Narcissism Shows Through Online: Study

Vain Facebook users can be identified by friend count, photos
By Harry Kimball,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 26, 2008 4:30 PM CDT
Narcissism Shows Through Online: Study
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.   (AP Photo)

If you’re a narcissist, even the relative anonymity of the Internet can’t hide your true colors, LiveScience reports. A new study shows Facebook pages are an accurate predictor of personality, with narcissists having on average more friends and posts, and more considered photos of themselves. Authors gave some 130 Facebook users personality tests, then examined their pages to find a correlation.

"Nearly all of our students use Facebook, and it seems to be a normal part of people's social interactions," a study author said. "It just turns out that narcissists are using Facebook the same way they use their other relationships—for self-promotion with an emphasis on quantity over quality. (More Facebook stories.)

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