Narcissists, Insecure People Flock To Facebook 280
Meshach writes "A study out of Canada claims that Facebook is a magnet for narcissists and people with low self-esteem. The theory is that these people use the site as a means of self promotion or to feel important."
HOLY CRAP!! (Score:2, Insightful)
I mean, really, WOW!
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I mean, really, WOW!
It's not as surprising as that. In fact, I would not call it much of a surprise at all.
Probably the same can be said for MySpace and any other "social" site - they appeal to some mix of the insecure (such as teenagers) and the narcissistic (a particular kind of sociopath, often an adult). I had a FaceBook account for a short while, then saw what other people were doing there (people I know), and decided not to be a part of the vacuous trumpeting that substitutes for interaction. My FaceBook account was zom
Re:HOLY CRAP!! (Score:5, Funny)
At least we know your sarcasometer is properly calibrated. :)
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Sky may be blue. Our recent study indicates that many people perceive a colour when looking at an unobstructed sky. In English-speaking countries, the word most often used to describe that colour is "blue".
In fact, many people who wish to simply define "blue", use the sky as a reference.
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At least we know your sarcasometer is properly calibrated. :)
I hate to break it to you and to Slashdot in general, but not every response to the underlying sentiment behind the sarcasm is a failure to understand that it was, in fact, sarcasm. The uptake of this idea is low because it might give the peanut gallery a little less to chuckle about.
About Facebook, I've been saying this for a long time now on various other Slashdot stories that mention it. I usually use the term "exhibitionist" to describe what is clearly not a desire that would occur to mentally heal
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The most prominent objections to the story on the CTV linked story were from people (claim to) who use Facebook as a means to keep up with old friends.
Fair enough. But one has to ask if this is all that healthy in and of itself. In the history of human kind, people move on in life. Old friends remain, but new friends are made.
One wonders how many of these "friendship maintainers" are really substituting old friends for new ones, clinging to some happy period in their past, and cutting themselves off from
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At their best, they can produce a momentary sense of gratification shortly followed by a need for more. There's no lasting joy, meaning, or well-being to be found in them.
Brother, that's life. Period. Get your ephemeral joy in because there is no other kind of happiness to be had.
A lot of people feel the way that you do. I used to, in fact.
After you've suffered enough of that, which unfortunately may take years, what you realize is that the joy you derive from doing the right thing, from loving and looking after your fellow human being, from all of those unsolicited and unexpected acts of kindness and understanding, those were the only things that really mattered. Those are the things that the world can't take away from you unless you permit it.
There's something noble and up
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I wouldn't know. I'm too busy displaying my narcissism on /.
Meta Meta, who's got the Meta? (Score:3, Informative)
Oh, and I have a sig line, too! Gary Numan is cool!
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I had a FaceBook account for a short while, then saw what other people were doing there (people I know), and decided not to be a part of the vacuous trumpeting that substitutes for interaction.
Fortunately, you'll find none of that in this forum!
Re:HOLY CRAP!! (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:HOLY CRAP!! (Score:4, Interesting)
Based on the number of friends I have, and the number of announcements of "hey join me at farm wars" Vs. "hai Im in ur survey you can haz cheezburger" Vs. "L@@K at me, L@@K what I did 11!111!!!" I'd say that the survey is fairly accurate. Taking that further to the couple people I *know* to have low self esteem and the one true narcissist I know, and how much time they spend on FB, yeah I think the survey is spot on.
-nB
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Presumably they don't keep their vacuous, illiterate comments just to Facebook. You need better friends.
Re:HOLY CRAP!! (Score:5, Informative)
Plus, we have no idea how they ranked the narcissism and self-esteem listed in TFA.
You just need to find a better article [thestar.com]:
The more prolific the Facebook activity, the lower they rated on the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and the higher in the Narcissism Personality Inventory.
Or from the published research itself [liebertonline.com]:
After agreeing to participate in this research study, Facebook owners were administered a brief four-part questionnaire. The first section required demographic information, including the participant's age and gender. The second section addressed Facebook activity; it required respondents to indicate the number of times they check their Facebook page per day and the time spent on Facebook per session. The remaining sections assessed two psychological constructs: self-esteem and narcissism.
The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale was used to measure participant self-esteem. This 10-item test measured self-esteem using a 4-point Likert scale, ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Example items include “On the whole, I am satisfied with myself” and “I take a positive attitude toward myself.” The original reliability of this scale is 0.72. This measure has gained acceptable internal consistency and test–retest reliability, as well as convergent and discriminant validity.
Narcissism was assessed using the Narcissism Personality Inventory (NPI)-16. The NPI-16 is a shorter, unidimensional measure of the NPI-40. While the 40-item measure revealed an =0.84, the NPI-16 has an =0.72. Despite this discrepancy, the two measures are correlated at r=0.90 (p
And now you know.
Yaz.
Re:HOLY CRAP!! (Score:4, Insightful)
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Considering 50% or so of our population have a degree of some kind and have graduated from college, university or both. And somewhere around ~20 million out of 33 million people use it, it's probably closer to the truth than you'd expect.
...what ? (Score:2, Insightful)
They needed a fucking study to see that ?
Re:...what ? (Score:5, Informative)
It's called the scientific method. Maybe you've heard of it. It requires you to not believe something just because everyone knows it.
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But we're willing to take a priori definitions of narcissists and people with low self-esteem?
We're way into the deep end of the soft-science pool here, and it's not a big pull-back reveal that narcissists and those with low self-esteem seek out essentially risk-free forms of socialization and fora for self-aggrandizement.
Worse still, the study was conducted on a set of just 100 students, which hardly seems like a statistically sound sample unless the biases are off the charts. Additionally, we couldn't sa
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exactly - "it's obvious" snarkiness seems to be an example of attitudes from people confused about the nature of science
Either that, or they know science and mark stuff like this as a lower priority considering limited research resources.
There is some value in the details of what seems obvious, even if the basic premise holds
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Caveat: The University of Florida had trouble reproducing the snow experiment. Water was confirmed to be wet and also found to be infested with large reptiles.
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We should run a study just to be sure.
Re:...what ? (Score:5, Insightful)
They needed a fucking study to see that ?
If they said it without a study we'd have a bunch of "[citation please]" followed by sarcastic comments that a few anecdotes are meaningless, and how they happen know a bunch of humble self-assured people who use facebook a lot too.
So yes, they needed a fucking study. Its how we separate truth from truthiness. Science at work. Just because it confirms what most people might beleive is true doesn't make it unworthy of study. Sometimes looking into things that most people believe is true has surprising results.
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They needed a fucking study to see that ?
What they apparently didn't notice is that narcissists are always people with low self esteem (though the converse isn't necessarily true). The narcissist loves an image of themself that is improved or perfected in some way and does not correspond to their actual self. They do not hold their actual self in high esteem, which is why they create the image. Unfortunately, this situation is all too common, with sad effects for all concerned.
Among others... (Score:5, Insightful)
No doubt they do. And they are probably among millions of others who go there to keep connected with friends that they wouldn't otherwise be able to. Vain people look in mirrors a lot. Does that mean only people who are vain own mirrors? What a ridiculous study.
Re:Among others... (Score:5, Funny)
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Baloney. I'm a narcissist, but I'm not a frequent user of Facebook. In fact, the only reason I use Facebook at all is that it prevents ISPs from automatically filtering as spam the frequent emails I used to send to each of my 2,351,672 female admirers with photographs of me engaged in my latest adventure, and the regular helpful advice I send to my 14,843,590 less fortunate male friends about how to improve their physique or... ahem... performance... to more closely resemble my own and benefit their flaggin
Re:Among others... (Score:5, Funny)
RTFA. "The study doesn't go so far as to say that all heavy users of Facebook are narcissists or people with very low self-esteem"
"In fact," the researchers added, "we have reason to suspect that as many as a dozen FaceBook users are well-adjusted, mentally healthy, members of society."
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the reply you're looking for is: "correlation does not imply causation", and fairly obvious.
not looking good today canadian theorists.
Really? Did you actually read the paper in question before making such an accusation?
As predicted, there was a significant positive correlation between individuals who scored higher on the NPI-16, the number of times Facebook was checked per day, and the time spent on Facebook per session. This result is consistent with the findings presented in another study that examined narcissism and Facebook activity.
Given these findings, it was hypothesized that narcissists would present a similar opportunity for self-promotion on Facebook. Results partially supported this hypothesis. Significant positive correlations were found between scores on the NPI-16 and self-promotion in the following areas: Main Photo, View Photos (20), Status Updates, and Notes. However, a Pearson correlation analysis failed to show a significant correlation between narcissism and About Me self-promotion.
(Emphasis added).
Indeed, the researcher spends her entire time pointing out in her paper that she found a variety of interesting correlations, and acknowledges the limitations of her research methodology. She doesn't once draw any definitive conclusions that the research means anything.
I'd say it's looking significantly better for Canadian theorists (well, in this case, a student) than it is for armchair /. posters who
You're kidding me... (Score:3, Funny)
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Just wanted to add that while I was vacationing in Maui a few weeks ago (please see the pictures), I drank a coffee.. Yum. I'm going to quote some lyrics:
"The sun so bright it leaves no shadows, only scars, carved into stone on the face of the earth."
I like cameras and coffee and pens.
I joined the group, "Lost is retarded."
I just added Radiohead to my list of Likes.
Here's my new picture. It's me with the Dolphin cheerleaders. Yes, that's me.
Here's me at Hard Rock. I'm too cool for Hard Rock. I'm too cool
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There's this thing where you can block people or even entirely remove them from your 'friends'...
Time for the followup (Score:4, Funny)
I can't wait to hear what they have to say about Slashdot.
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Whom regularly engage in psuedo-intellectual dialogs.
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Whom
_Who_
Ouch. Nothing like sneaking an antiquated word in there and still striking out with the Grammar Nazis.
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We're stuck with IE at work, I've grown dependent on spell check through Chrome.
That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.
Shameless promoters? (Score:5, Interesting)
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If by "club" you mean Sarlac Pit, then I'm all for it!
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Heh, one of my FB friends (old highscool classmate) does indeed kinda flog his music-producer business although he does have some non-business posts in the mix.
However, it's natural to expect people to talk about something they're enthusiastic about, financial or not
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You forgot to mention Facebook itself, who sells ads to companies. Ads which don't link people to the company's external website, but to Facebook itself, driving up the cost of ads that it sells to companies...
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I really like this part of it - I have some of the local venues on my list, so I get to see which acts are playing when with out going to a bunch of websites. That, and one club in particular likes to run a bunch of theme nights, and FB is handy for that.
Besides, how else do you propose we organize a roving house party with in excess of 100 attendees every week for the post college crowd?
OTOH (Score:2, Insightful)
One could just as easily say the same about people who publish "studies."
Doesn't that describe... (Score:3, Insightful)
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Nope, not me! I'm way better than all those silly narcissistic facebookers. Allow me to outline how, with a short, 100-item list...
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It includes people who love themselves and people who hate themselves. Not people who are "average with themselves".
Yes, in my experience, very few people are "averege with themselves".
Although on further examination, being a narcissist doesn't necessarily mean one loves oneself. One can have low self-esteem and be a narcissist as a means of coping.
Perhaps a better description would be self-centered with a low self-esteem.
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So only those with a high and stable self-esteem are not on Facebook.
Whatever (Score:2, Funny)
At Odds With the Study (Score:2)
Mehdizadeh went on to say "that's why so many people get paranoid if their boss sees them on Facebook. They're worried that they don't project the same image there that they project in their workplace."
Yeah or you know the reason the rest of us get nervous is the fact that you're not doing work if you're on Facebook. Unless he means 'on Facebook' outside of work and then it's probably closer to the fact that you can't always control what goes on on Facebook unless you don't allow anything on your page.
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How many people out of 100 are narcissists?
All of them? [wikipedia.org]
nah (Score:2)
the real narcisists have their own vanity domains.
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I've had my own domain for over ten years and it has nothing to do with narcissism. I just didn't want to have to get a new email address every time I changed ISPs.
And no, I don't advertise here, because I get enough spam as it is, thank you very much.
Yeah, my friend and I do the same thing (Score:2)
My e-mail address is allways your name @ my domain.com (or my domain#2.com
Flawed study is flawed (Score:5, Interesting)
According to TFA the study sample involved college students. What about other demographic groups? For most of the more "mature" folks I know that use Facebook it's a means of keeping in touch with distant friends, or to maintain a bit of social connection in a life dominated by work and family obligations.
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According to TFA the study sample involved college students. What about other demographic groups? For most of the more "mature" folks I know that use Facebook it's a means of keeping in touch with distant friends, or to maintain a bit of social connection in a life dominated by work and family obligations.
Most studies involve students because researches work at universities.
These same studies also cite a study which justifies the use of students for studies.
I would cite it, but you clearly have not done any research, so neither will I.
dont forget living in the past (Score:5, Funny)
I found facebook as a great place to reconnect for the first time with girls that used to be pretty in high school, clinging to their pregnancy photos as though they were my own children, laughing with them.. printing them out and putting them on my fridge.. It's also a great place to have a decent, private conversation with your best friend's mom without him "getting all weird about this". A place for adults to communicate as they wish. A place for grownups.
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Bad summary (Score:5, Informative)
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Not only that, but the article never used the phrase "self promotion" as the Slashdot summary did. Self promotion has business purposes outside of narcissism. And, yes, I have gotten job offers from my Facebook profile (whereas with LinkedIn I get 10x as many but those are just leads).
There is a lot of negative sentiment on Slashdot regarding Facebook, but I find it to be a great way to keep in contact with friends from the past. It's cheaper and more fun than sending 125 Christmas cards as I used to.
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That's pretty much redundant. Narcissists *are* insecure, requiring constant approval in order to maintain their self-esteem.
Theory? We don't need no stinkin' THEORY! (Score:2)
It's a fact. And look at all the businesses trying to do the same. And they're failing, for one simple reason - the facebook format is not conducive to conversations.
Maybe Ellison can buy them and kill them off.
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Not all businesses who use Facebook for advertising are failing, simply because not all businesses need to communicate with their customers.
Don't forget promoting their failing bands (Score:2)
What's that make twitter? (Score:3, Insightful)
Seriously.
Seems fitting. (Score:5, Insightful)
Isn't Mark Zuckerberg known to be a complete jerk and a narcissist?
affirming the consequent (Score:2)
Southpark told us this months ago (Score:2, Interesting)
Exceptions? (Score:2)
Is it still arrogance if I actually am better than everyone else?
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depends on which version of "better"
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Is it still arrogance if I actually am better than everyone else?
I've been wondering about that for a long time. I'm going to figure it out first, of course, because I am better than you.
I use it for (Score:2)
I did a study (Score:2)
Keyword "narcissist" a lot more in the news lately (Score:4, Interesting)
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Pah! (Score:2)
That's what I use slashdot for.
Sample Size (Score:5, Insightful)
Note, this study had a sample size of 100 college students, possibly self selected (selection criteria wasn't readily presented). It's really dubious to make a generalization on that.
Of course. (Score:2)
What about Narcissists with low self esteem? (Score:2)
Quick indicators (Score:2)
If you see people with 1000+ friends, they don't have 1000+ friends to converse & be friends with, that's just 1000+ people they can broadcast to.
If you see someone that adds you as a friend, but never comments on any of your wall posts, you're just another viewer to their wall posts. It may or may not have commercial promotions involved.
If you have someone that adds you as a friend, but doesn't talk to you if you saw them in person, well, that's a mystery to me. Maybe you were interesting to them at on
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If you see people with 1000+ friends, they don't have 1000+ friends to converse & be friends with, that's just 1000+ people they can broadcast to.
A guy I know slightly commented, "Calling the people you're connected to on Facebook or Twitter 'friends' is ridiculous. How many of them would help you move your couch?"
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If you see people with 1000+ friends, they don't have 1000+ friends to converse & be friends with, that's just 1000+ people they can broadcast to.
A guy I know slightly commented, "Calling the people you're connected to on Facebook or Twitter 'friends' is ridiculous. How many of them would help you move your couch?"
Or bail you out of jail? Or drive you to alcohol treatment? Or bail you out of jail again? Seriously, what are friends for?
Kettle calls Pot black (Score:4, Insightful)
I find it humorous that so many Slashdotters bag on Facebook users, who are apparently self-absorbed. Tell me you don't give a rat's ass how your Slashdot comments are moderated. Tell me you've never looked to see how many people are interested in reading your comments. I know there will always be those who profess to be completely disinterested in their social standing in Slashdot, but methinks the number who actually don't give a damn is smaller than the number who make that claim.
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well, if /. is the main way to socialize, then certainly, you'd care about those things. My comments end up being moderated up and then almost inevitably down because my opinions are not accepted, I still post though, I guess after all these years it's a habit.
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Do people care what others think about their facebook posts? Do they think "Oh damn, I should have reworded my status update about those burned noodles, the grammar nazis are totally going to get me." I didn't think so.
There's a difference between not letting the world get you down, and not giving a shit if you annoy them for no reason. That's the difference between slashdot and facebook.
There are three i's in "Narcissistic"... (Score:2)
..and that's still not enough!!!
Reasons for facebook (Score:2)
My kid was in the hospital _everyone_ wanted updates. This makes it very easy.
Take some pics/videos of my kids. I can post them. Other folks can check them out if they want to.
This way I don't have to e-mail spam.
I like to be able to follow the happenings of friends without e-mail/phone.
All that being said I rarely update and spend about 30 minutes a week on facebook.
In my mind that 30 minutes is well worth it.
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Re:If all you've got to survey is ... (Score:4, Funny)
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used to be that people moved on after going to a different school or graduating from college. chicks write letters, guys don't.closest thing was alumni newsletters
then came email, but it was tied to your ISP. then came hotmail but it stopped being cool and people went to gmail. people found it a PITA to change email addresses
facebook you can keep in touch with people without updating your email address or any other info no matter where you move to
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{ Wonders: is it narcissistic to opine "this thing can not be useful because I personally don't see any importance or use for it"? }
Why is it that Slashdot users so frequently feel the need to sneer at people who do something outside of the typical /. realm? Recently, Facebook has: