Religion Paper 3
Running Ahead: LET ME TAKE A SELFIE 1
Let me take a selfie: The meaning behind selfies
Dakarai Wintons
Florida International University
Methods
Participants
One hundred and forty students from Florida International University were randomly selected to participate in our study. Of these 140 participants, 33% (n = 47) were male and 67% (n = 83) were female. Ages ranged from a minimum 18 to a maximum 23 with an average of 21.33 years (SD = 5.31). Our sample population consists of 33% Caucasian (n = 47), and 67% African-Americans (n = 83).
Materials and Procedures
In accordance with the standardized guidelines for informed consent, participants of this study were notified in the benefits of participating before being introduced to the research material. If the student verbally agreed to participate, then he or she were given a five-part survey. There were three IV’s in the five-part survey. (Selfie, Groupie, and Professional). In Part One of the survey, participants looked at an Instagram page of Emma Wood, along with three other photos that she is trying to choose between for her new Instagram profile photo. They also answered about Emma’s Instagram post. In Part Two of the survey, participants rated their impressions of Emma (0 = Strongly disagree, 5 = Strongly agree). In Part Three of the survey, participants rated some of their own characteristics using questions adapted from the Narcissism Personality Inventory (NPI) (0 = Strongly disagree, 9 = Strongly agree). After participants were finished with Part three, participants would move on to Part four of the survey, in this part, participants completed demographic questions about themselves. (Age, gender, race, etc.).
Given that the independent variable is the 3 different questionnaires that consists of selfie, groupie, and professional, the dependent variables would consist of the responses given by the participants in the study assessing their perspective on Emma’s posted pictures. We hypothesize that if participants are exposed to selfie photos, then they will believe that an Instagram user 1.) updates her profile picture more frequently, 2.) posts to her social media accounts more often, and 3.) seems more self-absorbed, selfish, narcissistic, and egotistical, compared to participants exposed to either groupie or professional photos, though these latter two conditions should not differ from each other in their Instagram user ratings.
Results
Using survey condition (selfie vs groupie vs professional) as our independent variable and using the assessments given by participants towards Emma’s posted pictures as the dependent variable. Given the exposed selfie photos, many participants said that Emma’s pictures did not appear to be selfish, narcissistic or self-absorbed as opposed to other participants that stated she seemed more selfish, narcissistic, and self-absorbed in the professional photos. Based on the pictures, participants do agree that in every category (selfie, groupie, and professional) that Emma’s picture suggested that she constantly updates her profile more frequently. The results also revealed that participants have said that Emma likely updates her pictures a bit more frequently, as opposed to her groupie pictures.
Discussion