Friday, March 25, 2011

This is quite funny. A study of Facebook.

Facebook users 'narcissistic, extroverted'25/03/2011 1:19:00 PM, HEALTH HUB STAFF

Regular Facebook users tend to be more narcissistic and extroverted, an Australian study has found.
Tracii Ryan and Sophia Xenos from Melbourne's RMIT University found a significant link between the amount of time spent on Facebook per day and two of the personality variables surveyed — neuroticism and total loneliness.
"Facebook users tend to be more extroverted and narcissistic, but less conscientious and socially lonely, than non-users," the researchers report.
"One of the most noteworthy findings was the tendency for neurotic and lonely individuals to spend greater amounts of time on Facebook per day than non-lonely individuals.
"For lonely people in particular, it appears they are mainly using Facebook to partake in passive activities, instead of providing active social contributions."
The results, published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior, involved 1324 participants between the ages of 18 to 44, with only 166 of participants not having a Facebook account.
The participants completed an online questionnaire, which measured their big five personality traits — neuroticism, extroversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness and openness to experience.
Those surveyed were also asked about their narcissistic tendencies, loneliness, shyness and the level of their Facebook usage.
The study found that Facebook satisfies its users in different ways depending on their personal characteristics, leading researchers to conclude that Facebook is particularly appealing for narcissistic and exhibitionistic people.
"Firstly, Facebook users have higher levels of total narcissism, exhibitionism and leadership than Facebook non-users," they report.
"Secondly, individuals with higher scores on exhibitionism also have higher preferences for photos and status updates [than the site's other features]."
Sydney woman Rei Lee, 24, agrees the addictive nature of Facebook can make people more self-absorbed.
"I have friends who get stressed if they can't check Facebook every 15 minutes. I guess it can become a bit of an obsession... checking it regularly definitely makes you more self aware of your public image. You subconsciously keep checking up on yourself and it can get out of hand for some people," Ms Lee told MSN NZ.
However Lee suggested that perhaps those who regularly use it were already narcissistic to begin with.
"I disagree that regular Facebooking makes people more narcissistic. Sure, it is an outlet and makes their vanity much more visible, but I think those people were narcissistic to begin with."
Nadia Clancy, a 24-year-old woman who lives in Canberra, disagreed with the view that regular users are all extroverts.
"I think extroverted people like myself are comfortable [with] using Facebook because we always want to communicate what we think or believe," Ms Clancy said.
"[But] it is also a tool used by introverted people. Introverted people who are less comfortable expressing themselves in face to face interactions are able to say everything that they want without fear of a negative response."
"On Facebook they can remove any negative responses to their views from their wall; but in real life and in face-to-face interactions, they would have to deal directly with negative responses, challenges, conflicting views etcetera."
Overall, Ryan and Xenos' study concludes that Facebook's purpose and usage "gratifies the narcissistic individual's need to engage in self-promoting and superficial behavior".

http://health.msn.co.nz/blog.aspx?blogentryid=804621&showcomments=true
Hahahahaha!!! This is not necessarily true though because almost everyone uses Facebook, socially active people and others. It does make it easier for people to pretend they have a social life though.

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