﻿Why we post selfies: Understanding motivations for posting pictures of oneself
20 years ago, in 2001, the word ‘selfie’ had never been written on any paper or electronic medium in
the world. By 2013, the word had gained the grand status of placement in the English dictionary,
showcasing a meteoric rise of the word that paralleled the rise of
technology in the 21st century. By 2014, you could even use it as a scrabble word, for a mighty
9 points. So as you would all know, unless of course you’ve been living under a rock, a selfie
refers to any sort of self-portrait photograph, typically with a phone or digital camera.
When you hear me define the word, it seems like nothing more than a fad, nothing more than a
quick picture you might experiment with. But as we have seen through the likes of social media,
especially the giant brand ‘snapchat’, selfies are pervasive throughout global culture,
with people even going to the lengths of surgery to improve their looks in selfies
(for more on that, research the phenomenon of ‘snapchat dysmorphia’). But what is the motivation
behind taking and posting a selfie on social media sites, And what particular personalities are the
most prone to taking these sorts of pictures? So, photo sharing, and specifically, selfies, play
an important part in the overall experience of social networking sites. But where is the science
behind it? Well, A Korean study from 2016 tried to quantify the motivations behind why people take
so many selfies. On top of that, they tried to recognise personality traits that could act as
predictors of who is most likely to take selfies. So, which motivations drive us to take so many
pictures of ourselves? The four postulated motivations that lead to selfie posting at
larger frequencies are attention seeking, communication, archiving, and entertainment.
These four motivations also directly correlate to personality traits such as narcissism
To understand the importance of a study like this, we must consider the lack of studies
like it that set it apart from the rest of mainstream psychological and anthropological
research. A literature review shows that while some research in communication fields has examined
the motivations behind social networking and uncovered relationships between social networking
use and personality traits, there has been little if any research focusing on how ‘selfies’,
a term almost synonymous with social media use, are associated with personal motivations. Given
the widespread multidimensional influence that selfies can have on an individuals’ everyday life,
affecting their social experience and body portrayal, this research is paramount in
extrapolating key information to help us understand the world of selfies.
As a quick side note, the concept of a ‘uses and gratification paradigm’,
coined by Katz back in 1959 suggests that motivations should be considered more important
determinants of behaviours than personality traits because motivations are more at the
forefront of the mind of a person during a situation compared to personality traits.
As such, we will look specifically at how motivations influence individuals to take selfies,
and then we will see if any of those motivations neatly map onto any personality characteristics.
This will allow us to recognise what motivations cause people to post selfies,
and what personality characteristics are commonly associated with those impulses.
The sample used in the study consisted of 319 respondents who were identified as selfie takers.
Unsurprisingly, the research consisted of asking participants in an interview what their
motivations were when they decided to post selfies on social media websites. Initially, 66 items were
endorsed as motivations for selfie taking, however considerable overlap in these motivations meant
the researchers could identify 48 items. After complicated factor analysis from the researchers,
they recognised patterns in the response formats and therefore could categorise the
responses of individuals into the four main groups of motivators that were stated before.
From this, an extra questionnaire was completed by the participants, who were asked to respond
on a likert type scale (a scale with answers ranging from “1 - strongly agree” to “7 - strongly
disagree”). If we look at this table, a range of motivations all fit onto 4 broad categories. For
example, the concept of having your existence reaffirmed by others, showing off, and seeking
attention from the other sex all correspond to the broader motivation of attention seeking. If
we look at the category of communication, specific factors like keeping in touch with friends, family
and acquaintances are relevant. Nothing shows the globalisation and the scale of our global
online culture more than having communication being defined through selfie taking.
The third motivator, ‘archiving’, consisted of photo-album like factors, including recording a
specific moment, a special day, or one’s life in general. Finally, the motivator of entertainment
was made up of ideas like passing the time when bored and perhaps paradoxically, to “refresh
oneself”. As we can see by the numbers that are bolded on the right hand side of the table,
there were large loadings on each of these factors, meaning a large percentage of respondents
recognised these motivators as contributing factors to themselves for taking selfies. To pull
one statistic out of the table, 91% of selfie takers admitted to being motivated to take a
selfie to entertain themselves when bored. While on the topics of selfies and getting a
little bored, how about we all entertain ourselves with just a few examples of how selfies can go
wrong. But of course, in order to reward you for that, make sure you like this video
and subscribe to the QOVES channel. As well as this, let us know in the comments if you like
this avenue of cognitive psychology and cultural anthropology we are going down.
We are continuing to upload a whole range of facial aesthetics content, but are wondering
whether you guys are just as interested in some of the wider cultural factors that maintain the
aesthetics industry as such a pivotal industry in the 21st century. So let us know!
Now, with all these motivators recognised, a well renowned personality assessment
was undertaken on the participants to assess their levels of narcissism
in relation to their motivations for taking selfies. Once again, a likert type scale was
used, ranging from “1 - strongly agree” to “7 - strongly disagree”. Items on this scale include
“I think I am attractive and I have no problem sharing that”. The concept behind this assessment
is to recognise that certain individuals who have high levels of the personality characteristic
of narcissism will consistently respond in a specific way to these questions. Just as
chocolate lovers will probably love chocolate cake, chocolate milkshakes and chocolate,
narcissists will probably respond to questions like the one just posed with answers like
“strongly agree”. By attempting to correlate the patterns of narcissists and the motivations for
taking selfies, researchers can then extrapolate what motivates people who are narcissistic.
The world of personality research, which encapsulates processes like the narcissistic
assessment, is perhaps one of the most debated fields in mainstream psychological research.
What is also fascinating is its intrinsic link to facial aesthetics research. When we consider that
people intend to prove their facial appearance for their own self-confidence, for other people,
to be popular, or to follow the trends of other celebrities, we can see that an individual's
personality is an important consideration for cosmetic professionals. For me, linking the
concepts of personality and outwards appearance is an important step for the industry, an industry
which is trying to encapsulate the overall motivations of people in order to best suit
their needs. If you feel like you may be starting to realise the importance of personality research
in the beauty industry, maybe conduct some of your own research on topics like the “Big Five
Personality Test” which considers the influence of characteristics like extraversion and openness,
or attempt to weigh up the positives and negatives of the famous “Myer-Briggs personality test”.
My personal favourite example of using personality in facial aesthetics is how
surgeons determine if a male patient is suitable for cosmetic surgery.
Male cosmetic patients that are described as SIMONS (single immature male overly expectant
narcissistic) should be avoided. Bulstrode Et Al’s paper suggests to change this to SLAP-SIMON,
adding that male patients who still live at home with their parents at an age when it is
normal to move out and are generally immature are unsuitable candidate for cosmetic surgery
and should be looked out for. My guess would be because these types of young men believe
that looks are everything and their surgeons are the gatekeepers to a better life.
To sum everything up, the four motivations for posting selfies at large frequencies on
social networking sites such as facebook, instagram, and snapchat are one, attention
seeking, which parallels the ‘react-centric’ platforms of facebook and instagram. Two,
communication, perhaps most pertinent to snapchat, three, archiving (or storing for later memory),
and finally, entertainment, perhaps most relevant to the comedic instagram and snapchat filters.
Also, the three motivators of attention seeking, communication and archiving
are the most likely to result in an overall generalised increased intention to post
selfies. Finally, the personality characteristic ‘narcissism’, which is basically an admiration
of oneself, is the best predictor of an individual's intention to post selfies,
and that individual’s tendency to post these selfies frequently. So with all of this in mind,
take a second to reflect… Just how much do you and your friends love taking and posting selfies?