Your annoying Facebook friend who brags actually has low self-esteem

A new study, which confirms what we’ve all been thinking, found that people who post statuses about accomplishments are typically narcissists.

Psychologists at Brunel University London surveyed Facebook users to examine the personality traits and motives that influence the topics they choose to write about in their status updates.
The data was collected from 555 people who completed online surveys measuring the ‘big five’ personality traits – extroversion, neuroticism, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness – as well as self-esteem and narcissism.

That really annoying Facebook friend of yours who brags online actually has very low self-esteem.
A new study, which confirms what we’ve all been thinking, found that people who post statuses about accomplishments are typically narcissists.

Psychologists at Brunel University London surveyed Facebook users to examine the personality traits and motives that influence the topics they choose to write about in their status updates.

The data was collected from 555 people who completed online surveys measuring the ‘big five’ personality traits – extroversion, neuroticism, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness – as well as self-esteem and narcissism.

People with low self-esteem more frequently posted status updates about their current romantic partner.

• Narcissists more frequently updated about their achievements, which was motivated by their need for attention and validation from the Facebook community. 

• These updates also received a greater number of ‘likes’ and comments, indicating that narcissists’ boasting may be reinforced by the attention they crave.

• Narcissists also wrote more status updates about their diet and exercise routine, suggesting that they use Facebook to broadcast the effort they put into their physical appearance.

• Conscientiousness was associated with writing more updates about one’s children.