulnerable narcissism (Dickinson & Pincus, 2003). A person higher in grandiose narcissism would most likely show more traits related to grandiosity, aggression and dominance. To the contrary, a person higher in vulnerable narcissism would show more defensive and insecure narcissism to hide feelings of inadequacy and incompetence (Miller et al., 2011). Because these forms of narcissism differ widely, these forms will be taken into account when investigating the association between narcissism and selfie posting behavior. Most of the studies discussed in this review have used the Narcissistic Personality Inventory to measure narcissism, however this instrument can only measure the grandiose form (Raskin & Terry,

1988; Rhodewalt & Morf, 1995).

Besides the fact that narcissism can take on different forms, there is a common misconception about narcissism, which is that narcissism is often seen as an extreme form of self-esteem. Although children might develop these concepts in the same way, namely from the internalization of regard from significant others (Harter, 2012), these are two very different concepts. People higher in narcissism feel superior to others, whereas people higher in self-esteem feel intrinsically worthy (Brummelman, Thomaes, & Sedikides, 2016). Running head: SELFIES IN RELATION TO NARCISSISM AND SELF-ESTEEM 6

Moreover, narcissism and self-esteem are not even strongly correlated, meaning that, narcissists can have both high or low self-esteem. Global self-esteem is defined as one’s positive and negative evaluations of the self and one’s approval or disapproval (Rosenberg,

1965). Therefore, someone’s self-esteem could possibly influence their behavior on social networking sites, and the use of selfies.

Sociometer theory, the most pertinent self-esteem theory, can be used when trying to explain the relation between self-esteem and selfie posting behavior. The theory proposes that self-esteem can be seen as an internal sociometer, which responds to others’ evaluations of the individual (Leary & Baumeister, 2000). The theory can be explained from an evolutionary perspective because of its social aspect. It has always been greatly important for survival to be part of a group. Therefore, humans developed a psychological warning system that observes and responds to cues of liking or disliking which are relevant to the individual’s relational value. Consequently, cues of disliking will decrease someone’s self-esteem and cues of liking will increase someone’s self-esteem. According to this theory an individual with lower levels of self-esteem is not sufficiently appreciated by others and will, to improve social inclusion, try to obtain this appreciation (Reitz, Motti-Stefanidi, & Asendorpf, 2016). This appreciation could be easily sought on social networking sites by posting selfies. In line with this theory, a negative association between self-esteem and selfie posting behavior is hypothesized.

This systematic review will investigate how selfie posting behavior is related to narcissism and self-esteem. By investigating these concepts separately, this study could provide insight on whether selfie posting behavior is more an expression of self-esteem or of narcissism. In addition, this review will discuss a study that suggests a possible interaction effect between narcissism and self-esteem resulting in selfie posting behavior.

Literature search

For this systematic review the database Web of Science was used to search articles Running head: SELFIES IN RELATION TO NARCISSISM AND SELF-ESTEEM 7 published up to October 29th, 2018. To index narcissism the following search term was used: narciss*, to index self-esteem the original term was used. Both terms were searched in combination with selfie posting behavior, which was indexed by the following search term: selfie*. The study design of interest was correlational research, which was indexed by the following search terms: association and relation. After this systematic search, the reference lists of relevant articles were screened to identify articles that were missed by the initial search. When all seemingly relevant articles were identified, the titles and study abstracts were screened, resulting in the removal of nonrelevant studies. After that, the text of each remaining study was read and the eligibility of the study was assessed. In the end, N = 14 studies were included in this systematic review.

Study selection

The purpose of this systematic review is to investigate how selfie posting behavior is related to narcissism and self-esteem among adolescents and young adults in the general population.

Based on the definition of a selfie (Oxford Dictionaries, 2013) the outcome variable, selfie posting behavior, has been operationalized as the frequency of posting selfies. Therefore, studies were included if:

1. They assessed narcissism in the general population (instead of in a clinical

population). The assessment of selfie posting behavior had to be specific, meaning

that, studies that focused on other types of social media behavior (e.g., profile pictures,

descriptions below selfies) were excluded.

2. The studied samples consisted of students or young adults, and not of grown-ups

(average age not higher than 35 years old).

3. Selfie posting behavior was assessed with item(s) that inquired the frequency of

posting selfies.

Narcissism and selfie-posting behavior Running head: SELFIES IN RELATION TO NARCISSISM AND SELF-ESTEEM 8

Since narcissism is a personality trait that makes people crave for attention and admiration, it could possibly be a predictor of selfie posting behavior. Therefore, in this paragraph studies that investigated this hypothesis will be discussed. To begin with, the overall association between narcissism and selfie posting behavior was examined. In a sample of 1248 men and women, a positive association between narcissism and selfie posting frequency was found, meaning that people with higher levels of narcissism post more selfies

(Weiser, 2015). The same result was found in a sample of 124 participants recruited from a psychology research pool (Singh, Farley, & Donahue, 2018). In both studies the participants completed an online survey. In these surveys narcissism was measured by the Narcissistic

Personality Inventory and the frequency of posting selfies was inquired by the question;

‘’How often would you say that you share selfies on photo sharing or social networking sites?’’. Response option differed from ‘less than once a year’ to ‘more than once a day’. The results of both studies suggest that narcissistic needs result in selfie posting behavior.

A study that supports this finding, extended the Theory of Planned Behavior and proposed narcissism as an additional antecedent (Kim, Lee, Sung, Choi & 2016). According to this theory, a person’s intentions determine their actual behavior. Narcissists possess an inflated positive self-image and engage in self-promoting behavior to affirm this view.

Therefore, this character trait positively influences someone’s intention to post a selfie.

According to Theory of Planned behavior, this intention will result in more actual selfie posting. To empirically examine this conceptual model data from 85 Instagram users was collected. Narcissism was measured by the Narcissistic Personality Inventory. The frequency of posting selfies was measured in two ways: estimated by participants and analyzed by independent coders. The results showed that narcissistic individuals were more likely to show greater intention to post selfies on social networking sites. Subsequently, individuals’ intention to post selfies was found to have a positive impact on actual selfie-posting behavior. Running head: SELFIES IN RELATION TO NARCISSISM AND SELF-ESTEEM 9

These studies show that narcissists post more selfies than their non-narcissistic counterparts, but not what drives their behavior. To expose these motifs, Sung, Lee, Kim, and

Choi (2016) investigated 315 participants, who were identified as selfie takers via a screening procedure. The participants were asked to fill in the Narcissistic Personality Inventory and respond to one item inquiring the selfie posting frequency. First of all, narcissism again was found as a significant predictor of selfie-posting behavior. Furthermore, results showed that more narcissistic participants tend to post more selfies to seek attention of others, to communicate with others, and for entertainment (for fun and to escape boredom). Posting selfies to document special events and occasions is not underlying the higher selfie-posting frequency of more narcissistic participants.

In contrast to previous findings a study among 237 participants did not find an overall association, meaning that, narcissism was unrelated to overall selfie posting behavior

(Biolcati & Passini, 2018). Participants filled in the Narcissistic Personality Inventory and responded to one item inquiring the selfie posting frequency. While no overall association was found, the results did show a relation between narcissism and a specific category of selfies. Narcissism turned out to be related to own selfie posting and not to posting selfies with a partner or a group. This result was in line with a study that investigated grandiose and vulnerable narcissism in relation with the self-reported frequency of posting selfies (McCain et al., 2016). In this study grandiose narcissism was measured by the Narcissistic Personality

Inventory and vulnerable narcissism was measured by the Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale.

The results showed that while grandiose narcissism was associated with the frequency of posting selfies and vulnerable narcissism was not, both subtypes of narcissism were associated with posting more own selfies. If looked at narcissists as people who seek attention and admiration, it could be argumentative that narcissists attach greater importance to posting selfies of themselves rather than partner or group selfies (Vazire et al., 2008). Running head: SELFIES IN RELATION TO NARCISSISM AND SELF-ESTEEM 10

Another study that investigated subtypes of narcissism in relation to specific categories of selfies was conducted among a sample of 128 undergraduate students (Barry,

Doucette, Loflin, Rivera-Hudson, & Herrington, 2017). In this study narcissism was measured with the Narcissistic Personality Inventory and the Pathological Narcissism Inventory, which divided the subtypes in: nonpathological, grandiose, and vulnerable narcissism. Selfie posting behavior was observed by independent coders who assessed the frequency and theme of a selfie. An example of a theme was physical appearance or affiliation with friends. First of all, the results showed that physical appearance selfies were more common in vulnerable narcissists. These participants scored higher on characteristics such as entitlement, fragile self-esteem, and had a tendency to hide one’s perceived weaknesses or faults from others.

Secondly, individuals who self-reported more grandiose narcissism posted less selfies which showed affiliation with friends. Lastly, nonpathological narcissists tended to post more selfie collages. The findings of these studies indicate that there are specific associations between subtypes of narcissism and specific categories of selfies.

To get more insight in the facets of grandiose narcissism which are associated with more selfie posting behavior, the three facets distinguished by the Narcissistic Personality

Inventory: Leadership/Authority, Grandiose Exhibitionism, and Entitlement/Exploitativeness were investigated. The results of a study that investigated 212 Instagram users showed that the Grandiose Exhibitionism facet was positively associated with the selfie posting frequency and the Leadership/Authority facet negatively (Moon, Lee, Lee, Choi, & Sung, 2016).

Partially in line with these results, earlier mentioned studies have also found that the

Grandiose Exhibitionism facet was a predictor of selfie posting behavior (Weiser, 2015;

Singh, Farley & Donahue, 2018). However, in contrast to Moon et al. (2016) the findings of

Weiser (2015) showed that the Leadership/Authority facet was also positively associated with selfie posting frequency. Singh, Farley and Donahue (2018) showed that the Running head: SELFIES IN RELATION TO NARCISSISM AND SELF-ESTEEM 11

Leadership/Authority facet was unrelated to selfie posting behavior. In all three studies the remaining facet, Entitlement/ Exploitativeness, did not turn out to be a significant predictor

(Moon et al., 2016; Weiser, 2015; Singh, Farley, & Donahue, 2018).

These results show that subtypes and facets of narcissism influence the selfie posting behavior. Another factor that influences this association was found in a study among Polish men and women (Sorokowski et al., 2015). In this study narcissism was measured by self- report, selfie posting behavior was both measured by self-report and assessed by independent coders. The results showed that, while women post more selfies, the association between narcissism and selfie posting behavior was stronger among men than women. Women’s narcissism scores were only associated with self-reported (rather than observed) selfie posting behavior. In contrast, men’s narcissistic scores, both self-reported as observed, predicted the number of own selfies, selfies with a partner, and group selfies. This implies that the relationship between narcissism and selfie posting behavior is moderated by gender. The same conclusion was drawn in a study conducted in Turkey (Arpacia, Yalçın, Baloğluc, &

Kesici, 2018). In this study, the association between narcissism and selfie posting behavior was significant for men but not for women. In line with these results, a study that only investigated men also found an association between narcissism and selfie posting behavior

(Fox & Rooney, 2014). In this study narcissism was assessed by the Narcissistic Personality

Inventory. Selfie posting behavior was assessed by only one item inquiring how many selfies participants had taken and posted on social networking sites in the past week. Men higher in narcissism reported posting selfies more frequently than men lower in narcissism. Male narcissists also edited their selfies more often than their non-narcissistic counterparts before posting them on social networking sites. These findings demonstrate that male narcissists are more inclined to engage in selective self-presentation than their non-narcissistic counterparts, Running head: SELFIES IN RELATION TO NARCISSISM AND SELF-ESTEEM 12 supporting previous findings that narcissists are more concerned about their physical appearance.

These results provide insight in which factors influence the association between narcissism and selfie posting behavior, but do not give any insight in the direction. To examine the direction of the association, a study investigated 334 participants over one-year time (Halpern, Valenzuela, & Katz, 2016). The results showed that participants with higher narcissistic levels at the first measurement, posted more selfies one year later. In turn, the frequency of posting selfies increases the level of narcissism over time. This study suggests that there might be a self-reinforcement effect between narcissism and selfie posting behavior.

In general, an overall association between narcissism and selfie posting behavior was found. One study did not find an overall association, however the results did show that narcissists post more own selfies than their non-narcissistic counterparts. When looking at the subtypes of narcissism, results showed that vulnerable narcissists seem to post more physical appearance selfies. The other subtype, grandiose narcissism, turned out to be a predictor for selfie posting behavior, specifically for own selfies. When the facets of grandiose narcissism were examined the Grandiose Exhibitionism facet was associated with selfie posting frequency. The association between the Leadership/Authority facet and selfie posting frequency was unclear. The Entitlement/Exploitative facet did not turn out to be a predictor of selfie posting frequency. These results suggest that selfie posting behavior may be more of a tendency to enhance the self rather than a social harmful tendency. In addition, the association between narcissism and selfie posting behavior turned out to be stronger among men than women. This suggests that gender moderates the association between narcissism and selfie posting behavior. Finally, one study that investigated the direction of the association found a self-reinforcement effect, meaning that, narcissism increases selfie posting behavior and vice versa. Running head: SELFIES IN RELATION TO NARCISSISM AND SELF-ESTEEM 13

Self-esteem and selfie-posting behavior

Occasionally, narcissism is seen as an extreme form of self-esteem, which would imply that self-esteem has a similar association with selfie posting behavior as narcissism.

Nevertheless, studies that have investigated the relationship between self-esteem and selfie posting behavior have showed otherwise. Research among a convenience sample of 348 participants has shown that there is no overall association between self-esteem and selfie- posting behavior. (McCain et al., 2016). In this study, young adults completed measures of personality (i.e. self-esteem) and questions about selfie posting behavior. Self-esteem was assessed with the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. In contrast to other traits investigated in this study, self-esteem did not show a pattern of associations with selfie posting behavior. The most considerable finding was that people with higher self-esteem experienced less negative affect with selfie taking. In accordance, Barry et al. (2017) have found a lack of overall association among a convenience sample of 128 undergraduate students. Self-esteem was again measured by self-report with the Rosenberg Self-Esteem scale. However, the selfie- posting behavior was assessed differently, instead of by self-report it was assessed by independent coders.

Despite the lack of overall association, there were two studies that did find a relation between self-esteem and certain forms of selfies. In both studies self-esteem was measured by self-report with the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Selfie posting was measured differently in the studies. In a convenience sample of Italian participants, the frequency of selfie posting was measured by self-report (Biolcati & Passini, 2018). The types of selfie were divided into own selfies, group selfies and selfies with the partner. The results turned out that self-esteem correlates with partner selfies. That is, people higher in self-esteem post more selfies together with the partner. In a study among 748 Polish students’ selfie posting behavior was measured by self-report as well as assessed by independent coders. The results turned out that when Running head: SELFIES IN RELATION TO NARCISSISM AND SELF-ESTEEM 14 selfie posting behavior was self-reported by participants no associations were found between self-esteem and certain types of selfies. When actual selfie posting behavior was assessed by coders, men’s self-esteem predicted the number of own selfies on social networking sites, meaning that, men higher in self-esteem tend to post more own selfies. However, only a small effect was found (Sorokowski et al., 2015).

Contrary to previous research, an association between self-esteem and selfie posting behavior was found in 227 participants from two Australian University Campuses (March &

McBean, 2018). Specifically, individuals with lower levels of self-esteem reported posting more selfies on social networking sites. Similar to previous studies self-esteem was assessed by the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Selfie posting behavior was measured by self-report.

Finally, this study found an interesting result; self-esteem moderated the relationship between grandiose narcissism and selfie posting behavior. The results showed that grandiose narcissism only resulted in more selfie posting behavior when self-esteem was low or average, but not when self-esteem was high. This implicates that grandiose narcissists may post selfies on social networking sites to compensate for possible lower levels of self-esteem

(Moon et al., 2016).

Based on these studies, there seems to be no overall association between self-esteem and selfie posting behavior. Only one study, in which self-esteem was measured by self- report, found an overall negative association. Although in general no association was found, it is possible that self-esteem is associated to posting certain types of selfies. For example,

Biolcati and Passini (2018) found that people with higher levels of self-esteem tend to post more selfies with the partner. Finally, there are indications that there could be an interaction effect between self-esteem and narcissism when predicting selfie posting behavior.

Discussion Running head: SELFIES IN RELATION TO NARCISSISM AND SELF-ESTEEM 15

This systematic review has investigated how selfie posting behavior is related to narcissism and self-esteem. Most of the discussed studies have found an overall association between narcissism and selfie posting behavior. That is, people higher in narcissism tend to post more selfies on social networking sites. Specifically, grandiose narcissists tend to post more selfies compared to their counterparts. Further, studies indicate that, while women post more selfies, the association between narcissism and selfie posting behavior is stronger among men than women. In line with this, a study that only investigated men also detected the overall association. Only two studies have not found an overall association. However, these studies did find that grandiose narcissism is related to posting more own selfies and less affiliation selfies, suggesting that, in addition to an overall association, there could also be an association between subtypes of narcissism and the type of selfies one posts. When the motives behind selfie posting behavior were investigated, it became clear that more narcisstic people post selfies to seek attention from others. Finally, one study found a self-reinforcement effect, meaning that, narcissism resulted in selfie posting behavior and vice versa.

By contrast, most of the discussed studies on self-esteem did not find an overall association with selfie posting behavior. The number of selfies one posts seems not to be affected by the amount of self-esteem one has. Only one study has found a negative effect, meaning that people with higher levels of self-esteem tend to post more selfies on social networking sites. Furthermore, a study has found that people with higher levels of self-esteem tend to post more selfies with the partner, suggesting that self-esteem could influence the type of selfies one posts. Finally, there could be an interaction effect between narcissism and self- esteem when predicting selfie posting behavior. Specifically, selfie posting behavior would only be predicted by narcissism when self-esteem is low or average.

To conclude, selfie posting behavior seems to be more an expression of narcissism than of self-esteem. These results are in line with the hypothesis regarding narcissism. It is Running head: SELFIES IN RELATION TO NARCISSISM AND SELF-ESTEEM 16 well known that people with higher levels of narcissism have a preoccupation with attention and admiration of others. Posting selfies form the perfect opportunity to seek this attention.

However, the results do not confirm the hypothesis that people with higher levels of self- esteem would post more selfies. Why narcissists feel the need for attention stronger than people with high self-esteem, can be explained by the discrepancy between narcissism and self-esteem. The difference is, that while narcissists feel superior to others, people with high self-esteem feel intrinsically worthy. Narcissists are therefore more vulnerable because the feeling of superiority is more precarious than the feeling of worthiness. While everyone can be worthy at the same time, not everyone can be superior at the same time (Back et al., 2013).

Thus, narcissists need to work hard to conserve the feeling of superiority. Posting selfies can be used as a mean to achieve this.

Similar to the hypothesis regarding high self-esteem, the hypothesis regarding low self-esteem was not confirmed by the results. It was hypothesized that people with lower levels of self-esteem would post fewer selfies, because of fear for negative feedback. An explanation for the lack of association could be that people with low self-esteem view social networking sites as less threatening than face to face interactions and therefore feel more comfortable to self-disclose online. Individuals with low self-esteem would then be just as willing to post selfies on social networking sites as individuals with high self-esteem (Forest

& Wood, 2012).

When investigating the relation between narcissism and selfie posting behavior two studies did not find an overall association (Barry et al., 2017; Biolcati & Passini, 2018). An explanation for this could be that in both studies the majority of the participants, even more than in other studies, consisted of women (over 80 percent). This sample distribution may have influenced the findings, because other studies have shown that the association between narcissism and selfie posting behavior is stronger among men than women (Sorokowski et al., Running head: SELFIES IN RELATION TO NARCISSISM AND SELF-ESTEEM 17

2015; Arpacia et al., 2018). Therefore, the overall association may not have been found in the studies were the sample consisted mostly of women and was found in studies were the samples were more evenly distributed. These findings together with the study of Fox and

Rooney (2015), which found an overall association in a sample that only consisted of men, might suggest that the association between narcissism and selfie posting behavior possibly only exist among men.

The fact that the most samples consist more of women than of men is no coincidence.

Research has shown that 68 percent of Instagram users is female (Smith 2014). Furthermore, women are more active on Facebook than men (Haferkamp, Eimler, Papadakis, & Kruck,

2012). As a consequence of this, the convenience samples consisted more of women than of men. Thus, while women are more active on social networking sites, the association between narcissism and selfie posting behavior has been found stronger among men. Known from previous research is that male narcissists overestimate their attractiveness (Gabriel, Critelli, &

Ee, 1994). This could be an explanation why men feel the urge to post selfies on social networking sites more than women. Furthermore, this suggest that besides narcissism, different psychological constructs or personality traits might underlie selfie posting behavior, at least in women. Therefore, a suggestion for future research is to investigate different concepts that could underlie selfie posting behavior.

While in general no association was found between self-esteem and selfie posting behavior, there was one study that did find an overall negative association (March & McBean,

2018). An explanation for this could be that selfie posting behavior was measured by self- report, while in other discussed studies selfie posting behavior was assessed by independent coders. The use of independent coders is considered to be more reliable than the use of self- reporting, because the risk with self-report could be that participants give socially desirable answers (Maruyama & Ryan, 2014). Running head: SELFIES IN RELATION TO NARCISSISM AND SELF-ESTEEM 18

The studies discussed in this systematic review have a few limitations that should be taken into consideration when interpreting the results. To begin with, there are a few studies included in this review which reported on overall narcissism, while the construct narcissism was only measured by the Narcissistic Personality Inventory. This instrument, however, is only capable of measuring grandiose narcissism rather than overall narcissism (Raskin &

Terry, 1988; Rhodewalt & Morf, 1995). Therefore, these studies should have only reported on grandiose narcissism rather than on overall narcissism. At the same time, it is understandable that these studies have chosen to use the Narcissistic Personality Inventory to measure narcissism, because this instrument is most commonly used in psychological research and has a good reliability and validity (Raskin & Terry, 1988; Rhodewalt & Morf, 1995).

Furthermore, a notable limitation concerns the average age of the investigated samples in the studies. These samples consisted of young adults, with an average age between 20 and

32 years old, while previous research has shown that adolescents, between 13 and 19 years old, post considerably more selfies (Dhir, Pallesen, Torsheim, & Andreassen, 2016).

Therefore, it would be preferable to study the latter group, rather than the young adults, on which the studies focused. In future research it would be interesting to focus on adolescents because this age group could give more insight in the development of the associations of narcissism and self-esteem with selfie posting behavior. Moreover, it would be interesting to compare this association in narcissistic adolescents with the association in narcisstic young adults to see if there are generational differences.

Finally, except for one study all studies were set up as correlational research. This type of research cannot demonstrate causality, meaning that, it cannot provide an answer to the question if narcissism and self-esteem result in selfie posting behavior or vice versa. The one study that did investigate the association over time, suggests a self-reinforcement effect

(Halpern, Valenzuela, & Katz, 2016). Besides focusing future research on adolescents, it Running head: SELFIES IN RELATION TO NARCISSISM AND SELF-ESTEEM 19 would be a good idea to conduct more research that investigates participants for a longer period of time. Longitudinal research could give more insight in the cause-effect relationship and the development of this association over time.

Apart from these limitations, a strong point is that studies from different countries are included. The association between narcissism and selfie posting behavior has been found in the United States, Poland, Korea, Turkey and Italy and can therefore be seen as a cross- cultural association. Interesting about this, is that the association can be both found in individualistic cultures like the United States, as in more collectivistically cultures like Korea, where individualistic cultures are commonly more narcissistic (Foster, Campbell, & Twenge,

2003). Future research could possibly give more insight in similarities and differences between these two cultures regarding this association. For example, differences in the predictive value of narcissism in selfie posting behavior.

Considering the fact that the use of social networking sites and especially selfie posting behavior is growing tremendously, it would be interesting to know what drives people in this behavior. This systematic review shows that selfie posting behavior can be seen more as an expression of narcissism than of healthy self-esteem. There are two points that should be taken into consideration when forming an appropriate attitude towards selfies. First of all, it has been found that narcissism only resulted in selfie posting behavior when self-esteem was low or average and not when self-esteem was high. This suggests that narcissists post selfies to hide a sense of insecurity. If this is the case than the selfie posting behavior of narcissists is not a healthy form of seeking appreciation. In addition, a self-reinforcement effect was found, suggesting that the selfie posting behavior of narcissists increases their narcissistic levels. An increase in this character trait is not desirable. Therefore, this study emphasizes that, while narcissism is sometimes confused with high levels of self-esteem, these constructs differ in Running head: SELFIES IN RELATION TO NARCISSISM AND SELF-ESTEEM 20 their relationship to selfie posting. This self-promoting behavior is more an expression of narcissism than of healthy self-esteem.

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Running head: SELFIES IN RELATION TO NARCISSISM AND SELF-ESTEEM 25

Table 1

Studies investigating how selfie posting behavior is related to narcissism and self-esteem

Publication Method Results

Arpaci, I., Yalçın, S. B., Baloğlu, M., Participants: The association between narcissism and selfie posting behavior was & Kesici, Ş. (2018) 179 undergraduate students from a only significant for men, but not for women. university in Turkey (M = 20.55) Women spend more time on social networking sites than men. Measurements: Narcissism: - Narcissistic Personality Inventory

Selfie posting behavior: - Self-report: attitude, behavioural intention and actual behavior (frequency) Barry, C. T., Doucette, H., Loflin, D. Participants: The proportion of total posts that were classified as selfies and the C., Rivera-Hudson, N., & Herrington, 128 undergraduate students from a frequency of selfies were unrelated to the dimensions of narcissism or L. L. (2017) university in the United States (M = 20.46) self-esteem.

Measurements: Vulnerable narcissism was positively associated with physical Narcissism: appearance selfies. - Pathological Narcissism Inventory - Narcissistic Personality Inventory Grandiose narcissism was negatively associated with affiliation selfies. Self-esteem: - Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale Self-esteem was not associated with selfie posting behavior.

Selfie posting behavior: - Independent coders: frequency and theme Running head: SELFIES IN RELATION TO NARCISSISM AND SELF-ESTEEM 26

of selfie

Biolcati, R., & Passini, S. (2018) Participants: The associations of narcissism and self-esteem with the overall selfie 237 Italian citizens (M = 23.97) posting frequency were not significant.

Measurements: Higher scores on the Narcisstic Personality Inventory predicted more Narcissism: own selfies. - Narcissistic Personality Inventory Higher scores on the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale predicted more Self-esteem: partner selfies. - Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale

Selfie posting behavior: - Self-report: frequency Fox, J., & Rooney, M. C. (2015) Participants: Narcissism predicted the frequency of selfies posted. 800 men from the United States (M = 29.29) Narcissism also predicted photo editing behavior.

Measurements: Narcissism: - Narcissistic Personality Inventory

Selfie posting behavior: - Self-report: frequency Halpern, D., Valenzuela, S., & Katz, J. Participants: A self-reinforcement effect was found: E. (2016) 314 participants from Chili The level of narcissism in participants predicted the frequency of Measurements: posting selfies over time. Narcissism: - Narcissistic Personality Inventory Posting more selfies increased the level of narcissism in participants Running head: SELFIES IN RELATION TO NARCISSISM AND SELF-ESTEEM 27

over time. Selfie posting behavior: - Self-report: frequency

Design: - Cross lagged panel analysis Kim, E., Lee, J. A., Sung, Y., & Choi, Participants: Narcissism is a significant determinant of an individual’s intention to S. M. (2016) 89 Instagram users from Korea (M = 24) post selfies on social networking sites.

Measurements: Behavioral intention was found to have a positive influence on selfie Narcissism: posting behavior. - Narcissistic Personality Inventory

Selfie posting behavior: - Self-report: frequency March, E., & McBean, T. (2018) Participants: Higher levels of grandiose-exhibitionism were associated with more 227 participants from two Australian selfie posting behavior. university campuses and the wider community (M = 30.76) Lower levels of self-esteem were associated with more selfie posting behavior. Measurements: Narcissism: Self-esteem was found to moderate the relationship between - Narcissistic Personality Inventory grandiose-exhibitionism and selfie posting behavior. Specifically, the relationship was only significant when self-esteem was low or Self-esteem: average. - Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale

Selfie posting behavior: - Self-report: frequency

Running head: SELFIES IN RELATION TO NARCISSISM AND SELF-ESTEEM 28

McCain, J. L., Borg, Z. G., Participants: Narcissism, measured by the Narcissistic Personality Inventory, was Rothenberg, A. H., Churillo, K. M., 348 young adults from a university in the positively associated with selfie posting behavior, specifically own Weiler, P., & Campbell, W. K. (2016) United States (M = 31.85) selfies. The association between vulnerable narcissism and selfie posting Measurements: behavior was weaker than the association of grandiose narcissism and Narcissism: selfie posting behavior. - The Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale - Narcissistic Personality Inventory Self-esteem was not associated with selfie posting behavior.

Self-esteem: - Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale

Selfie posting behavior: - Self-report: frequency Moon, J. H., Lee, E., Lee, J. A., Choi, Participants: Higher scores on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory were T. R., & Sung, Y. (2016) 212 Instagram users from Korea (M = 28.8) associated with a higher frequency of selfie posting.

Measurements: Also, the grandiose/exhibitionism and leadership/authority facets Narcissism: (distinguished by the Narcissistic Personality Inventory) were - Narcissistic Personality Inventory significant predictors of profile picture evaluation.

Selfie posting behavior: - Self-report: frequency and rating of physical appearance (on three adjectives: attractive, fashionable, and cool) Singh, S., Farley, S. D., & Donahue, J. Participants: Global narcissism was associated with the frequency of selfie J. (2018) 124 social media users from the United posting. States (M = 34.3) The Grandiose Exhibitionism facet (distinguished by the Narcissistic Measurements: Personality Inventory) was associated to selfie posting behavior. Narcissism: Running head: SELFIES IN RELATION TO NARCISSISM AND SELF-ESTEEM 29

- Narcissistic Personality Inventory The Leadership/ Authority facet showed the weakest association with selfie posting behavior Selfie posting behavior: - Self-report: frequency Sorokowska, A., Oleszkiewicz, A., Participants: A significant association between self-esteem and selfie posting Frackowiak, T., Pisanski, K., Chmiel, Study 1: 748 individuals from university behavior was found for men, but not for women. A., & Sorokowski, P. (2016) campuses from Poland (M = 21.64) Study 2: 548 Facebook users from Poland (M = 23.72)

Measurements: Self-esteem: The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale

Selfie posting behavior: - Self-report: frequency Sorokowski, P., Sorokowska, A., Participants: The association between narcissism and selfie posting behavior was Oleszkiewicz, A., Frackowiak, T., Study 1: 748 individuals from university moderated by gender. Men’s overall narcissism scores positively Huk, A., & Pisanski, K. (2015) campuses from Poland (M = 21.64) predicted posting own selfies, selfies with a romantic partner and Study 2: 548 Facebook users from Poland group selfies (both self-reported and actual frequency). In women, (M = 23.72) narcissism was only related to self-reported selfie posting behavior rather than actual selfie posting behavior. Measurements: Narcissism: - Narcissistic Personality Inventory

Selfie posting behavior: - Self-report: frequency - Independent coders: frequency

Running head: SELFIES IN RELATION TO NARCISSISM AND SELF-ESTEEM 30

Sung, Y., Lee, J. A., Kim, E., & Choi, Participants: Selfie posting behavior was associated with the attention-seeking S. M. (2016) 319 respondents from korea (M = 29) motivation, communication motivation, and the entertainment motivation but not to the archiving motivation. Measurements: Narcissism: - Narcissistic Personality Inventory

Selfie posting behavior: - Self-report: frequency Weiser, E. B. (2015) Participants: Overall narcissism and each of the three subtypes (distinguished by 1204 men and women from the United the NPI) all correlated positively with selfie posting frequency. States (M = 32.81) The Leadership/Authority narcissistic subtype was a stronger Measurements: predictor of selfie posting frequency among women than men. Narcissism: - Narcissistic Personality Inventory The Entitlement/ Exploitativeness narcissistic subtype predicted selfie posting frequency only among men Selfie posting behavior: Age did not moderate the relation between overall narcissism or each - Self-report: frequency of the three narcissistic subtypes and selfie posting frequency.