• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer, January 13, 2015

The selfie -- that seemingly inescapable currency of social media -- has a dark side, according to new research from psychologists at Ohio State University, who found that men who post a lot of selfies on social media sites tend to display traits associated with psychopathic individuals.

Based on a survey of 800 men ages 18 to 40, the research asked questions intended to determine the subject’s degree of empathy and likelihood to engage in impulsive behavior -- considered key traits of psychopathic personalities -- and found that men who are prolific selfie posters scored lower in empathy and higher in impulsivity.

Perhaps less surprisingly, men who take a lot of selfies were more likely to display traits linked to narcissism -- meaning a feeling of superiority concerning oneself and one’s appearance -- tempered with deep insecurity, and self-objectification -- meaning the tendency to value oneself based solely or preponderantly on one’s outward appearance. The latter characteristic has been linked to body image issues and eating disorders.

The findings about self-objectification are especially interesting because this tendency is supposedly uncommon among heterosexual men, but the research suggests otherwise, according to associate professor Jesse Fox, who led the study: “Most people don’t think that men even do that sort of thing, but they definitely do.”

Fox added that the tendency may be on the increase thanks to social media: “With the growing use of social networks, everyone is more concerned with their appearance. That means self-objectification may become a bigger problem for men, as well as for women.”

Of course, this doesn’t mean that guys who take a lot of selfies are, in fact, full-blown psychopaths. Like most other personality traits, psychopathic tendencies exist on a spectrum, with many people displaying a few characteristics on occasion, but not going the full-blown Hannibal Lecter, so to speak. If you’re curious where you stand, you can take an online test.