Are you a narcissist? Check your recent Facebook activity。

　　Social-networking sites offer users easy ways to present idealized images of themselves, even if those ideals don't always square with their real-world personalities. Psychology researcher Soraya Mehdizadeh has discovered a way to poke through the offline-online curtain: she has used Facebook to predict a person's level of narcissism and self-esteem。

　　Mehdizadeh, who conducted the study as an undergraduate at Toronto's York University, gained access to the Facebook accounts of 100 college students and measured activities like photo sharing, wall postings and status updates; she also studied how frequently users logged on and how often they remained online during each session. Her findings were published recently in Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking。

　　After measuring each subject using the Narcissism Personality Inventory and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Mehdizadeh discovered narcissists and people with lower self-esteem were more likely to spend more than an hour a day on Facebook and were more prone to post self-promotional photos (striking a pose or using Photoshop, for example). Narcissists were also more likely to showcase themselves through status updates (using phrases like "I'm so glamorous I bleed glitter") and wall activity (posting self-serving links like "My Celebrity Look-alikes")。

　　Self-esteem and narcissism are often interrelated but don't always go hand in hand. Some psychologists believe that narcissists—those who have a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, a need for admiration, as well as a lack of empathy—unconsciously inflate their sense of self-importance as a defense against feeling inadequate. Not enough empirical research has been produced to confirm that link, although Mehdizadeh's study seems to support it. Because narcissists have less capacity to sustain intimate or long-term relationships, Mehdizadeh thinks that they would be more drawn to the online world of virtual friends and emotionally detached communication。

　　Although it seems that Facebook can be used by narcissists to fuel their inflated egos, Mehdizadeh stops short of proclaiming that excessive time spent on Facebook can turn regular users into narcissists. She also notes that social-networking sites might ultimately be found to have positive effects when used by people with low self-esteem or depression。

　　"If individuals with lower self-esteem are more prone to using Facebook," she says, "the question becomes, 'Can Facebook help raise self-esteem by allowing patients to talk to each other and help each other in a socially interactive environment?' I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing that people with low self-esteem use Facebook."

　　你有多自恋？看看你的脸谱网更新状态就知道了。

　　社交网站能让用户呈现自己理想化的一面，这些形象往往与现实相去甚远。心理学研究者索拉雅•麦迪扎德通过研究脸谱用户的使用习惯，推测个人的自恋程度和自尊心程度。

　　麦迪扎德以多伦多约克大学的大学生身份进行了此项研究，她找到了100名大学生的脸谱帐号，然后对上传照片、修改签名和状态更新等活动进行了量化。她还记录了用户的登录频率，以及每次登录后的在线时长。她的研究结果发表在《网络心理学，行为和社交网络》一文里。

　　通过使用《自恋人格量表》和《罗森伯格自尊量表》来量化这些活动，麦迪扎德发现自恋和自卑型人格更有可能在脸谱网上滞留超过一小时，而且更喜欢上传一些美化了的照片，如摆个惹眼的姿势，或用PS处理。自恋者也更有可能通过更新签名状态(如说“我太有型了，帅到骨子里了”之类的话)和活动更新(分享一些名为“看我像明星吧”的链接)。

　　自尊和自恋联系相当紧密，但也不总是如影相随。一些心理学家认为自恋者总是自命不凡，渴求他人崇拜，缺少同情心，然而这种自我膨胀往往是无意识的反映，以用来防御局促不安感觉的。虽然目前尚无足够实际研究能证明这种联系，然而麦迪扎德的研究似乎证明这点，因为自恋者不善于维持亲密和长期的关系，因而更容易沉迷于网络虚拟空间，以及这种不需太多情感投入的交流方式。

　　虽然脸谱网可以满足自恋者的自我膨胀欲，麦迪扎德并未申明脸谱网使用时间过长会让一般用户变得自恋。她还说社交网站或许可能对自卑和抑郁的人产生积极的影响。

　　她说：“如果自卑的人愿意使用脸谱网，问题就变成了‘自卑的人若能在这个社交互动的环境里相互交流，相互帮助，脸谱网可以帮助提高他们的自尊心么？’我倒觉得自卑的人使用脸谱网不一定是件坏事儿。”