Impact of Body Dissatisfaction and Selfies and The Effect of Self-Compassion: A Mixed Methods Study

Social media has become one of the most widely consumed platforms worldwide—specifically, the act of taking pictures of oneself otherwise known as selfies. Previous research has demonstrated links to body dissatisfaction and eating disorders about social media usage. There is a lack of research on the selfie-editing process, from taking to selecting and editing the pictures before uploading them. In turn, social media may become a risk factor for young individuals engaging in selfies and experiencing body dissatisfaction. Given how rapidly the use of social media has evolved within society, there is a constant need to address and overcome body image concerns among children and adults. Recent evidence indicates a rise in body image concerns during adolescence to early adulthood. Research is lacking in the aspect of understanding the impact on both genders. The current research will (a) examine the use and frequency of selfie editing, specifically photo-based behaviors like photo manipulation (PM) and photo investment (PI), (b) examine gender differences in photo-based behaviors and body dissatisfaction (BD), (c) investigate how self-compassion (SC) helps mitigate body image and photo-based behaviors, and (d) understanding the lived experiences of individuals who engaged in selfie editing behaviors and experience body dissatisfaction. Results from 111 individuals with men (n = 34) and women (n = 77) suggested that males and females engage more in photo-related behavior and body image concerns. However, females seem to engage more than males. Self-compassion also correlates with body dissatisfaction but only within females. Self-compassion is associated with higher levels of photo-based behavior; individuals with higher self-compassion are more likely to engage in photo-based behaviors. Future research should investigate which self-compassion practices are more effective in reducing body image concerns

Short circuits in the information cycle: Addressing information breakdowns using the information literacy framework

We argue that information literacy instruction that aims at developing students’ critical thinking habits should address how safeguards in the information cycle fail. We argue that such “short circuits” in the information cycle can be best engaged with at a “middle distance”—not so distant from students’ lived experience that they seem irrelevant, but not so close that students can’t gain a critical distance—and illustrate this framework with three such cases that concern moral panics about new technologies. We hold that instruction using this framework will help learners critically assess sources while retaining a strong but realistic appreciation for procedural supports for epistemic responsibility like peer review and balanced journalism

Emerging Adults' Views on Masspersonal Self-Disclosure and their Bridging Social Capital on Facebook

Masspersonal self-disclosure on social network sites entails new risks and benefits for bridging social capital, defined as social resources such as a connection to and investment in large and heterogeneous collectives, which are important to develop during the transition to adulthood in democratic societies. To better understand motivations and social capital consequences of masspersonal self-disclosure among emerging adults, this mixed-method study examined how U.S. college students view various topics of masspersonal self-disclosure and whether values embedded in their views contributed to their perceived bridging social capital, after accounting for their Facebook use and the diversity of their networks. A total of 208 (110 women, 95 men, 3 non-binary, Mage = 20.28) students completed online questionnaires while referring to their Facebook profiles. Qualitative analyses showed how valuing self-expression, alongside other-focused values, informed participants’ decision-making about masspersonal self-disclosure. Quantitative results showed that valuing self-expression more frequently across topics of self-disclosure predicted bridging social capital; however, the use of Facebook privacy controls and indicators of ethnic and political diversity in students’ networks did not. We discuss the importance of values in understanding emerging adults’ behaviors on social network sites, their generation of bridging social capital, and civic identity development

Selfitis behavior: assessing the Italian version of the Selfitis Behavior Scale and its mediating role in the relationship of dark traits with social media addiction

Research on selfie-related behavior has recently flourished. The present study expands theoretical and empirical work on phenomenon by assessing the psychometric properties of the Selfitis Behavior Scale among an Italian sample and by examining its unexplored mediating role in the relationships between dark triad traits and social media addiction. A total of 490 participants (53.1% females) completed a self-report survey including socio-demographics, the Selfitis Behavior Scale (SBS), the Short Dark Triad Scale (SD3), and the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS). Results showed the SBS had a five-factor structure with good psychometrics properties in terms of reliability coefficients and measurement invariance across gender. In addition, findings from the path model supported the mediating role of selfitis behavior in the relationships of narcissism and psychopathy with social media addiction. Machiavellianism was found to be unrelated to selfitis behavior and social media addiction. The model shed light into the previous inconsistent findings on the associations between dark triad traits and social media addiction by taking into account the key role of selfitis behavior as an underlying mechanism. The findings may explain individual differences in personality traits associated with co-dependence (i.e., the combination of the dependence on self and others and social media addiction)

An exploration of some contemporary risk factors for the development of disordered eating.

Eating disorders are amongst the most deadly and difficult to treat mental health conditions (Beat, 2015), thought to be influenced by many complex factors, including in part social pressures of body appearance. However, current understanding of eating disorders is based heavily on a very specific population; cisgender, heterosexual, able-bodied, white women (Burke et al., 2020; Fabello, 2020). Furthermore, modern advances in communication mean that the social context in which eating disorders develop is rapidly changing. This thesis examined whether a frequently used measure of disordered eating, the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) is fit for purpose in minoritized communities that deviate from the traditional eating disorder patient, as well as the role of social media (specifically ‘fitspiration’ images) as a contemporary eating disorder risk factor. The results identify a new structure for the EDE-Q that is relevant across genders and sexualities (bisexual, homosexual, and heterosexual). Data obtained suggest that both gender and sexuality had a small but significant influence on eating disorder symptomatology. We also find that although disordered eating thoughts and behaviours may influence our judgments of social media images of other people’s bodies, viewing such images has no immediate effect on the judgments we make about our own bodies

Selfie expectancies among adolescents: Construction and validation of an instrument to assess expectancies toward selfies among boys and girls

Selfie-taking and posting is one of the most popular activities among teenagers, an important part of online self-presentation that is related to identity issues and peer relations. The scholarly literature emphasizes different yet conflicting motivations for selfie-behavior, stressing deeper analysis of psychological factors and the influence of gender and age. Expectancies are “explanatory device[s]” that can help us study adolescent behavior. However, no instruments have been devised that specifically explore the expectations teenagers have about selfies and their influence on selfie-frequency. The current study proposes a short and reliable instrument to identify teen expectancies about selfie-behavior. This instrument was validated using a sample of 646 Italian adolescents (14 to 19 years old) by means of Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). We also explore the relationship between selfie expectancies and selfie-frequency, as well as the role of gender in shaping selfies. Our results point toward a 7-factor model that characterizes expectations toward selfies as a multi-dimensional construct linked to both positive and negative perceptions of the nature and consequences of selfies. The overall model fitted the data sufficiently (χ2 = 5067.051, p 0.0000; CFI = 0.962; TLI = 0.954; RMSEA ≤ 0.05: 0.035; SRMR = 0.046), showing an adequate reliability of the scale (α = 0.830). Bivariate correlations between selfie expectancies and selfie-frequency (r = 0.338, p < 0.001) confirmed the convergent validity of the tool. Selfie-sharing is a common practice that is widespread among the participants in this study. Self-promotion represents a positive function of selfies. Selfies promote self-presentation and self-confidence, both in boys and girls. Moreover, selfie expectancies address sexual self-attractiveness, especially among boys. Despite the positive aspects of selfies, our results stress adolescent awareness of the negative consequences of this type of web-exposure. This is especially true among girls, whose selfie-behavior is, paradoxically, more frequent than boys. Self-management through selfie-posting is a positive outcome of selfie-behavior that plays a key role among adolescents, even though the dangers of manipulating selfies in order to garner approval from one’s peers need to be considered. The positive psychometric properties of the measure point toward the need for further research on both generalized and specific selfie-behaviors

Predictors for Depressive Symptoms Among Women Instagram Users

As social networking sites have become a typical daily activity, there is a need to better understand the outcomes of online behaviors on other life functions. Prior researchers have found that social comparison and social networking behaviors can negatively affect adolescents’ and young adults’ self-esteem, however the potential threats for women who evaluate themselves based on comparisons to others has not been examined. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects on health and well-being for older adult women using the image-sharing site Instagram who share selfies. The theoretical framework for this study was the social comparison theory. Participants (N = 117) completed the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and Iowa-Netherlands Social Comparison Orientation and answered questions about their selfie-sharing behaviors. Data were analyzed using multiple linear regression to determine the best predictors for depressive symptoms. The study revealed a significant model for the correlation between the variables, although only self-esteem and social comparison contributed to any meaningful significance. Selfie-sharing behaviors had no predictive qualities in this study. The correlations suggest that low self-esteem and high social comparison are associated with increased depressive symptoms. Social networking sites could provide awareness of the impacts of excessive social comparisons and issue warnings to users. In their work with clients, mental health practitioners could use the study’s findings of relationships between the variables to explain how social comparisons impact well-being and offer healthier ways of overcoming the negative emotions, such as self-compassion and mindfulness, that can be brought on by the comparison leading to positive social change

Do selfies make women look slimmer? : The effect of viewing angle on aesthetic and weight judgments of women's bodies

Taking and posting selfies is a popular activity, with some individuals taking and sharing multiple selfies each day. The influence of the selfie angle, as opposed to more traditional photo angles such as the allocentric images we see in print media, on our aesthetic judgements of images of bodies has not been explored. This study compared the attractiveness and weight judgements that participants made of images of the same bodies taken from different visual angles over a series of four experiments (total N = 272). We considered how these judgements may relate to disordered eating thoughts and behaviours. Selfies were judged to be slimmer than images from other perspectives, and egocentric images were judged to be the least attractive. The way participants rated bodies seen from different perspectives was related to their own disordered eating thoughts and behaviours. These results contribute to our understanding of how we perceive the images we see on social media and how these might be related to how we feel about our own and other people's bodies

First impressions: A survey on vision-based apparent personality trait analysis

© 2019 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes,creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.Personality analysis has been widely studied in psychology, neuropsychology, and signal processing fields, among others. From the past few years, it also became an attractive research area in visual computing. From the computational point of view, by far speech and text have been the most considered cues of information for analyzing personality. However, recently there has been an increasing interest from the computer vision community in analyzing personality from visual data. Recent computer vision approaches are able to accurately analyze human faces, body postures and behaviors, and use these information to infer apparent personality traits. Because of the overwhelming research interest in this topic, and of the potential impact that this sort of methods could have in society, we present in this paper an up-to-date review of existing vision-based approaches for apparent personality trait recognition. We describe seminal and cutting edge works on the subject, discussing and comparing their distinctive features and limitations. Future venues of research in the field are identified and discussed. Furthermore, aspects on the subjectivity in data labeling/evaluation, as well as current datasets and challenges organized to push the research on the field are reviewed.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

On Instagram: an intimate, immediate conversation

What are the formal and political commitments of artistic and scholarly experimentation on Instagram? With the rise of affective criticism, a practice of conversation has proved to be the perfect format for us to talk affectively about such a polarizing and popular subject. With this conversation, we want to capture that same intimacy and immediacy, but challenge the idea that such conversations must always disappear or must dissolve into solo work; to contend that the meaning we create together in ephemeral ways might have its own intellectual staying power. This conversation took place at the University of York in the spring of 2019 and the transcript has been edited for length. Thank you to the Centre for Modern Studies and the Creative Dissonance: Writing Now research strand for funding this event