Emotions on Facebook: What Narcissism and Empathy Tell Us About Online Sharing Behaviors

• In Event: Emotion

Abstract

The aim of the current study is to examine how narcissism and empathy among adolescents may relate to the type of emotional content (positive versus negative) someone is willing to share on Facebook. In order to explore this hypothesis, we examined 101 teen male participants across two studies in which we had them complete the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, Narcissitic Personality Inventory, and measures of emotional sharing while using Facebook. Results demonstrate that sharing positive emotional information on Facebook is significantly correlated with empathic concern (r=.27, p=.013) and personal distress (r=.24, p=.029). In addition, sharing negative emotional information on Facebook is significantly associated with narcissistic exhibitionism (r=.28, p=.008) and marginally associated with personal distress (r=.20, p=.060). Overall, these findings provide insight into how different personality characteristics among adolescents relate to their emotional sharing behavior online in a social media context and may have implications for participants’ personal wellbeing and social connections.

Authors

• Elizabeth C Beard, The University of Michigan

• Christopher Cascio, U of Pennsylvania

• Sara H Konrath, Indiana U

• Joseph Bayer, U of Michigan

• Emily Falk, University of Pennsylvania