OCTOBER 6, 2008
I, me, mine
 |
 |
 STUDY |
Narcissus — who got lost, looked into a pond, and was so entranced by his own image that he died of thirst before he could pull away — gets a bad rap: How was he to know that he’d fallen for his own reflection? But the condition that Narcissus gave his name to? The personality disorder characterized by grandiosity, selfishness, and the exploitation of numerous shallow relationships? That’s harder to excuse.
Thankfully, you can now spot narcissists from miles away — just by looking at their Facebook pages. Recently, psychologists at the University of Georgia gave standard psych questionnaires to 129 college students and scored them for narcissistic responses. Next, they asked other students to look at the subjects’ Facebook pages and rate them for narcissism. The scores aligned, and the tells included unusually high numbers of Facebook contacts, surprisingly attractive self-portraits, shameless self-promotion, and the inclusion of provocative photos.
Facebook didn’t make these people narcissistic, of course. But it does provide the perfect forum for their narcissistic tendencies: Instead of looking in the mirror too long, they can spend all day online, updating their profiles and basking in their own bright light.
to a friend| Invite a Friend | Sign Up | Share |  |
about “Narcissism and Social Networking Sites”
