Scrap the selfies: ‘Posies’ get a better reaction on social media, study finds
Instagram users who post selfies aren’t necessarily insecure or unsuccessful — but others suspect they are, a new study finds.
Washington State University researchers created an experiment to compare how social media users perceive selfies versus how they perceive posed photos, or “posies,” according to a university news release. The findings were clear: Frequent selfie posters were “almost uniformly” judged to be “less likable, less successful, more insecure and less open to new experiences than individuals who share a greater number of posed photos taken by someone else,” the researchers said.
The photo-judging audience in the study was a group of 119 Washington State students — and they were asked to analyze the 30 most recent Instagram posts made by a group of 30 college students from the University of Southern Mississippi, the Seattle Times reports. The Washington students were told to rate their Southern counterparts on 13 metrics, including “self‑absorption, low self‑esteem, extraversion and success.” The 30 Southern students filled out personality questionnaires, but the students judging them only had the photos to rely on, researchers said.
“Even when two feeds had similar content, such as depictions of achievement or travel, feelings about the person who posted selfies were negative and feelings about the person who posted posies were positive,” Chris Barry, a Washington State psychology professor and lead study author, said in a statement. “It shows there are certain visual cues, independent of context, that elicit either a positive or negative response on social media.”
The study is being published in the Journal of Research in Personality in October, under the title “‘Check Your Selfie before You Wreck Your Selfie’: Personality ratings of Instagram users as a function of self-image posts.”
Researcher said that in the experiment, the Instagram users’ “posts were coded based on whether they were selfies or posies as well as what was depicted in each image, such as physical appearance, affiliation with others, events, activities or accomplishments.”
In contrast with selfie posters, people who published more posies on their Instagram accounts “were viewed as being relatively higher in self‑esteem, more adventurous, less lonely, more outgoing, more dependable, more successful and having the potential for being a good friend.”
But not all selfies are created equal, it turns out.
“Personality ratings for selfies with a physical appearance theme, such as flexing in the mirror, were particularly negative,” the researchers said.
The study also found that the Instagram posters who were judged to be very self-absorbed tended to have larger followings on social media and followed more social media accounts.
“One of the noteworthy things about this study is that none of these students knew each other or were aware of the Instagram patterns or number of followers of the people they were viewing,” Barry said.
Researchers suggested the “generally positive reactions to posies may be due to the fact that the photos appear more natural, similar to how the observer would see the poster in real life.” Selfies, on the other hand, might “signal something strange or unusual about the poster,” the researchers said.
“While the findings of this study are just a small piece of the puzzle, they may be important to keep in mind before you make that next post,” Barry said.
Barry’s research started on a somewhat different path five years ago: He was looking instead at whether or not people who posted a lot of selfies were more narcissistic.
“We just weren’t finding anything,” Barry said. “That got us thinking that while posts on social media might not be indicative of the poster’s personality, other people might think they are. So, we decided to design another study to investigate.”
This story was originally published August 30, 2019 at 5:06 PM with the headline "Scrap the selfies: ‘Posies’ get a better reaction on social media, study finds."
