Narcissism as a Determinant of University Students' Self-Presentations on Social Media

Abstract

Human beings who present their self in accordance with the roles assigned to them in daily life and the expectations of the people around them; thanks to social media, it started to make self-presentations in a virtual environment. Narcissism is one of main motivations of self-presentation in social networks of people who aim to be visible and to appreciate themselves. The conceptual framework of the study is based on Erving Goffman's "theory of dramaturgy" and the concept of impression management. This study using the relational screening model; it was carried out on 408 participants who are studying at Karamanoğlu Mehmetbey University, and the participants were selected using simple random sampling technique. The responses of the participants to the questionnaire forms; Interpreted using statistical tests such as frequency analysis, Mann-Whitney U test, one-way analysis of variance, Kruskal Wallis test, correlation analysis and regression analysis. According to the research results; 98.3% of the participants use social media. The most preferred social media tools by the university students participating in the study are Whatsapp, Youtube, Instagram, Twitter, Wiki, Pinterest, Podcast and Facebook, respectively. In the study; in choosing the self presentation tactics of the participants; It has been observed that gender, how many years they have been internet users, the time they spend on social media during the day, their purpose of using social media, the social media networks they use and their level of narcissism. Narcissism levels of individuals emerges as one of the most important factors affecting self-presentation.