Social media use and personality: Beyond self-reports and trait-level assessments

Abstract

We investigated how objective, behavioral data on social media use was correlated with the Dark Tetrad facets and the HEXACO traits. We tracked usage time and usage session of social media users (N = 243), considering Instagram to be a visual social medium compared to Facebook and, therefore, to be related to “dark” personality characteristics (i.e., short-term mating, antisocial attitudes). Additional to bivariate correlations, we controlled the Dark Tetrad facets for the HEXACO model and vice versa using partialed correlations, and found that agentic extraversion, self-entered antagonism, and Machiavellian tactics, but not the HEXACO traits, were correlated with Instagram usage time and sessions. We observed no personality correlations with Facebook use. In women, more facets were associated with Instagram use, while in men only boldness was linked to it. We discuss the findings in the light of short-term mating and antisocial behavior on social media (e.g., niche specialization, cyberstalking). Disentangling the Dark Tetrad traits helped refine previous findings.