Carding 4 Carders
Professional
A scientific look at a popular trend.
Selfies have become an integral part of modern society, but scientists are still trying to understand how people use them to convey information about themselves. Researchers from the University of Bamberg decided to study the semantics of selfies.
Tobias Schneider, lead author of the study, points out that even though the term "selfie" has been around for more than 21 years, we still don't have a clear classification of different types of selfies.
Previous research has found that the main goals of creating selfies are self-expression, documentation, and presentation. But most studies didn't take into account the association factors that viewers experience when viewing selfies.
To understand what meanings people attribute to different selfies, the researchers asked participants to describe their first impressions of a sample of selfies. These associations were then systematized.
The researchers used a selfie database called Selfiecity. We selected 1,001 selfies taken with a mobile camera without text. Participants in the experiment recorded their spontaneous reactions to each selfie.
Data analysis allowed us to identify 26 categories of first impressions. For example, the "mood" category included comments about the mood of the selfie creator.
Cluster analysis revealed five different clusters of categories, which the authors called "semantic profiles". The most popular were "aesthetics", "imagination" and "trait". Less popular, but still significant, were "state" and "theory of mind".
Schneider notes that selfies can be a very effective means of communication. However, scientists emphasize that more research is needed to understand how different cultures use selfies for self-expression.
Professor Klaus-Christian Karbon adds that more extensive and diverse samples are needed in the future to understand how different groups and cultures use selfies to express themselves.
Selfies have become an integral part of modern society, but scientists are still trying to understand how people use them to convey information about themselves. Researchers from the University of Bamberg decided to study the semantics of selfies.
Tobias Schneider, lead author of the study, points out that even though the term "selfie" has been around for more than 21 years, we still don't have a clear classification of different types of selfies.
Previous research has found that the main goals of creating selfies are self-expression, documentation, and presentation. But most studies didn't take into account the association factors that viewers experience when viewing selfies.
To understand what meanings people attribute to different selfies, the researchers asked participants to describe their first impressions of a sample of selfies. These associations were then systematized.
The researchers used a selfie database called Selfiecity. We selected 1,001 selfies taken with a mobile camera without text. Participants in the experiment recorded their spontaneous reactions to each selfie.
Data analysis allowed us to identify 26 categories of first impressions. For example, the "mood" category included comments about the mood of the selfie creator.
Cluster analysis revealed five different clusters of categories, which the authors called "semantic profiles". The most popular were "aesthetics", "imagination" and "trait". Less popular, but still significant, were "state" and "theory of mind".
Schneider notes that selfies can be a very effective means of communication. However, scientists emphasize that more research is needed to understand how different cultures use selfies for self-expression.
Professor Klaus-Christian Karbon adds that more extensive and diverse samples are needed in the future to understand how different groups and cultures use selfies to express themselves.
