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Beyond Narcissism: Developing a Comprehensive Model of Motivations for Selfie-Taking and Selfie-Posting on Social Media

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Beyond Narcissism: Developing a Comprehensive Model of Motivations for Selfie-Taking and Selfie-Posting on Social Media BEYOND NARCISSISM: DEVELOPING A COMPREHENSIVE MODEL OF MOTIVATIONS FOR SELFIE-TAKING AND SELFIE-POSTING ON SOCIAL MEDIA Ruonan Zhang A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY August 2019 Committee: Louisa Shu Ying Ha, Advisor Salim A Elwazani, Graduate Faculty Representative Frederick Busselle Ilyoung Ju © 2019 Ruonan Zhang All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Louisa Ha, Advisor As a new and prevalent image genre, selfies have gained both media and academic attentions in recent years. Some associate selfies with intentions to show off and excessive fondness of selves. Some view them as a handy tool for digital communication. This dissertation is designed to investigate the motivations behind people’s selfie-taking and selfie-posting behaviors on social media. By incorporating Self-Affirmation Theory and Uses and Gratifications Theory, the examined motivations of this research for taking and posting individual selfies and group selfies include: narcissism, extraversion, affirming self-worth, need for preservations, need for communication, need for entertainment, and need for popularity. Through Structural Equation Modeling analysis of online survey data (N = 539), models revealed that need for preservation, need for entertainment, and need for popularity mediated the influence of aspects of narcissism and extraversion on variables selfie-related behaviors. In addition, affirmation on different aspects of self-worth were found as important predictors and mediators across all models predicting the taking and posting of individual and group selfies. This finding supported the conceptualization of selfies as self-affirming digital tools for people to gain positive psychological gratification and the strength to combat stresses in lives. The study also revealed that the frequency selfie-taking and posting and the number of selfies taken and posted on social media are two important dimensions of selfie-related behaviors that deserves separate attention in examinations. Finally, the study revealed that people have different motivations in determining taking and posting individual selfies and group selfies. iv Theoretical significance is discussed as the study applies and extends Self-Affirmation Theory and Uses and Gratification Theory into the study of prevalent and growing selfie phenomenon. For college students, selfie-posting on social media is an important compensatory behavior for people lacking family support or not having high academic performance. Methodological contributions and practical implementations are also discussed for future research on selfies and self-affirming social media behaviors, public education on positive functions of social media and selfies, and potential application on social media public relations and advertising campaigns. The limitation of the research is also discussed followed by suggestions for future research. v To my father, mother, and brother. Thank you for your love and support. I love you. Forever. vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There are many people without whom this dissertation will never be completed. I would like to thank my advisor Dr. Louisa Ha, for guiding my academic path, for offering me helpful suggestions whenever needed, and for understanding and supporting me in my lowest moments. I want to thank Dr. Rick Busselle, with whom I had a lot of inspiring and interesting discussions that influenced my thoughts on social media. I also want to thank Dr. Ilyoung Ju, for offering me advice on the dissertation and showing me the process of brainstorming new research ideas. I also want to thank Dr. Salim Elwazani for giving me really helpful suggestions and being supportive to my research. Many people who are and were in the School of Media and Communications at Bowling Green State University selflessly provided me help and guidance even though they are not in my dissertation committee. They set great examples for me as great scholars and great people: Drs. Alberto Gonzalez, Gi Woong Yun, Tom Mascaro, and Sung- Yeon Park. I also would like to thank Nicky Chang Bi, Xiaoli Wen and Kisun Kim for being awesome friends, especially Nicky, who’s like a big sister that I never had. I would like to thank my father, mother, and brother, for their unconditional love, for always being supportive and positive about whatever I do, for being great people to whoever around them, and for giving me the best family in the entire world. This dissertation, as the ending note for my Ph.D. program, marks both my professional achievement and personal growth. Within these four years, my eyes are opened by so many interesting readings and discussions about media and communication, I had experienced the joy and struggle of conducting social scientific research, I endured the pain of losing two of my most important family members, and I had tasted the bitterness and excitement of being on the job vii market. Most importantly, after these four years, I know who I am, what I am capable of, and how I can be a reliable person to take care of the people I love. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION: OVERVIEW OF THE RESEARCH .................................. 1 A History of Selfies ...................................................................................................... 1 The Study of Selfies ..................................................................................................... 4 Statement of Research Problem ................................................................................... 5 Purpose of This Study .................................................................................................. 6 Theoretical Significance .................................................................................. 6 Methodological Significance ........................................................................... 8 Practical Significance ....................................................................................... 8 CHAPTER II. LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................ 10 Self-Affirmation Theory .............................................................................................. 10 Self-Affirmation Consciousness ...................................................................... 13 Self-Affirmation through Social Media ........................................................... 15 Effects of Self-Affirmation .............................................................................. 16 Uses and Gratification Theory ..................................................................................... 17 Uses and Gratifications of Selfies .................................................................... 18 Conceptualization of Selfie in Scholarly Research ...................................................... 20 Online Photo Sharing Research and Selfie Research. ..................................... 20 ix Prior Research on the Selfie Phenomenon ....................................................... 20 Motivation of Image-Posting on Social Media ............................................................ 22 Photo-sharing as Social Presence in Digital Realm ......................................... 24 Photo-taking as Materialization of Everyday Memory .................................... 24 Motivations of Selfie-Related Behaviors ..................................................................... 25 Personality Traits: Narcissism and Extraversion ............................................. 25 The Need for Popularity in Selfie Posting ....................................................... 28 Individual Selfies and Group Selfies ............................................................... 29 CHAPTER III. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK ................................................................... 31 Research Questions and Hypotheses ........................................................................... 34 CHAPTER IV. METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................... 42 Sampling Procedure and Survey Implementation ........................................................ 42 Questionnaire Design ................................................................................................... 43 Measures ...................................................................................................................... 44 Independent Variables ..................................................................................... 44 Narcissism ............................................................................................ 44 Authority .................................................................................. 44 Superiority ................................................................................ 44 Exhibitionism ........................................................................... 44 x Exploitativeness ....................................................................... 44 Vanity ....................................................................................... 45 Extraversion ......................................................................................... 44 Mediators ......................................................................................................... 45 Self-Worth ...........................................................................................
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