Define Narcissist: Someone with lots of Facebook friends

Tuesday, March 27th, 2012

New research shows the more Facebook friends you have the more unhappier you are likely to be.

The researchers go as far as to establish a direct link between the number of friends you have on Facebook and the degree to which you are a “socially disruptive” narcissist. The study defines a narcissist as: a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration and an exaggerated sense of self-importance.

People who scored highly on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory questionnaire had more friends on Facebook, tagged themselves more often and updated their newsfeeds more regularly.

The study concluded that grandiose exhibitionism correlated with anti-social behaviour on Facebook. Self-esteem was negatively related to self-promotion and anti-social behaviours on the site.

Facebook “offers a gateway for hundreds of shallow relationships and emotionally detached communication,” according to study by Western Illinois University professor Christopher Carpenter.

A number of previous studies have linked narcissism with Facebook use, but this is some of the first evidence of a direct relationship between Facebook friends and the most “toxic” elements of narcissistic personality disorder.

“In general, the ‘dark side’ of Facebook requires more research in order to better understand Facebook’s socially beneficial and harmful aspects in order to enhance the former and curtail the latter,” Carpenter said.

The study was published this month in Personality and Individual Differences, the official journal of the International Society for the Study of Individual Differences.

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