Scientists from Brunel University in London did research regarding the massive picture-sharing on social networks. This research is based on a specific group of people that share their photos in order to attract attention and to brag. The research is on those who work out, and frequently share photos where they work out.
The people that share photos from the gym or some other place where they are engaging in similar activities such as running are narcissistic. According to studies, their primary goal is to brag about the time that they spend to improve the look of their bodies.
Also, pictures like that that get shared and they get many likes.
Liking the pictures could be only politeness of friends
“Although our results suggest that narcissists’ bragging pays off because they receive more likes and comments to their status updates, it could be that their Facebook friends politely offer support while secretly disliking such egotistical displays,” Said Dr. Tara Marshall. “Greater awareness of how one’s status updates might be perceived by friends could help people to avoid topics that annoy more than they entertain.”
Psychologists at the university decided to collect data from 555 users of Facebook, in order to make an examination regarding their personality traits and regarding their motives as to what to write in their status updates.
Each of the participants completed online surveys which served as a measure of self-esteem and narcissism, as well as the Big five personality traits – extroversion, neuroticism, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness.
Research also shows some other things
The research found that people with low self-esteem often post a status about their current partner.
It found out that narcissist’s motivation grows upon getting validation from the Facebook community, and that is why they post their pictures frequently. It’s a need for validation and attention. Furthermore, the research found that narcissists are also more likely to write status updates about their diet and exercise routine as well.
The ones that carried out the research say that if you are the one sharing the photos where you work out frequently, then you should take it easier because your friends will be thankful.
This is definitely something that we can see every day if we have at least 500 friends on facebook. This is something annoying but let’s talk about those people. Maybe they aren’t doing it because they want to attract attention, but rather because they want to see if they are really progressing. Maybe they just want to see if they are making progress because most of us don’t really have an objective picture of ourselves considering that we are the ones that take a look at a reflection of our bodies in a mirror every day.
Many people from the USA are engaged in fitness and such behaviors can be found in the USA too. Working out is good, but not everyone wants to see the same body in their news feed every day.
