Abstract
Social media inherently involve self-displays to an audience of followers and the potential for feedback from those followers. Relatedly, there is increasingly societal and empirical interest in whether social media reflect, or alternatively have contributed to, narcissism. This chapter reviews the extant evidence on the association between narcissism and social media behavior and discusses two predominant views: (a) social media as an opportunity display grandiosity and receive desired attention and (b) social media as a catalyst toward increased narcissism. To date, most research has addressed the former view through cross-sectional designs utilizing self-reports and has noted associations between narcissism and apparent attention-seeking behavior, as well as negative perceptions on the part of onlookers. Challenges in research methodology and suggestions for future directions in this area are discussed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Andreassen, C. S., Pallesen, S., & Griffiths, M. D. (2017). The relationship between addictive use of social media, narcissism, and self-esteem: Findings from a large national survey. Addictive Behaviors, 64, 287–293.
Barry, C. T., Doucette, H., Loflin, D. C., Rivera-Hudson, N., & Herrington, L. L. (2017). “Let me take a selfie”: Associations between self-photography, narcissism, and self-esteem. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 6, 48–60.
Barry, C. T., & Lee-Rowland, L. M. (2015). Has there been a recent increase in adolescent narcissism? Evidence from a sample of at-risk adolescents (2005–2014). Personality and Individual Differences, 87, 153–157.
Barry, C. T., Reiter, S. R., Anderson, A. C., Schoessler, M. L., & Sidoti, C. L. (in press). “Let me take another selfie”: Further examination of the relation between narcissism, self-perception, and Instagram posts. Psychology of Popular Media Culture.
Barry, C. T., Sidoti, C. L., Briggs, S. M., Reiter, S. R., & Lindsey, R. A. (2017). Adolescent social media use and mental health from adolescent and parent perspectives. Journal of Adolescence, 61, 1–11.
Bergman, S. M., Fearrington, M. E., Davenport, S. W., & Bergman, J. Z. (2011). Millennials, narcissism, and social networking: What narcissists do on social networking sites and why. Personality and Individual Differences, 50, 706–7011.
Blachnio, A., Przepiorka, A., & Rudnicka, P. (2016). Narcissism and self-esteem as predictors of dimensions of Facebook use. Personality and Individual Differences, 90, 296–301.
Buffardi, L. E., & Campbell, W. K. (2008). Narcissism and social networking web sites. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 1303–1314.
Choi, M., Panek, E. T., Nardis, Y., & Toma, C. L. (2015). When social media isn’t social: Friends’ responsiveness to narcissists on Facebook. Personality and Individual Differences, 77, 209–214.
Deters, F. G., Mehl, M. M., & Eid, M. (2014). Narcissistic power poster? On the relationship between narcissism and status updating activity on Facebook. Journal of Research in Personality, 53, 165–174.
Fox, J., & Rooney, M. C. (2015). The dark triad and trait self-objectification as predictors of men’s use and self-presentation behaviors on social networking sites. Personality and Individual Differences, 76, 161–165.
Gentile, B., Twenge, J. M., Freeman, E. C., & Campbell, W. K. (2012). The effect of social networking websites on positive self-views: An experimental investigation. Computers in Human Behavior, 28, 1929–1933.
Gnambs, T., & Appel, M. (2017). Narcissism and social networking behavior: A meta-analysis. Journal of Personality, 86, 200–212.
Halpern, D., Valenzuela, S., & Katz, J. E. (2016). “Selfie-ists” or “Narci-selfiers”?: A cross-lagged panel analysis of selfie-taking and narcissism. Personality and Individual Differences, 97, 98–101.
Kapidzic, S. (2013). Narcissism as a predictor of motivations behind Facebook profile picture selection. Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, 16, 14–19.
Kauten, R. L., Lui, J. H. L., Stary, A. K., & Barry, C. T. (2015). ‘Purging my friends list: Good luck making the cut’: Perceptions of narcissism on Facebook. Computers in Human Behavior, 51, 244–254.
Lee, J. A., & Sung, Y. (2016). Hide-and-seek: Narcissism and “Selfie”-related behavior. Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, 19(5), 347–351.
Leung, L. (2013). Generational differences in content generation in social media: The roles of the gratifications sought and of narcissism. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(3), 997–1006.
McCain, J. L., Borg, Z. G., Rothenberg, A. H., Churillo, K. M., Weiler, P., & Campbell, W. K. (2016). Personality and selfies: Narcissism and the dark triad. Computers in Human Behavior, 64, 126–133.
McCain, J. L. & Campbell, W. K. (2016). Narcissism and social media use: A meta-analytic review. Psychology of Popular Media Culture.
Morf, C. C., & Rhodewalt, F. (2001). Unraveling the paradoxes of narcissism: A dynamic self-regulatory processing model. Psychological Inquiry, 12, 177–196.
Nadkarni, A., & Hofmann, S. G. (2012). Why do people use Facebook? Personality and Individual Differences, 52, 243–249.
Panek, E. T., Nardis, Y., & Konrath, S. (2013). Mirror or megaphone?: How relationships between narcissism and social networking site use differ on Facebook and Twitter. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(5), 2004–2012.
Raskin, R. N., Novacek, J., & Hogan, R. (1991). Narcissism, self-esteem, and defensive self-enhancement. Journal of Personality, 59, 16–38.
Roberts, B. W., Edmonds, G., & Grijvala, E. (2010). It is developmental me: Developmental changes are more important than generational changes in narcissism—commentary on Trzesniewski & Donnellan (2010). Perspectives in Psychological Science, 5, 97–102.
Sheldon, P., & Bryant, K. (2016). Instagram: Motives for its use and relationship to narcissism and contextual age. Computers in Human Behavior, 58, 89–97.
Skues, J. L., Williams, B., & Wise, L. (2012). The effects of personality traits, self-esteem, loneliness, and narcissism on Facebook use among university students. Computers in Human Behavior, 28(6), 2414–2419.
Sorokowski, P., Sorokowska, A., Oleszkiewicz, A., Frackowiak, T., Huk, A., & Pisanski, K. (2015). Selfie posting behaviors are associated with narcissism among men. Personality and Individual Differences, 85, 123–127.
Trzesniewski, K. H., Donnellan, M. B., & Robins, R. W. (2008). Do today’s young people really think they are so extraordinary? An examination of secular trends in narcissism and self-enhancement. Psychological Science, 19, 181–188.
Twenge, J. M., & Campbell, W. K. (2010). The narcissism epidemic: Living in the age of entitlement. New York: Free Press.
Twenge, J. M., Konrath, S., Foster, J. D., Campbell, W. K., & Bushman, B. J. (2008). Egos inflating over time: A cross-temporal meta-analysis of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory. Journal of Personality, 76, 875–901.
Weiser, E. B. (2015). #Me: Narcissism and its facets as predictors of selfie posting frequency. Personality and Individual Differences, 86, 477–481.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Barry, C.T., McDougall, K.H. (2018). Social Media: Platform or Catalyst for Narcissism?. In: Hermann, A., Brunell, A., Foster, J. (eds) Handbook of Trait Narcissism. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92171-6_47
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92171-6_47
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-92170-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-92171-6
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)