The dark side of social media: Associations between the Dark Triad of personality, self-disclosure online and selfie-related behaviours

Abstract

The present study investigated the relations between the Dark Triad personality traits (i.e., Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy), distinct dimensions of selfdisclosure online (i.e., honesty, amount, positive valence, and intent) and selÞ e relatedbehaviours (taking, posting, and editing selÞ es). The results indicated, that all three Dark Triad components were positively correlated with posting and editing selÞ es on social networking sites (SNSs). However, multiple regression analysis demonstrated that only narcissism predicted selÞ e-related behaviours. Narcissism and Machiavellianism were positively related to the amount of personal information disclosed online and the tendency to intentionally self-disclose in a computer-mediated communication (CMC). Moreover, we found no signiÞ cant correlations between the perceived controllability of Internet communication and two types of self-promotion in the Internet (self-disclosure online and selÞ e-related behaviours). Our Þ ndings demonstrate the importance of analysing the ‘dark’ personality traits in the context of self-promotional behaviours in social media.