W. Illinois U. study says the more Facebook friends you have, the more narcissistic and self-centered you are

I am extremely self-centered (don't give enough of a shlit to be narcissistic though). I have zero FB friends but 113 pending FB friend requests.

The plight of being an elite athlete! Some study at Western Illinois labels you "narcisstic" and "self-centered" because you have XXXX number of friends.

correlation does not imply causation...

whats facebook??

no advice but wrote:

correlation does not imply causation...

Doesn't imply it -- but most of the time that turns out to be the case.

It seems to me that someone who is 100% narcissistic and self-centered would not care enough about anyone else to become Facebook friends with them. If you are totally and completely self-centered, you wouldn't want or need friends of any kind, right?

narcisists don't need FB wrote:

It seems to me that someone who is 100% narcissistic and self-centered would not care enough about anyone else to become Facebook friends with them. If you are totally and completely self-centered, you wouldn't want or need friends of any kind, right?

I don't think that this is consistent with the common use of the term. Someone who is narcissistic will not just gaze in the mirror all day but will constantly be trying to draw attention to themselves and how wonderful they are.

For an example, think of an investment advisor who, whenever he talks about market returns, is unable to avoid talking about his own returns (real or imagined) when that has nothing to do with the topic at hand.

You trust anything coming out of Western Illinois?

W. Illinois U. study says the more Facebook friends you have, the more narcissistic and self-centered you are

to be published in "Duh Magazine"

I already knew this, didn't need a study to prove it. Isn't this obvious? Just look at the people who have 1,000 friends or update their status all the time. They're almost always people who are unbearable to be around.

Then I must be friends with a ton of narcissists. I have 260 friends, and you might not believe this but out of all 260 of them only TWO have less friends than I do (and for one of them, that's because he's always deleting them).

The rest average around 700-800 and a ton have > 2000.

So yeah, I guess I fit the Letsrun "lonely forever" stereotype...

There are certainly exceptions to this rule. People who are semi-famous (think GF, Adam Goucher, etc) probably have a ton of friends just because they get a ton of friend requests. I've noticed a correlation for number of friends and places one has lived and number of groups (for lack of a better word) one has been a part of. If you've gone to two different universities, been a part of two different track teams, had multiple jobs, etc, you're likely to have more friends than another person like you who has gone to the same school and worked the same job during the same time period.

I think the number of status updates per day and number of self-portraits are probably the most telling. I would like to read the actual paper. Maybe later when I have more time.

Guppy wrote:

There are certainly exceptions to this rule. People who are semi-famous (think GF, Adam Goucher, etc) probably have a ton of friends just because they get a ton of friend requests. I've noticed a correlation for number of friends and places one has lived and number of groups (for lack of a better word) one has been a part of. If you've gone to two different universities, been a part of two different track teams, had multiple jobs, etc, you're likely to have more friends than another person like you who has gone to the same school and worked the same job during the same time period.

I think the number of status updates per day and number of self-portraits are probably the most telling. I would like to read the actual paper. Maybe later when I have more time.

This is my thought as well. I know folks who have like 1000+ on there and aren't all that self-centered. However, I know a few ppl that all have in the 2,000 range, they have albums dedicated solely to self pics, and update their status probably 5-10 times a day. These are the people who you cannot stand to be around in person bc they never shut the f*ck up about themselves. It blows my mind how superficial FB is. I just deactivated my acct last week because I didn't even like most of the few 'friends' I had on there haha.

is this the same Western Illinois that produced the man that the Letsrun meme "breaking up with girlfriend via powerpoint"?

Leathernecks ftw

You are spot on.

A narcissitic tool for a generation awash in narcissism

Ooooh, a study about me!

Speaking of me, I just had a terrific turkey sandwich for lunch and a slice of carrot cake. Yummers!

Did you post that on FB?