Guys Who Post Too Many Selfies Might Be Bad News: Study

The results of a selfie study may not come as a surprise to you: Guys who post loads of them, researchers at Ohio State University find, also show signs of narcissism and even score higher on tests for psychopathy. The findings were based on an online survey of 800 men ages 18 to 40; subjects offered information about their selfie habits and responded to widely-used assessments of anti-social behaviors and self-objectification—a name for behavior that sees a person prioritizing and valuing his appearance over other traits. Psychopathy, meanwhile, involves acting on impulses and having limited empathy. Before anyone gets labeled a psychopath or a narcissist, however, the study's lead author points out that selfie-posting subjects' scores were all within the normal range.

But those who posted a lot had above-average scores on certain anti-social behaviors. And those who spent more time editing their selfies had higher self-objectification scores. "It’s not surprising that men who post a lot of selfies and spend more time editing them are more narcissistic, but this is the first time it has actually been confirmed in a study," says author Jesse Fox, who is now working on a similar investigation of women. In a social network-obsessed society, self-objectification could be a growing problem, she notes. Some other selfie news won't help, as far as body image is concerned: A new type of selfie tool is designed specifically to take pictures of your rear end, CNET reports. They are, of course, called "belfies." (Selfies can also be dangerous in and of themselves—though they can save lives, too.)