[ti:Why We Take ‘Selfies’]
[by:www.21voa.com]
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[00:00.28]Why do people take "selfies?"
[00:04.20]Researchers at Syracuse University in New York tried to answer that question.
[00:11.44]They came up with some surprising answers.
[00:17.16]People who post selfies and use editing software
[00:21.88]to make themselves look better show behavior connected to narcissism,
[00:28.50]the Syracuse researchers said.
[00:32.16]Narcissists are people who think very highly of themselves,
[00:37.52]especially how they look.
[00:42.12]Ji Won Kim, a doctoral student at the university's S.I. Newhouse School of
[00:48.96]Public Communications, worked on the study.
[00:53.44]She said because social media can be superficial,
[00:58.92]it is a good place for people to "work towards satisfying their own vanity."
[01:06.76]By superficial, she means social media is mostly used by people
[01:12.52]to share unimportant information about their lives
[01:17.48]-- not deeply personal issues.
[01:20.80]There are other reasons, besides narcissism, that people post selfies.
[01:28.36]People who post group selfies show a need for popularity
[01:33.48]and a need to belong to a group, the Syracuse University research found.
[01:40.80]Other findings from the study include:
[01:44.40]There are no major differences on how often men
[01:48.76]and women post selfies and how often they use editing software.
[01:55.28]But men who post selfies showed more of a need
[01:59.72]to be seen as popular than women who posted selfies.
[02:06.68]The Newhouse School's Associate Professor Makana Chock worked on the study.
[02:13.52]She said selfies should not be seen as completely negative.
[02:19.92]She said some people feel "peer pressure" to post selfies.
[02:25.08]And some follow the popular belief
[02:28.20]that if there is no picture of an event or experience,
[02:32.44]it did not really happen.
[02:35.72]Chock said posting selfies on social media is not all that different
[02:41.80]from what people have done for many years.
[02:45.92]On trips and special events, our parents and grandparents
[02:50.76]used cameras instead of phones to take photos.
[02:55.68]Before social media, people would bring back photos
[03:00.00]to show friends and family.
[03:02.44]You had no choice but to look at them.
[03:06.12]If you are a nice person, you commented about how nice everyone in the photos looked,
[03:13.04]especially children and the person showing the photos.
[03:18.60]That was the old way of "clicking" like.
[03:23.88]On social media, it is a different experience.
[03:28.20]People can decide not to look at photos of their friends and family
[03:33.27]-- even if they click "like" or even "love" under the Facebook selfie.
[03:40.36]Using social media to post photos is pretty new.
[03:45.44]Facebook did not start until 2004.
[03:49.64]Instagram started in 2010.
[03:53.48]It was not until 2013 that the Oxford English language dictionary added the term "selfies."
[04:02.24]It defined selfie as "a photograph that one has taken of oneself."
[04:09.52]Here is how the Syracuse researchers did their study.
[04:13.72]They questioned 260 people, aged 18 to 65,
[04:19.24]and almost evenly divided between men and women.
[04:24.44]To determine narcissism, people were asked if they agreed
[04:29.12]with personality traits connected to narcissism.
[04:33.84]For example, people were asked if they agreed with statements such as,
[04:39.52]"I like to be the center of attention"
[04:42.72]and "I like having authority over people."
[04:47.05]To determine if those in the study had a need to be seen as popular,
[04:53.20]people were asked if they agreed with these statements:
[04:57.64]"It's important that people think I'm popular"
[05:01.28]and "I often do things just to be popular with people at school."
[05:07.84]I'm Bruce Alpert.
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