Charles Teves
- People who post selfies are seen as insecure
- People who post posies are seen as more adventurous
Washington State University (WSU) professor Chris Barry and psychology students from the said school and from University of Southern Mississippi revealed that people who post selfies on social media platfroms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are perceived as “self-absorbed and less successful” by other people.
WSU researchers looked at over a hundred IG accounts and concluded that people who take selfies are more insecure and are more likely not open to new experiences, compared to people who post pictures of them taken by other individuals.
Barry says that people who post “posies” were seen as individuals who have more positives in them.
“Even when two feeds had similar content, such as depictions of achievement or travel, feelings about the person who posted selfies were negative and feelings about the person who posted posies were positive.
“It shows there are certain visual cues, independent of context, that elicit either a positive or negative response on social media,” Barry added.
The study looked at two different sets of respondents, the posies and the selfies.
The study found respondents who posted more posies were were viewed as being relatively higher in self‑esteem, more adventurous, less lonely, more outgoing, more dependable, more successful and having the potential for being a good friend. Unfortunately, the opposite can be said for the people who post more selfies than posies.
Pictures that show a person flexing in the mirror were viewed negatively.
“While there may be a variety of motives behind why people post self‑images to Instagram, how those photos are perceived appears to follow a more consistent pattern,” Barry concluded.
