Beware the selfie man

Men who like to post edited selfies are more likely to be men who like themselves ? a little too much.

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The more photos a man posts of himself online, the more likely he is to be narcissistic and psychopathic.

This is according to a recent study into the phenomenon that took the Twitter top trend title of 2014 - the selfie - by assistant professor at Ohio State University Jesse Fox and graduate student Margaret Rooney.

The pair of academics also found men who edited their selfies before posting them on social media sites scored even higher in the trait categories of narcissism and self-objectification - meaning their appearance trumps other priorities.

"Our findings also demonstrate that self-objectifying individuals and narcissists are more likely to engage in selective self-presentation on social networking sites by altering their photographs, reflecting previous findings that narcissists lie about their appearance as a mating tactic," says Fox.

Such online deception, she says, may lead to "misperceptions by potential mates" and, if the interaction continues offline, the receiver is likely to be disappointed and feel deceived by this manipulation.

"Thus, personality types who engage in extensive photo editing may attract more initial interest or attention online, but this cheater strategy may be short-lived and lead to less desirable relational outcomes in face-to-face interactions."

More concerning perhaps than a dead in the water romance, is the finding that men who post a lot of selfies and spend time editing them also score higher on the anti-social personality trait scale.

The study was concluded after an online survey of 800 men aged 18 to 40 was conducted. Participants were asked about their photo posing behaviour on social media networks like social networking site Facebook and photo-sharing site Instagram, and also filled in standard questionnaires for anti-social behaviour and self-objectification.

Fox emphasised the results do not mean men who post a lot of selfies are necessarily narcissists or psychopaths. The men in the study all scored within the normal range of behaviour - but with higher than average levels of these anti-social traits.