The Reason Why We Love Selfies Is More Complicated Than You Think
Taking selfies has often been viewed as an expression of narcissism and vanity, but research has shown those are not the reasons behind why people like to capture these types of photos.
According to a study from 2023, first-person and third-person images serve different purposes for the individuals snapping the pictures.
Researchers from Ohio State University found that people who like to take selfies, or self-portrait photographs, do so to capture the deeper meaning of the event. Third-person photos, like selfies, are more effective at conveying the deeper meaning.
When first-person photography is used, the scene is portrayed through one’s own eyes. It is used when people want to document a physical experience.
“While there is sometimes derision about photo-taking practices in popular culture, personal photos have the potential to help people reconnect to their past experiences and build their self-narratives,” said Zachary Niese, the lead author of the study, formerly of Ohio State University, who is currently a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Tübingen in Germany.
For the study, the researchers conducted six experiments involving 2,113 participants. In one of the experiments, the participants were asked to read a scenario, such as a day at the beach with a close friend, in which they might want to take a photo.
They were then instructed to rate the importance of the experience and the significance of the event’s meaning.
The results illustrated that the higher the rating of the event’s meaning, the more likely they were to snap a photo with themselves in it.
In another experiment, the participants looked at photos they posted to their Instagram accounts. They rated how they felt about the photos on a scale of one (not at all positive) to five (extremely positive).
oneinchpunch – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
If the picture featured the participant, they displayed a greater likelihood of saying that the photo made them think of the deeper meaning of the moment.
Sometimes, people did not take photos that reflected their goal, which causes them not to like the photo as much.
For example, if their aim was to capture the meaning of a moment, they liked the picture if it was taken in the third person as a selfie, with themselves included in the image.
Overall, the results suggest that people have deeply personal motives for how they take photos, and they may be posting pictures on social media platforms for more than just audience engagement.
Selfies posted on platforms like Instagram have often been associated with self-promotion, but these findings challenge that notion.
“These photos with you in it can document the bigger meaning of a moment. It doesn’t have to be vanity,” pointed out Lisa Libby, a co-author of the study and a professor of psychology at Ohio State University.
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