Selfies, Individual Traits, and Gender: Decoding the Relationship

Abstract

In the present scenario, no event whether formal or informal is complete without clicking a selfie. Selfies are especially in trend among young people, and they go can go to any extent often risking their lives for a perfect selfie. The hype is so much that even the mobile companies advertise their new handsets on the basis of selfie camera. Previous empirical studies found that typical selfie sufferers were those who intend to seek attention and habitually low in self-confidence, and they believe that posting their images on social media platforms enhances their social standing. The present study is based in India, the country with the highest number of young population. Recently, the country reported numerous incidents, where selfie clicking has turned out to be in serious suffering. People also feel uncomfortable if they do not receive appreciation and likes on social media after posting selfies. Data were collected on the population age ranging from 12 to 30 years. The present study has uncovered the behavioral attributes of people who are more prone to taking selfies. The findings suggest that social exhibition and extraversion traits of an individual have a significant impact on the individual's selfie posting behavior.

Predicting Selfie-Posting Behavior Through Self-Esteem, Narcissism and Exhibitionism Among Indian Young Youth

“…A "Selfie" is a self-portrait snapshot taken with a smartphone held in hand or supported by a selfie stick and posted on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat (Richa et al, 2021). Oxford Dictionaries declared it the word of the year for 2013.…”

“…It is characterized by a broad sense of self-worth or sufficiency as a person, as well as generalized emotions of selfacceptance, goodness, and self-reporting (Coopersmith, 1967;Crocker &Major, 1989;Rosenberg, 1965). Positive comments received on social media may help in boosting one's self-esteem (Richa et al, 2021). On the other side, a lack of positive feedback (likes, comments, etc.)…”

“…Exhibitionism is an attitude of posting a high number of selfies (Fox & Rooney, 2015;Poonia et al, 2021). The most common kind of exhibitionism is shown by archetypal young females pouting in different stances (Richa et al, 2021). Objective Self-Awareness (OSA) theory illustrates that a selective form of exhibitionism, mainly positive presentation on social media, usually boosts self-esteem (Walther, 1996).…”

“…The relationship between selfie posting habits and numerous personality qualities such as preoccupation, self-image, social support, desire for connection, narcissism, hyperactivity, perfectionism, and impulsivity have been investigated in several research (Wortham, 2013;Martino, 2014;Singh &Tripathi, 2016;Jain et al, 2021). According to the findings, people who share selfies and strive for the ideal selfie are shown to be egotistical and obsessed (Richa et al, 2021). Fox and Rooney (2015) concluded that selfie posting activity is significantly connected with personality characteristics, with selfie posting being greater among men who self-report narcissism being the most common kind of behavior.…”

Hey, let's take a selfie: insights of selfie defamiliarisation in the classroom

“…Selfies are defined as self-portraits that visually communicate (Hess, 2015) and represent an individual's (Jackson, 2019;Qiu et al, 2015) thoughts, beliefs, and creativity (Karwowski and Brzeski, 2017), and it has arisen as a culture fixated with itself (Hess, 2015). Empirical findings have indicated that selfies improve confidence and establish relationships (Barker and Rodriguez, 2019;Barry et al, 2017;Richa et al, 2021), online presence, and positive self-image. By so, the popularity of selfies has extended for a multitude of reasons as it transforms into an agent that reflects new trends in self-portrait behaviours, stretching from selfie participation through Wefies, Groufie, Ussie, Welfie, or Youie, digital manipulations focussing on editing, face tune and filters (Salomon and Brown, 2020) and various gestures, landmarks, and locations (Qiu et al, 2015).…”