A study reported on by ABC News and published by Western Illinois University revealed that self-esteem was negatively related to self-promotion and anti-social behaviors on Facebook. People who scored highly on a Narcissistic Personality Inventory also promoted themselves more on Facebook, i.e., they tag themselves often, update their newsfeeds frequently, have more friends, seek more social support than provide it, upload photos of themselves often, get angry when others do not comment on status updates and even retaliate against negative comments. Study author and WIU professor Christopher Carpenter defined narcissism as “a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration and an exaggerated sense of self-importance.”
“[Facebook] offers a gateway for hundreds of shallow relationships and emotionally detached communication,” says Carpenter. “More importantly, for this study, social networking in general allows the user a great deal of control over how he or she is presented to and perceived by peers and other users…In general, the ‘dark side’ of Facebook requires more research in order to better understand Facebook’s socially beneficial and harmful aspects in order to enhance the former and curtail the latter.”
The study was published this month in the journal for the International Society for the Study of Individual Differences. Read more about the results of this study here.
