Thammasat University students interested in psychology, media and communications studies, computer science, technology, medical sociology, public policy, social theory and related subjects should find an Open Access book available for free download at this link useful:

https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/77432

The Society of the Selfie is by Jeremiah Morelock and Felipe Ziotti Narita.

The TU Library collection includes other books analyzing different aspects of selfies.

Dr. Jeremiah Morelock is a medical sociologist who teaches at the Woods College of Advancing Studies at Boston College, Massachusetts, the United States of America. Dr. Felipe Ziotti Narita is a lecturer in public policy and social theory at the São Paulo State University and director of research at Baron of Mauá University, Brazil.

Their book argues that the Internet is connected to the global crisis of liberal democracy. Today, self-promotion and personal branding are the basis for much societal interaction. relationships. More than a social media gesture, the selfie has become a symbol for social reality. The selfie plays a role in this context as an expression of self-interest and what the authors describe as the “contemporary love affair between self-obsession and social media.” While some people criticize the selfie as an expression of narcissism, others praise it as a form of self-expression. Unlike the selfies which include families and friends, the selfie of a solitary person may be a symptom of social estrangement, trying to impress others and soliciting likes.

Through social media, users have other ways of rating and judging themselves by using such devices as shares, followers and friends. There are new outlets for verbal aggression and social problems. Social media culture promotes social estrangement that can lead to authoritarian impulses. Information technology provide channels for public engagement where extreme ideas are communicated farther and faster than ever before, and political differences are widened and inflamed. It also provides new opportunities for protest and resistance.

In an Introduction about information technology (IT) and authoritarian populism, the authors note that much social experience currently occurs online, just as authoritarian governments are gaining more influence internationally. They suggest: “Certain characteristics of neoliberal capitalism have dovetailed with and been amplified by the proliferation of information technologies and social media…”

Professor Gwendolyn Seidman teaches psychology at Albright College in Reading, Pennsylvania, the United States of America.

In August 2020, her article Why Do People Take Selfies? appeared in Psychology Today magazine. Dr. Seidman noted,

Past research links narcissism and taking selfies. But is there more to it? Is taking selfies narcissistic? The answer to that question is complicated.

Past research found significant — but relatively small — links between taking selfies and narcissism. Other research has found no substantial link. Still other research has shown a stronger link for men than women. This inconsistency in research results may be because not all selfies are equal. Research has shown that narcissistic individuals take more solo selfies, but fewer selfies that feature other people. And while researchers have focused a lot on how the frequency of selfie-taking relates to personality, few studies have really examined why people take selfies. New research by Erin Koterba and colleagues, recently published in the journal Media Psychology, examined these issues.

Narcissism is defined as a grandiose perception of the self with a desire to be admired and a lack of empathy for others. Personality questionnaires that measure narcissism can divide the trait into multiple components:

• Leadership/Authority: Feeling that one is important and should be in charge of other people
• Entitlement/Exploitativeness: Feeling that one is deserving of special privileges and being willing to take advantage of others
• Grandiose exhibitionism: The desire to show off and be the center of attention

…This research suggests that self-centered motives for taking selfies are common, but not necessarily strongly linked to trait narcissism. And narcissism’s connection to selfie-taking is a small part of a bigger picture.

In 2017, Dr. Seidman also published an article asking whether selfies make us self-conscious. New research examines how selfies affect self-esteem and social sensitivity:

The act of taking a selfie could make people self-conscious and more aware of how others view them. This may occur because the act forces us to focus on ourselves, much like looking in the mirror. When we become self-aware, we also become more sensitive to the extent to which we are living up to social standards and norms. If you’re walking down the street minding your own business and then notice someone on the street corner staring at you, you are likely to become more aware of your appearance and actions and more concerned with how that person is judging you. This awareness of how others might be judging us or reacting to us is called “social sensitivity.” Online audiences can have the same effect on us as offline audiences. Consistent with this idea, studies have shown that posting information about oneself on social media is associated with more social sensitivity…

Youngsoo Shin and colleagues, from Yonsei University in South Korea, wanted to see how both the act of taking a selfie and the act of sharing that selfie with others affected social sensitivity and self-esteem.1 They conducted a laboratory experiment involving 78 students at their university. Half of the participants were randomly assigned to take a selfie, and in order to create a comparison group, the other half were assigned to take a photograph of a neutral object—a cup. In addition, half of the participants were asked to share their photo on their favorite social media platform, while the other half were merely asked to save their photo.

Next, the researchers measured the participants’ levels of social sensitivity and self-esteem. They used covert measures of social sensitivity and self-esteem, rather than using typical self-report measures in which participants rate themselves on their feelings and beliefs…

The results suggested that both taking and sharing selfies affected self-esteem and social sensitivity. Participants who took selfies, especially those who also shared their selfie on social media, exhibited greater social sensitivity than those who took a photograph of a cup. Turning the camera on ourselves makes us more inclined to see ourselves through the eyes of others, especially if we show that photograph to our friends on social media.

The researchers also found that participants in the selfie condition who merely saved their photo showed a larger reduction in self-esteem from the start of the experiment, as compared to those who shared their selfies on social media. This suggests that the act of taking a selfie can make us feel worse about ourselves, due to the increased focus on the self. However, sharing it with others largely ameliorates this effect. Perhaps this is due to the expectation that others will like and approve of the selfie. The effects in this study might have been even larger if participants also received feedback on social media, such as Facebook likes. On the other hand, a lack of positive feedback could send self-esteem plummeting further…

This study raises some interesting questions about the effects of taking selfies. The mere act of taking a selfie can cause us to view ourselves through the eyes of others, and make us more sensitive to others’ reactions. Taking selfies is often viewed as the epitome of self-centeredness, and selfie-taking is, in fact, modestly correlated with narcissism. But these results suggest that sharing selfies may actually make us pay more attention to how other people are reacting.

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)