The Attributional Bias of Selfies

Do you notice a difference in your perceptions of the meanings behind your selfies as opposed to others’ selfies? Well in case you don’t know, generally speaking, we tend to associate positivity with selfies of ourselves, as opposed to negative interpretations of other persons’ selfies.

This attributional bias, an error in thinking regarding the reasons for one’s behavior as opposed to another, is indeed supported by research. In Diefenbach and Christofarokas study on the psychology behind selfies (as cited in Rutledge, 2017), the researchers found that participants in the study thought their friends posted many more selfies than they did, and had more negative views about the purpose of their friends’ selfies.

So what explains this bias? Some assert that this is simply the way humans are naturally: self-preserving; others claim that it is an attempt to protect one’s image. Whatever the reason, we must always be aware of this bias in our thinking, and consciously work against the natural urge to negatively interpret someone’s selfies.

Rutledge, P. (2017). Selfies: The third-person effect applied to selfies-taking The Media Psychology Blog. Retrieved from http://mprcenter.org/blog/2017/02/selfies-the-third-person-effect-applied-to-selfie-taking/