Introduction:
Previous research suggests that there is a strong relationship between personality and Facebook usage. Narcissism has been found to be linked to Facebook usage (Buffardi & Campbell, 2010), and it is suggested that people low in self-esteem use Facebook to fulfil social needs which are not met in everyday life (Davis & Kraus, 1989). In terms of the Big Five personality traits, it has been shown that Facebook usage is often high in participants scoring high in openness (Skues, Williams & Wise, 2012), high in extraversion (Correa et al., 2010) and low in conscientiousness (Ryan & Xenos, 2011). Neuroticism has been shown to be positively associated with social media use (Correa et al., 2010), whereas there are mixed findings regarding the relationship between agreeableness and Facebook usage (Ross et al., 2009; Seidman, 2013).
The video below explains the Big Five Personality Traits:
Few studies have investigated this relationship within the Turkish population; a population which has several cultural differences to many Western cultures such as the US. One significant difference is the length of time in which computer use has been integrated into Turkish culture. As a result, computer anxiety among the Turkish population may be higher and so may impact Facebook usage (Tekinarslan, 2008). There is also evidence suggesting that the more collectivist culture of Turkey may result in differences in online behaviour and usage compared to users from more individualistic cultures (Qiu, Lin & Leung, 2013).
Eşkisu, Hoşoğlu & Rasmussen (2017) aimed to examine the relationship between the Big Five personality traits (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness), narcissism and the self-esteem levels of Turkish university students, and their Facebook usage; looking at purposes for using Facebook, frequency of use, number and type of Facebook friends, frequency of status updates, and privacy settings.
Method:
Participants:
492 undergraduate students from a university in Ankara, Turkey took part in this study. 356 participants were women and 136 were men, with an average age of 20.28 years. They were recruited randomly from their classes and asked to take part in a study about Facebook usage. Of the participants, 88% stated that they have used Facebook before and 12% had not.
Procedure:
Participants were required to complete different scales which related to Facebook usage, self-esteem, narcissism, and the big five personality traits.
Materials:
The scales used in the study are detailed below:
| Name of Scale: | Type of Scale: | Number of Items: | Use of Scale: | Changes Made: |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intended Purpose of Social Network Sites Scale (IPSNSS) | 5-point Likert Scale (select how much they agree or disagree with a statement) | 14 | Measures the purpose of Facebook use – social interaction, acquaintance or educational | Created additional questions specifically relating to Facebook usage |
| Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSS) | Likert Scale | 10 | Measures self-esteem | Translated into Turkish |
| Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) | Forced Choice Questions (must select one of the two opposing statements) | 40 | Measures narcissism | Translated into Turkish and checked for reliability and validity |
| Big Five Inventory (BFI) | 5-point Likert Scale | 44 | Measures the five personality dimensions | Adapted to the Turkish language and culture |
Results:
Self-Esteem and Facebook Usage:
Self-esteem levels were found to be significantly affected by the frequency of checking Facebook; participants who checked Facebook between one to two times a day reported higher self-esteem scores than those who checked Facebook less frequently. Participants who added people they did not know reported significantly lower self-esteem scores than those who only added people they knew, and there was a significant correlation between self-esteem and using Facebook to meet acquaintances.
Narcissism and Facebook Usage:
Narcissism scores were significantly different depending on the amount of time spent on Facebook; participants who spent over three hours per day on Facebook scoring significantly higher than those spending less than an hour per day. Participants who had over 301 Facebook friends had higher narcissism scores than those who had less. There was also a significant correlation between narcissism scores and using Facebook to meet acquaintances.
The Big Five and Facebook:
Statistical tests showed a significant difference in the conscientious scores: participants without a Facebook account scored significantly higher than those with an account. Openness scores were significantly lower for people spending less than one hour a day on Facebook, and conscientiousness scores were significantly lower for users who checked their account three or more times a day compared to users who checked their accounts less frequently. Extraversion and openness were significantly higher for participants with over 301 Facebook friends.
Limitations:
The study can be seen to be limited for several reasons. Firstly, some of the measures used did not have a good level of internal consistency suggesting that the results may not be entirely accurate or reliable. Secondly, the sample used in this study only includes Turkish undergraduates, and so therefore the results are not generalisable to a population outside of this cultural or age group.
Another limitation of this study is that the results were derived entirely from self-report data; data which is supplied to the researchers by the participant themselves rather than being objectively measured or observed by the researcher. The use of self-report data can often result in unreliable and invalid data as the participant may be subject to biases and so may not report true, genuine data. For example, participants who score highly in narcissism or have low self-esteem may alter their responses so that they are deemed more socially desirable.
Discussion & Conclusion:
The results relating to self-esteem were consistent with previous evidence supporting the Social Compensation Theory (Valkenburg et al., 2005); suggesting that people with low self-esteem use social media to fulfil social needs which are not met in everyday life (Davis & Kraus, 1989).
In terms of narcissism, the findings of this study also matched previous studies which found a positive relationship between narcissism and frequency of using Facebook (Buffardi & Campbell, 2010).
The results show that conscientious people use Facebook less, consistent with previous evidence (Ryan & Xenos, 2011). Similarly, the results supported the finding that openness and extraversion were positively correlated with Facebook use (Correa et al., 2010; Skues, Williams & Wise, 2012), as well as finding a positive relationship between agreeableness some Facebook usage factors, consistent with the mixed findings of previous studies.
In conclusion, the results of this study are consistent with previous evidence of personality and Facebook use and so can offer limited support. The limitations of this study suggest the need for further research to be conducted examining the psychological factors which determine Facebook use in Turkey, taking into account cultural factors specific to Turkey. It would be beneficial for future studies to examine the relationship between cross-cultural factors and Facebook use, using a larger, more generalisable sample.
References:
Buffardi, L. E., & Campbell, W. K. (2008). Narcissism and social networking websites. Personality and social psychology bulletin, 34(10), 1303-1314. Doi: 10.1177/0146167208320061
Correa, T., Hinsley, A. W., & De Zuniga, H. G. (2010). Who interacts on the Web?: The intersection of users’ personality and social media use. Computers in human behavior, 26(2), 247-253. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2009.09.003
Davis, M. H., & Kraus, L. A. (1989). Social Contact, Loneliness, and Mass Media Use: A Test of Two Hypotheses 1. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 19(13), 1100-1124. doi: 10.1111/j.15591816.1989.tb01242.x
Eşkisu, M., Hoşoğlu, R., & Rasmussen, K. (2017). An investigation of the relationship between Facebook usage, Big Five, self-esteem and narcissism. Computers in Human Behavior, 69, 294-301. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2016.12.036
Ross, C., Orr, E. S., Sisic, M., Arseneault, J. M., Simmering, M. G., & Orr, R. R. (2009). Personality and motivations associated with Facebook use. Computers in human behavior, 25(2), 578-586. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2008.12.024
Ryan, T., & Xenos, S. (2011). Who uses Facebook? An investigation into the relationship between the Big Five, shyness, narcissism, loneliness, and Facebook usage. Computers in human behavior, 27(5), 1658-1664. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2011.02.004
Seidman, G. (2013). Self-presentation and belonging on Facebook: How personality influences social media use and motivations. Personality and individual differences, 54(3), 402-407. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2012.10.009
Skues, J. L., Williams, B., & Wise, L. (2012). The effects of personality traits, self-esteem, loneliness, and narcissism on Facebook use among university students. Computers in Human Behavior, 28(6), 2414-2419. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2012.07.012
Tekinarslan, E. (2008). Computer anxiety: A cross-cultural comparative study of Dutch and Turkish university students. Computers in Human Behavior, 24(4), 1572-1584. doi: 10.1016.j.chb.2007.05.011
Qiu, Lin, Han Lin, and Angela K-Y. Leung. “Cultural differences and switching of in-group sharing behavior between an American (Facebook) and a Chinese (Renren) social networking site.” Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 44, no. 1 (2013): 106-121. doi: 10.1177/0022022111434597
Valkenburg, P. M., Schouten, A. P., & Peter, J. (2005). Adolescents’ identity experiments on the Internet. New media & society, 7(3), 383-402. doi: 10.1177/1461444805052282
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