#Me: Narcissism and its facets as predictors of selfie-posting frequency

Abstract

"Selfies" are amateur photographs people take of themselves, usually with a smartphone. Sharing selfies on social media has become a popular activity, prompting questions about its psychological meaning and dispositionally-relevant motives. This study was performed to examine the association between narcissism, a personality trait characterized by inflated self-views and attempts to seek attention and admiration from others, and frequency of posting selfies on social networking sites. In addition, the association between posting selfies and three facets of narcissism (i.e., Leadership/Authority, Grandiose Exhibitionism, Entitlement/Exploitativeness) was explored. These questions were addressed in a nationally representative sample of 1204 men and women who completed an online survey. Results showed that narcissism, as well as the Leadership/Authority and Grandiose Exhibitionism facets, but not Entitlement/Exploitativeness, exhibited positive and significant associations with selfie-posting frequency. Age did not moderate the predictive effects of narcissism or any of its three dimensions, indicating that the relationship between narcissism, its facets, and posting selfies is not age dependent. However, the more adaptive Leadership/Authority facet emerged as a stronger predictor of selfie posting among women than men, whereas the maladaptive Entitlement/Exploitativeness facet predicted selfie posting among men, but not women. Interpretations and implications of these findings are discussed.

Full text

#Me: Narcissism and its facets as predictors of selfie-posting frequency
Eric B. Weiser ⁎
Department of Psychology, Curry College, United States
abstractarticle info
Article history:
Received 27 April 2015
Received in revised form 29 June 2015
Accepted 3 July 2015
Available online 18 July 2015
Keywords:
Narcissism
Photo sharing
Selfies
Social media
Social networking sites
“Selfies”are amateur photographs people take of themselves, usually with a smartphone. Sharingselfies on social
media has become a popular activity, prompting questions about its psychological meaning and dispositionally-
relevant motives. This study was performed to examine the association between narcissism, a personality trait
characterized by inflated self-views and attempts to seek attention and admiration from others, and frequency
of posting selfies on social networking sites. In addition, the association between posting selfies and three facets
of narcissism (i.e., Leadership/Authority, Grandiose Exhibitionism, Entitlement/Exploitativeness) was explored.
These questions were addressed in a nationally representative sample of 1204 men and women who completed
an online survey. Results showed that narcissism, as well as the Leadership/Authority and Grandiose Exhibition-
ism facets, but not Entitlement/Exploitativeness, exhibited positive and significant associations with selfie-
posting frequency. Age did not moderate the predictive effects of narcissism or any of its three dimensions, indi-
cating thatthe relationship between narcissism, its facets, and posting selfies is not age dependent. However, the
more adaptive Leadership/Authority facet emerged as a stronger predictor of selfie posting among women than
men, whereas the maladaptive Entitlement/Exploitativeness facet predicted selfie posting among men, but not
women. Interpretations and implications of these findings are discussed.
© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Photo sharing has become an important part of the online social ex-
perience. Over half of U.S. internet users post photos online (Pew
Research Center, 2013), perhaps owing to the increasing use of
smartphones; in the U.S., nearly two-thirds of adults own a smartphone,
compared to 35% in 2011 (Pew Research Center, 2015). These devices
simplify photo sharing through social media by enabling users to take
and post digital photographs on social networking sites (SNSs) instanta-
neously. This function is facilitated through photo-sharing sites such as
Instagram, a mobile photo platform allowing users to share photo-
graphs and videos over SNSs such as Facebook and Twitter. Instagram
hosts over 30 billion photographs, and, on average, 70 million photo-
graphs are posted to the site each day from its 300 million users
(Instagram, 2014).
The rise in photo sharing has helped spark a precipitous new social
phenomenon: the snapping and sending of amateur self-portrait photo-
graphs –known as selfies –to SNSs. “Selfie”is now part of today's ver-
nacular and is formally defined as “a photograph that one has taken of
oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and
uploaded to a social media website”("Infographic: A Closer Look at
'Selfie,'" 2013, para. 4). In 2013, Oxford Dictionaries added selfie to its
lexicon and later named it their international “Word of the Year”
(Brumfield, 2013). Selfies permeate the social media landscape; for
example, Instagram hosts over 238 million photographs hashtagged
with #selfie and over 126 million hashtagged with #me.
The pervasiveness of selfie posting raises questions concerning the
social and psychological motives behind this behavior. What important
needs and goals does selfiepostingreflect, and from which dispositional
attributes do they emanate? The objective of this study is to extend pre-
vious work on trait predictors of SNS use and behavior by examining the
connection between selfie posting and narcissism, a personality trait
marked by grandiosity and egocentrism, and by the constant pursuit
of veneration by others (Brown, Budzek & Tamborski, 2009; Campbell,
Reeder, Sedikides & Elliot, 2000). Photographs convey important social
information in numerous online domains (Ellison, Heino & Gibbs,
2006; Kapidzic, 2013; Whitty, 2008). Of the photographs shared online,
selfies seem inherently to contain the most explicit elements of ostenta-
tion and self-propagation. Indeed, selfies have been described as “a
symptom of social media-driven narcissism”(Pearlman, 2013, para.
20), reflecting the intuitive assumption that the taking and posting of
such photographs constitute self-promoting gambits by the self-
absorbed. Empirically, however, selfie posting and its association with
narcissism has been largely unexplored. Because narcissists are moti-
vated to gain others' attention and admiration to maintain their inflated
self-views (Morf & Rhodewalt, 2001), posting selfies plausibly may
function as a novel psychological maneuver through which narcissistic
individuals attempt to meet these self-regulatory objectives. Hence, ex-
amining the relationship between narcissism and selfie posting is an
issue of importance because it may shed light on the psychological
meanings of this activity in the social media milieu.
Personality and Individual Differences 86 (2015) 477–481
⁎Department of Psychology, Curry College, Milton, MA 02186, United States.
E-mail address: eweiser@curry.edu.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2015.07.007
0191-8869/© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Personality and Individual Differences
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/paid

1.1. Narcissism and SNS use
Narcissism has received particular attention in research examining
predictors of SNS use, the presumption being that SNSs may create or
reinforce narcissistic tendencies by serving as channels for self-
promotional displays (Buffardi & Campbell, 2008). Several studies
have revealed a positive relationship between narcissism and the fre-
quency of using SNSs (Panek, Nardis & Konrath, 2013; Ryan & Xenos,
2011), as well as narcissistic-like patterns of self-promoting behaviors
(e.g., status updates, number of Facebook friends, use of language and
photographs to draw attention to oneself) on these sites (Carpenter,
2012; DeWall, Buffardi, Bonser & Campbell, 2011; Mehdizadeh, 2010).
To date, there have been only two studies investigating the link be-
tween narcissism and posting selfies. Although positive associations
were reported in both, investigators in one of these studies (Fox &
Rooney, 2015) assessed narcissism using a four-item subscale of the
Dirty Dozen (Jonason & Webster, 2010), a 12-item measure of Dark
Triad personality traits (Paulus & Williams, 2002). Moreover, participa-
tion in this study was limited to adult males age 40 and younger.
Sorokowski et al. (2015) used a Polish adaptation of theNarcissistic Per-
sonality Inventory (NPI; Raskin & Terry, 1988), which has a different
factor structure than the original version, to examine how various com-
ponents of narcissism relate to selfie-posting behavior. These investiga-
tors found that three of the four subscales specific to the Polish
adaptation (i.e., Vanity, Leadership, Admiration Demand) predicted
selfie posting among men, whereas one (Admiration Demand) predict-
ed selfie posting among women.
It is necessary to continue examining how narcissism and its compo-
nents are related to selfie posting. Narcissism is a complex, multifaceted
construct consisting of socially adaptive and maladaptive components
(Ackerman et al., 2011; Emmons, 1987; Kubarych, Deary & Austin,
2004). Thus, viewing narcissism as a unidimensional rather than a nu-
anced, dimensional construct may obfuscate relationships between its
facets and important criterion variables (Brown et al., 2009). Further,
age and gender differences in narcissism have been documented; spe-
cifically, recent generations are more narcissistic than previous genera-
tions (Twenge, Konrath, Foster, Campbell & Bushman, 2008), and men
are more narcissistic than are women (Grijalva et al., 2015). It is there-
fore crucial to examine and clarify how these demographic variables
moderate associations between narcissism, its facets, and outcome
measures.
1.2. The dimensions of narcissism
Factor analytic studies of the NPI, the primary self-report measureof
narcissism used in social andpersonality research (Cain, Pincus & Ansell,
2008), have revealed varying factor structures, with as few as two
(Corry, Merritt, Mrug & Pamp, 2008) and as many as seven (Raskin &
Terry, 1988) factors having been reported. Most recently, Ackerman
et al. (2011) demonstrated that the NPI assesses three robust and em-
pirically useful components of narcissism: Leadership/Authority, Gran-
diose Exhibitionism, and Entitlement/Exploitativeness.
Leadership/Authority (LA) reflects self-perceptions of leadership,
dominance, and the capacity for social agency. Individuals who score
high on LA are motivated to lead and seek power and authority over
others. Grandiose Exhibitionism (GE) reflects self-absorption, vanity,
and exhibitionistic propensities. Individuals who score high on GE are
in love with themselves and crave attention; they enjoy showing off
and actively seek opportunities for self-promotion. Entitlement/
Exploitativeness (EE) reflects entitlement, a sense one deserves respect,
and a willingness to exploit others. Individuals who score high on EE
possess unmerited or unreasonable expectations of favorable treat-
ment; they believe they deserve whatever they wish and will take ad-
vantage of others in the service of their goals. Of these, LA is
considered adaptive in that it is related to indices of psychological ad-
justment (e.g., self-esteem), and unrelated to narcissism's more
interpersonally aversive elements. Conversely, GE and especially EE
are regarded as socially toxic and are more readily linked to maladaptive
social outcomes (Ackerman et al., 2011).
1.3. Overview and predictions
Given that narcissism is associated with the use of self-promoting
SNS behaviors, it was expected that narcissism would be positively re-
lated to the frequency of positing selfies on SNSs. In addition, the NPI
subscales of LA, GE, and EE were analyzed to determine their differential
contributions to the prediction of selfie posting and, thus, to gain insight
into the specific narcissistic needs this activity serves. As GE strongly
predicts self-promoting SNS behavior (Carpenter, 2012), it was expect-
ed that this relationship extends to selfie posting. Therefore, it was fur-
ther predicted that, of the narcissism facets, GE would exhibit the
strongest association with selfie-posting frequency.
Finally, age and gender were included in this study to test their po-
tential roles as moderators. As noted above, generational increases in
narcissism have been reported (Twenge et al., 2008); further, “millen-
nials”aremore inclined toward posting selfies than are previous gener-
ations (Pew Research Center, 2014a). Thus, if narcissism predicts selfie
posting, this relationship may be stronger for younger than older indi-
viduals. In addition, although men score higher on all three narcissism
facets (Grijalva et al., 2015), women post more selfies than do men
(Sorokowski et al., 2015). It is therefore necessary to examine gender
as a possible moderator of the hypothesized associations.
2. Method
2.1. Participants and procedure
A total of 1248 U.S. residents were recruited from Amazon's Me-
chanical Turk (Mason & Suri, 2012) to participate in the study in return
for a small payment. Participants completedan online survey developed
through QuestionPro. Forty-four participants failed to complete the sur-
vey fully and were excluded from the analysis. The final sample (N=
1204) was predominantly White (75%) and female (65%), with an aver-
age age of 32.81 (range = 16–74, SD =11.56).
2.2. Measures
2.2.1. Time using SNSs
Participants indicated, on average, how manytimes per day they vis-
ited SNSs and the average duration in minutes per visit. The product of
these two open-ended responses yielded an estimate of the amount of
time participants spend using SNSs (Panek, Nardis & Konrath, 2013)
and was used as a covariate in later analyses.
1
2.2.2. Posting frequency
Frequency of participants' posting (e.g., status updates, comments,
pictures,links)onSNSswasassessedand used as an additional covariate
in subsequent analyses. Posting frequency was determined by a single
item using a response scale ranging from 1 (never)to8(more than once
per day).
2.2.3. Selfie-posting frequency
Participants responded to the following item: “Do you know what a
selfieis?”Those who indicated “No”were branched to an item provid-
ing a formal definition of a selfie; those who indicated “Yes”(97%)
were branched to another item providing a definition, but beginning
with, “As you know, a selfieis…” Next, all participants responded to a
second yes-or-no item: “Have you ever shared a selfie on a photo
1
Examination of the distributions for each variable revealed that the amount of time
using SNSsexhibited substantial positiveskew; hence, this variable was subjectedto a log-
arithmic transformation. All other variables were normally distributed.
478 E.B. Weiser / Personality and Individual Differences 86 (2015) 477–481

sharing or social networking site, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,
Flickr, and Snapchat?”Participants who indicated “No”were branched
to a subsequent section of the survey; those who indicated “Yes”
(64%) were branched to an item asking, “How often would you say
that you share selfies on photo sharing or social networking sites?”Re-
sponse options consisted of: “less than once a year;”“once a year;”“sev-
eral times per year, but less than once a month;”“once a month;”“afew
times a month, but less than once a week;”“once a week;”“a few times
per week;”“once a day;”and “more than once a day.”
2.2.4. Narcissism
Participants completed the 40-item Narcissistic Personality Invento-
ry (NPI-40, Raskin & Terry, 1988), which assesses individual differences
in trait narcissism. The NPI-40 uses a forced-choice format, in that each
item asks respondents to choose one of two statements that is most self-
descriptive; one of the statements reflects narcissistic sentiments and
the other does not (e.g., “I am more capable than other people.”vs.
“There is a lot that I can learn from other people.”). For each item, the
narcissistic statement is scored a 1 and the non-narcissistic statement
is scored a 0.
A confirmatory factor analysis was performed on the NPI to deter-
mine if the Ackerman et al. (2011) model fit the data adequately.
Mplus 7.31 was used to estimate the three-factor model consisting of
the items for LA, GE, and EE. Because NPI indicators are dichotomous,
the model was estimated using the robust weighted least squares
(WLSMV) estimation method (Brown, 2006). In replication of
Ackerman et al. (2011), covariances between residuals for selected indi-
cators were specified. Results showed that the three-factor model pro-
vided acceptable fit to the data (CFI = .941, TLI = .933, RMSEA = .048).
Along with NPI-40 total scores (α= .88), items pertaining to the
three factors were summed to form subscales: LA (11 items, α=.81),
GE (10 items, α= .79), and EE (4 items, α=.51).
2
3. Results
Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS 22.0. Intercorrelations, means,
and standard deviations are displayed in Table 1. Time using SNSs, post-
ing frequency, narcissism, and each of the three narcissism subscales all
correlated positively with selfie-posting frequency; age, however, cor-
related negatively with self-posting frequency.
A hierarchical multiple regression analysis was performed to test the
hypothesis that narcissism predicts selfie-posting frequency. Time using
SNSs, posting frequency, age, and gender served as covariates and were
entered in Step 1. Subsequently, narcissism was entered in Step 2, and
the two-way interactions of age, gender, and narcissism were entered
in Step 3. As recommended when testing interaction effects in multiple
regression, each predictor variable was centered, and interaction terms
were formed by multiplying together the centered predictors (Aiken &
West, 1991). Examination of variance inflation factors (VIFs; Stevens,
2001) indicated that multicollinearity was not a problem in any of the
regression analyses.
Table 2 summarizes the regression model. Collectively, the covari-
ates explained a significant proportion of the variance in selfie-posting
frequency. After the covariates were entered, narcissism positively pre-
dicted selfie-posting frequency (β=.21,t=8.15,pb.001) and ex-
plained a significant proportion of the variance. Both interaction terms
entered in Step 3 were nonsignificant, indicating that neither age nor
gender moderated the effect of narcissism on selfie posting.
A second hierarchical multiple regression tested the predictive ef-
fects of the three narcissism facets on selfie posting. After covariates
were entered in Step 1, the LA, GE, and EE subscales were entered in
Step 2. In Step 3, all two-way interactions involving age, gender, and
the three subscales were entered; as before, each of the relevant vari-
ables were centered. As shown in Table 3, both LA (β= .12, t= 3.98,
pb.001) and GE (β=.13,t=4.55,pb.001) contributed significantly
and positively to the prediction of selfie-posting frequency.
Asignificant gender × LA interaction emerged in Step 3, indicating
that the predictive effect of LA was stronger among women than
among men. Specifically, analysis of separate regression equations re-
vealed that although LA was significantly positively related to posting
selfies among both female and male participants, this relationship was
stronger among women (β=.20,pb.001) than among men (β=
.12, pb.01). Additionally, a significant gender × EE interaction was ob-
served in Step 3, indicating that that the predictive effect of EE was
stronger among men than women. Analysis of simple regression equa-
tions demonstrated that EE was positively related to posting selfies
among men (β=.13,pb.01) but not among women (β=−.03, n.s.).
2
Levene's tests revealed that men's and women's total narcissism and subscale scores
were homoscedastic.
Table 1
Correlations between variables, means, and standard deviations.
Measure 1 2 3 45678MSD
1. Selfie-posting frequency –.22⁎⁎⁎ .41⁎⁎⁎ −.32⁎⁎⁎ .32⁎⁎⁎ .26⁎⁎⁎ .27⁎⁎⁎ .16⁎⁎⁎ 3.49 2.38
2. Time using SNSs –.28⁎⁎⁎ −.07⁎.12⁎⁎⁎ .09⁎⁎ .08⁎⁎ .06 100.96 156.36
3. Posting frequency –−.05 .18⁎⁎⁎ .16⁎⁎⁎ .12⁎⁎⁎ .10⁎⁎⁎ 5.32 2.05
4. Age –−.22⁎⁎⁎ −.13⁎⁎⁎ −.18⁎⁎⁎ −.20⁎⁎⁎ 32.81 11.56
5. Narcissism –.87⁎⁎⁎ .77⁎⁎⁎ .55⁎⁎⁎ 12.79 7.61
6. Leadership/Authority –.50⁎⁎⁎ .36⁎⁎⁎ 4.41 3.08
7. Grandiose Exhibitionism –.36⁎⁎⁎ 2.32 2.42
8. Entitlement/Exploitativeness –0.90 1.05
Note: Pearson product-moment correlations. M=mean;SD =standarddeviation.
⁎pb.05.
⁎⁎ pb.01.
⁎⁎⁎ pb.001.
Table 2
Summary of hierarchical multiple regression analysis predicting selfie-posting frequency
from narcissism.
Predictor βtΔR
2
F
chg
Step 1 .28 116.62⁎⁎
Time using SNSs .15⁎⁎ 5.11
Posting frequency .32⁎⁎ 11.49
Age −.29⁎⁎ −11.63
Gender −.08⁎−3.12
Step 2 .04 66.39⁎⁎
Narcissism .21⁎⁎ 8.15
Step 3 b.01 2.58
Age × narcissism −.04 −1.94
Gender × narcissism −.03 −1.25
Total R
2
.32
N1204
Note. Gender was coded: 0 = female, 1 = male. βis the standardized regression coeffi-
cient. For Step 2, F(5, 1199) = 111.66, pb.001; for Step 3, F(7, 1197) = 80.71, pb.001.
⁎pb.01.
⁎⁎ pb.001.
479E.B. Weiser / Personality and Individual Differences 86 (2015) 477–481

4. Discussion
The results of this study are in accordance with research examining
narcissism and its relationship to attention-seeking and self-promoting
behaviors in social media environments (e.g., Buffardi & Campbell,
2008; Carpenter, 2012; DeWall, Buffardi, Bonser & Campbell, 2011),
and they replicate and extend previous findings supporting a positive
association between narcissism and selfies (Fox & Rooney, 2015;
Sorokowski et al., 2015). Overall, findings from this investigation sug-
gest that posting selfies, as with other self-promoting SNS behaviors,
represents an avenue through which narcissistic needs are expressed
through social media. For example, narcissistic individuals consider
themselves to be physically attractive (Bleske-Rechek, Remiker &
Baker, 2008) and, in fact, meta-analytic evidence suggests they are
(Holtzman & Strube, 2010). Hence, these individuals may consider
selfie-posting as a conduit through which they can use their looks to
garner both attention and admiration.
However, the association between total NPI narcissism and posting
selfies obscures which narcissism facets are driving this behavior. Spe-
cifically, LA and GE predicted selfie-posting frequency, whereas EE did
not. It seems, then, that for individuals high in narcissism, posting selfies
constitutes a means to not only seek attention and admiration from
others (GE), but also to convey heightened perceptions of leadership,
authority, and dominance (LA). Combined, these dimensions capture
agentic, approach-oriented elements of narcissism (Ackerman et al.,
2011), suggesting that selfie posting may be a manifestation of more
adaptive self-enhancement tendencies, rather than the more socially
noxious tendencies captured by EE. For their part, individuals high in
EE may regard other SNS behaviors (e.g., retaliating against others' neg-
ative comments) as viable means to satisfy narcissistic objectives
(Carpenter, 2012).
Unexpectedly, age did not moderate the predictive influence of ei-
ther total narcissismand or its dimensions on posting selfies, suggesting
that self-promoting displays on SNSs may not be age dependent. Given
the increasing engagement with SNSs among adults of all ages (Pew
Research Center, 2014b), selfie posting might serve to fulfill narcissistic
goals throughout much of adulthood. As previous investigations exam-
ining narcissistic behaviors on SNSs have often used college-age sam-
ples (e.g., Bergman, Fearrington, Davenport & Bergman, 2011;
Kapidzic, 2013; Mehdizadeh, 2010), future work might benefitfrom
sampling participants whose ages are sufficiently representative of the
adult population.
Of importance, gender moderated the predictive effect of LA, in that
selfie-posting frequency was linked to higher levels of LA among women
than among men. LA appears to represent a dimension of personality re-
lated to psychological resilience and social potency (Ackerman et al.,
2011). It embodies agentic qualities (e.g., assertiveness, dominance) –
elements incongruous with female gender stereotypes (Eagly & Karau,
2002)–and, in fact, men exhibit stronger LA than do women (Grijalva
et al., 2015). Agentic women who violate communal gender role stereo-
types are often perceived negatively (Rudman & Glick, 2001), perhaps
discouraging women in leadership roles from presenting themselves
in ways that are distinctly masculine or feminine (Koenig, Eagly,
Mitchell & Ristikari, 2011). Because posting selfies is neither inherently
“masculine”nor “feminine,”narcissistic women who harbor self-
perceptions of power, authority, and dominance over others may view
selfie-posting as a viable way to satisfy their agentic needs without in-
curring social penalties. Equally important, selfie-posting frequency
was significantly associated with EE among men, but not women. Al-
though men score substantially higher than do women on EE, and gen-
der differences in narcissismare driven principally by this facet (Grijalva
et al., 2015), EE is not associated with the desire to self-promote on SNSs
(Carpenter, 2012). However, EE correlates with elements of pathological
narcissism, a trait viewed as distinct from the more “normal”narcissism
assessed by the NPI (Pincus et al., 2009). These elements seem to capture
a fundamentally insecure and vulnerable aspect of personality and are
marked by contingent self-esteem, devaluation of others who do not
provide needed adulation, and anger when entitled expectations are
not met (Ackerman et al, 2011). It is therefore possible that, among nar-
cissistic men, selfie posting might represent a pathological self-
regulatory maneuver aimed at boosting self-enhancement and valida-
tion. Ideally, future work addressing how “unhealthy”forms of narcis-
sism relate to SNS behavior will employ measures that assess such
forms explicitly (e.g., Pathological Narcissism Inventory [PNI]; Pincus
et al., 2009).
4.1. Strengths, limitations, and conclusions
Primary strengths of this study include the use of a large, nationally
representative sample of participants and theanalysis of both total nar-
cissism and its conceptually meaningful facets.
Nevertheless, several limitations bear mentioning. First, the low reli-
ability of theEE subscale may have attenuated the observed associations
between this facet and self-posting frequency. However, this subscale's
low alpha coefficient likely is attributable to its small number of total
items rather than its content (Ackerman et al., 2011). More practically,
the internal consistency of personality scales is of limited utility in eval-
uating their validity (McCrae, Kurtz, Yamagata & Terracciano, 2011).
Second, although measurement equivalence was presumed in this
study, the observed gender differences in NPI facets may have reflected
differences in the ways men and women interpret or respond to NPI
items. It should be noted, however, that Grijalva et al. (2015) ruled
out the possibility that gender differences in the three facets are artifacts
of measurement bias, concluding that differences in men's and women's
scores on the NPI can be “interpreted at face value”(p. 20). Third, al-
though thepredictive effectof narcissism and its facets were statistically
significant after controlling for empirically-relevant covariates, selfie
posting may be associated with other factors not assessed here, such
as other personality traits (e.g., extraversion).
In sum, the present research compliments and extends prior work
demonstrating that personality and trait-related needs are powerful ar-
chitects of the behaviors on display in social media enclaves. Posting
selfies is not a motivationally vacuous activity; instead, it is a form of
self-expression that carries with it social and psychological meaning.
Findings from this study demonstrate that selfies tell us something im-
portant about those who share them and, as such, offer valuable insights
into the uses of social media in general.
Table 3
Summary of hierarchical multiple regression analysis predicting selfie-posting frequency
from narcissism subscales.
Predictor βtΔR
2
F
chg
Step 1 .28 116.62⁎⁎
Control variables
a
Step 2 .05 24.03⁎⁎
LA .12⁎⁎ 3.98
GE .13⁎⁎ 4.55
EE −.01 −0.03
Step 3 .01 2.54⁎
Age × LA −.04 −1.50
Gender × LA −.09⁎−2.31
Age × GE −.04 −1.37
Gender × GE .02 0.52
Age × EE .04 1.60
Gender × EE .08⁎2.17
Total R
2
.34
N1204
Note. Gender was coded: 0 = female, 1 = male. βis the standardized regression coeffi-
cient. LA = Leadership/Author ity; GE = Grandiose Exhibitionism; EE = Entitlement/
Exploitative ness. For Step 2, F(7, 1197) = 80.77, pb.001; for Step 3, F(13, 1191) =
45.06, pb.001.
a
Estimated values were the same as in the previous analysis.
⁎pb.05.
⁎⁎ pb.001.
480 E.B. Weiser / Personality and Individual Differences 86 (2015) 477–481

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