#self-esteem — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #self-esteem, aggregated by home.social.
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DATE: August 19, 2026 at 12:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: The complex science of positive affirmations, and why they occasionally backfire
Scroll through social media and you’ll quickly encounter phrases like “I am worthy” or “I choose happiness”.
The tantalising promise is: repeat these positive affirmations often enough and you’ll be happier, calmer and even healthier.
Given we are biologically hardwired to avoid suffering and want to feel safe and happy, no wonder it is tempting. But is it backed by science? And are there downsides?
What are positive affirmations?
Self-affirmation theory was proposed by psychologist Claude Steele in the late 1980s and remains popular today. The theory suggests we have a deep desire to craft a personal narrative that we are “adequate” and “worthy”.
But painful experiences that trigger shame or embarrassment – such as getting bad grades, making a mistake at work or going through a break-up – can threaten this self-narrative.
You may become more self-critical, and this may make you more likely to experience anxiety, depression and even self-harm.
In contrast, self-affirmation theory suggests repeating positive ideas about yourself can protect you from these negative mental health symptoms, boosting your mood and sense of self-worth.
Is there evidence positive affirmations work?
Yes – in some contexts.
A review from 2025 combined and analysed results from 67 studies. These looked at the effects on participants’ wellbeing of writing positive affirmations or repeating them out loud.
The review found positive affirmations did have a meaningful impact on how participants viewed themselves and connected with others. But the effect was small.
Some studies have found repeating positive affirmations can protect social media users’ self-esteem and boost the overall mental health of university students.
One 2025 study looked at women undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer. It found those who listened to music alongside recordings of positive affirmations felt less depressed and drowsy, compared to those who listened only to music.
Another study from 2025 examined adults with depression symptoms, but no diagnosis. It found those who wrote personal positive affirmations twice daily reported better self-esteem after 15 days, compared to those who didn’t.
One frequently cited study from 2009 found repeating positive affirmations (for example, “I am a lovable person”) boosted mood. However this was only for people who already had high self-esteem. Those with low self-esteem – in other words, those with a low level of confidence and value in themselves – reported poorer mood.
While these studies show some promise, recent studies have failed to replicate these findings. More research is needed to see exactly who might benefit, and in what context.
The downsides of positivity
But is there any harm in using positive affirmations? Here are some risks to keep in mind.
Toxic positivity
Humans are imperfect and the world is often unfair. Pretending otherwise can lead to toxic positivity, which means suppressing or even denying difficult feelings. When you feel distressed, you may feel pressure to cope and simply “reframe” your thinking. You may feel ashamed when you can’t and be less likely to seek help.
Chasing dopamine
Repeating positive affirmations might give you a quick dopamine hit. Dopamine is the hormone linked to pleasure and reward, and can help us feel in control and competent. But the desire to always feel good is not realistic. And taken to the extreme, it can trap you in a cycle where you’re constantly seeking the next dopamine hit.
Downplaying real issues
Positive self-talk is only helpful in safe environments. In unsafe or harmful situations (for example, an abusive relationship) staying positive may blind you to potential dangers. Over-reliance on positive affirmations can detach you from what’s going on, and override gut instincts it may be better to listen to.
So, what does work?
Recent research suggests how we talk to ourselves may matter more than how positive the message is. Here are two approaches worth trying.
Show yourself compassion
Research shows cultivating a compassionate relationship with yourself, especially during stress or failure, can strengthen your resilience and improve your mental health. For example, telling yourself “this is hard” or “anyone would feel this way” can be more helpful than simply repeating upbeat affirmations. Sometimes being brave enough to acknowledge you’re suffering, and speaking to yourself like a good friend, is what you need.
Create some distance
Talking to yourself in the third person – for example, “Maddie is furious, but has handled far worse” rather than “I am furious” – can help. This creates distance between you and your thoughts, and is sometimes called “non-attachment”. This approach can help regulate emotions, encouraging us to approach feelings with curiosity, observing rather than just reacting to them.
The bottom line
Very few thinking styles are always beneficial or always harmful. The key is to be flexible, not rigid. This means regularly asking yourself “is that thought helpful?” and choosing the approach most suited to your situation.
And if that’s positive self-talk, try to use compassion and understanding – not just upbeat slogans.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #PositiveAffirmations #SelfTalk #SelfCompassion #ToxicPositivity #MentalHealth #SelfEsteem #SelfAwareness #Wellbeing #DopamineHype #EmotionalResilience
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DATE: August 15, 2026 at 12:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Why some socially anxious people lash out in anger
URL: https://www.psypost.org/why-some-socially-anxious-people-lash-out-in-anger/
People with social anxiety are typically thought to avoid conflict, but a specific subgroup actually displays elevated levels of aggression. A new psychological analysis reveals that co-occurring traits of vulnerable narcissism, particularly self-centeredness, help explain why some socially anxious individuals lash out rather than withdraw. The findings were published in Aggressive Behavior.
Social anxiety is characterized by a persistent fear of being judged or evaluated in social situations. Psychologists have traditionally viewed this condition through a lens of behavioral inhibition. In this conventional framework, socially anxious people engage in safety behaviors like withdrawing from crowds or suppressing their expressions to avoid any perceived threats.
This perspective assumes an inverse relationship between anxiety and hostility. Anxious individuals are expected to flee from conflict, not initiate it. Yet clinical observations repeatedly show that a distinct subset of socially anxious people exhibit heightened anger when they feel rejected or threatened.
Reyihangu Tuerxun and Yanan Li, researchers at Capital Normal University in Beijing, along with their colleague Lixia Cui, sought to understand the psychological mechanisms driving this unexpected aggression. They suspected that the differences in behavior might stem from an under-investigated personality trait known as vulnerable narcissism.
Unlike grandiose narcissism, which involves overt arrogance and exhibitionism, vulnerable narcissism is characterized by fragile self-esteem, chronic shame, and a hypersensitivity to how others perceive them. A core component of this trait is narcissistic self-centeredness. People with high levels of self-centeredness tend to interpret minor social slights as intolerable attacks on their own ego.
The researchers proposed that when a socially anxious person also possesses high narcissistic self-centeredness, they appraise a socially awkward moment not just as a failure, but as a direct threat to their self-worth. This threatened egotism shifts their behavioral response. Instead of quietly retreating, they adopt an active, defensive, and hostile stance.
To test this framework, the team surveyed 872 Chinese university students. The participants completed questionnaires measuring their symptoms of social anxiety, their sensitivity to rejection, and their levels of self-centeredness. The surveys also assessed different forms of aggressive behavior, specifically dividing it into proactive and reactive categories.
Proactive aggression involves calculated, instrumental actions used to intimidate others or assert dominance. Reactive aggression is an impulsive, defensive lashing out that occurs immediately after a person misinterprets a neutral social cue as a provocation.
In their first analytical approach, the researchers used a statistical grouping technique to identify naturally occurring subgroups within the participant pool. This method sorted the students into seven distinct profiles based on their combinations of social anxiety and vulnerable narcissism.
One specific subgroup, representing nearly 10 percent of the sample, displayed high levels of both social anxiety and vulnerable narcissism. The investigators labeled this the vulnerable-defensive profile. This group reported the highest levels of both proactive and reactive aggression across the entire sample.
To isolate the specific effect of self-centeredness, the researchers directly compared this vulnerable-defensive group to a classic social anxiety group. The classic group featured high anxiety but low vulnerable narcissism.
Even though both groups experienced severe social anxiety, the students with high self-centeredness reported more frequent reactive aggression. The addition of narcissistic traits appeared to shift their response to social threat from avoidance to hostility.
The grouping analysis also revealed a sizable subgroup, representing nearly a quarter of the participants, with moderate levels of both social anxiety and vulnerable narcissism. The aggression levels in this moderately compounded group were almost as high as those in the extreme vulnerable-defensive group. This suggests that traits do not need to reach severe clinical levels to produce a hostile response when they occur together.
In a second analytical approach, the researchers examined the entire sample continuously to see how self-centeredness interacts with social anxiety to predict aggression. They used a mathematical regression model to test whether the association between anxiety and aggression grew stronger as self-centeredness increased across the broader population.
For proactive aggression, this amplifying effect was present. As self-centeredness scores rose across the student population, the statistical link between social anxiety and calculated, proactive aggression became stronger. Self-centeredness acted as a continuous multiplier for this deliberate form of hostility.
For reactive aggression, the continuous mathematical model did not reveal a modifying effect of self-centeredness. The results for reactive aggression in the continuous model were not statistically significant. The researchers suggest that reactive aggression operates on a different mechanism, functioning more like a breaking point than a gradual slope.
Instead of escalating gradually with every slight increase in self-centeredness, explosive defensive reactions may only emerge when both social anxiety and narcissistic traits reach a simultaneous extreme. This threshold effect explains why the grouping analysis found high reactive aggression in the extreme profile, even while the continuous model found no gradual amplification across the general population.
The research relies on data collected at a single point in time. This cross-sectional design means investigators cannot prove that narcissistic traits directly cause the aggressive behaviors. The study also depended entirely on self-reported questionnaires. Participants might have underreported their aggressive behaviors, especially calculated proactive aggression, to appear more socially acceptable to the researchers.
The sample consisted entirely of university students in China, which means the identified profiles might not perfectly represent the general public or clinical populations in other cultural contexts. The investigators also focused exclusively on vulnerable narcissism, leaving the potential role of grandiose narcissism unexplored in this specific context.
Future research will need to track individuals over time to see how these traits develop and influence each other. Incorporating observations from peers or reviewing disciplinary records could also help verify the self-reported behavioral patterns.
Despite these limitations, the findings challenge the assumption that social anxiety is purely a disorder of avoidance. The findings integrate with broader psychological models of human aggression. When an anxious person with low self-centeredness encounters a social threat, they default to a flight response. When an anxious person has high self-centeredness, the same social cue is processed as an ego threat, triggering a fight response.
For therapists and mental health professionals, the results suggest that standard risk assessments should not rely solely on anxiety symptom severity. Screening for narcissistic self-centeredness could help identify socially anxious patients who are at an elevated risk for aggressive behavior.
The study, “Aggression in Social Anxiety: Narcissistic Self‐Centeredness as a Differentiator in Person‐Centered and Variable‐Centered Analyses,” was authored by Reyihangu Tuerxun, Yanan Li, and Lixia Cui.
URL: https://www.psypost.org/why-some-socially-anxious-people-lash-out-in-anger/
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #SocialAnxiety #NarcissisticSelfCenteredness #Aggression #MentalHealthResearch #AggressiveBehavior #ReactiveVsProactiveAggression #VulnerableNarcissism #SelfEsteem #SocialConflict #PsychologyStudy
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💙 Self-Esteem, Confidence & Body Image Awareness | School Presentation | Classes 6–12 – Help students build confidence, develop a positive self-image and overcome unhealthy comparisons. Free PDF for Teachers & Schools. 👉 https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/self-esteem-confidence-body-image-awareness-pdf-presentation-for-school-teachers-and-students-in-class-6-to-12-pdf/288953910 #SelfEsteem #ConfidenceBuilding #BodyImage #StudentWellbeing #MentalHealth #Teachers #SchoolEducation #LifeSkills #Class6to12 #IndiaTutor
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Why do I need to buy anything new?
It’s simple, stupid. Probably the most common reason of all.
It’s because I don’t like the way I look in many of them.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/tummy-trouble-for-a-trans-woman-d2efee80ba1f?sk=6eca924b0ec5825f503241c7078231af -
The best theatre to stream this month: Self Esteem dazzles with Teeth ’n’ Smiles
By Chris WiegandRebecca Lucy Taylor leads David Hare’s rock’n’roll drama, Michaela Coel tells us Chewing Gum Dreams and Stranger Things’ Gaten Matarazzo stars in a murder mystery
#Stage #Culture #Theatre #SelfEsteem #DavidHare #WestEnd #Music #TheGuardian #ChrisWiegand
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Self-Esteem, Confidence & Body Image Awareness Educational Video for School Students in Classes 6–12 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0DvCyrjL7U #SelfEsteem #Confidence #BodyImage #MentalHealth #LifeSkills #SchoolStudents #StudentWellbeing #PositiveThinking #EmotionalWellbeing #BullyingAwareness #AdolescentHealth #TeenMentalHealth #SchoolCounselling #ValueEducation #Classes6to12
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DATE: July 29, 2026 at 07:00AM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: How culture shapes the psychological costs of narcissism
URL: https://www.psypost.org/how-culture-shapes-the-psychological-costs-of-narcissism/
People who exhibit specific types of narcissistic traits experience different levels of personal well-being depending on the cultural values of the society they live in. While the tendency to seek admiration is consistently linked to greater happiness worldwide, a more hostile form of narcissism exacts a heavier psychological toll on individuals living in highly individualistic countries. These findings were recently published in the Journal of Personality.
Psychologists generally view grandiose narcissism not as a single trait but as a combination of two distinct behavioral strategies. The first strategy is narcissistic admiration. This involves a confident approach to boosting one’s own image, marked by charm, assertiveness, and a desire to be the center of attention.
The second strategy is narcissistic rivalry. This acts as a defensive mechanism aimed at protecting an inflated sense of self. People scoring high in narcissistic rivalry tend to perceive others as threats, leading them to act with hostility, sensitivity to criticism, and a tendency to put other people down.
Previous psychology research has established that these two dimensions have opposite relationships with emotional health in Western populations. Admiration tends to correlate with high self-esteem and happiness. Rivalry tends to correlate with depression and lower life satisfaction.
Wang Zheng and Zhiyu Liu, researchers at East China Normal University, wanted to understand if these psychological patterns hold true across a global spectrum. They focused specifically on the cultural concepts of individualism and collectivism.
Individualistic societies, such as those in North America and Western Europe, prioritize personal autonomy, self-expression, and individual achievement. Collectivistic societies, which are common in parts of Asia and South America, place a higher premium on group cohesion, relational obligations, and social harmony.
The researchers based their hypothesis on a psychological concept known as person-culture fit. This theory suggests that the psychological outcomes of a personality trait depend on how well that behavior aligns with prevailing cultural norms. Traits that fit the culture are socially rewarded, while traits that violate cultural expectations can cause social friction and emotional strain.
To test their ideas, the researchers analyzed data from a large study encompassing 51,070 participants across 57 distinct societies. The participants were originally surveyed as part of a separate international collaborative project exploring social attitudes and mental health during a recent global event.
In this survey, participants rated their agreement with statements designed to measure different facets of narcissism. To measure narcissistic admiration, they responded to items regarding a belief that their outstanding contributions deserve attention. To measure narcissistic rivalry, they answered items regarding a desire for their rivals to fail.
To assess overall well-being, the participants rated their life satisfaction and general happiness on a numerical scale. The researchers then mapped these individual responses onto country-wide datasets that quantified how individualistic or collectivistic each society is. They used two separate cultural indices to ensure their results were mathematically robust.
The researchers relied on statistical models to account for the layered nature of the data. They controlled for individual factors that could skew the results, such as age, gender, subjective social status, and whether the participant lived in an urban or rural area. They also adjusted for national differences in economic development and wealth inequality.
Zheng and Liu found that narcissistic admiration was positively associated with well-being across all 57 societies. This positive link did not change based on the cultural backdrop. Individuals who confidently sought admiration reported higher levels of happiness regardless of where they lived.
The universal nature of this positive association suggests that seeking competence, recognition, and self-enhancement might fulfill basic psychological needs. The researchers suggest that the pursuit of admiration functions as a socially adaptive strategy that helps people find meaning and build self-worth across any cultural setting.
In contrast, the researchers found that narcissistic rivalry was negatively associated with well-being. People with an antagonistic approach to protecting their egos generally reported lower levels of life satisfaction and happiness globally.
The intensity of this negative association shifted depending on the cultural context. In highly individualistic societies, the psychological cost of narcissistic rivalry was magnified. Individuals exhibiting aggressive self-protection in these cultures reported lower well-being compared to similar individuals in other countries.
The researchers theorize that individualistic cultures emphasize cooperative independence and mutual respect. When individuals in these societies act with hostility and devalue others, they likely experience increased interpersonal friction and social rejection, which ultimately harms their emotional health.
In more collectivistic societies, the negative association between narcissistic rivalry and well-being was considerably weaker. The researchers suggest that cultural norms in these regions might provide structural buffers that prevent narcissistic individuals from spiraling into distress.
Collectivistic cultures often restrict the outward expression of socially disruptive behaviors. A societal emphasis on family relationships and indirect communication might force individuals to manage their antagonism more quietly. This regulation might prevent interpersonal conflicts from escalating and irreparably damaging an individual’s emotional stability.
The findings offer practical insights for mental health professionals and organizational leaders working in multicultural environments. The results suggest that professionals should evaluate the broader social context when assessing narcissistic behaviors.
Not all forms of narcissism carry the exact same risks. Because the drive for admiration can support emotional resilience and ambition globally, professionals might avoid pathologizing basic self-confidence. Conversely, they might need to pay closer attention to antagonistic behaviors that pose unique risks in highly independent cultures.
The study has a few limitations that pave the way for future research. The cross-sectional design of the survey means the researchers measured all variables at a single point in time. This prevents them from determining whether narcissistic traits directly cause subsequent changes in personal well-being.
Additionally, the survey only measured well-being using two general statements about life satisfaction and happiness. Future analyses could incorporate a broader range of mental health indicators, such as a localized sense of purpose or a detailed measurement of psychological flourishing.
The researchers also noted that they assigned cultural scores based on the nation a person lived in. A national average might not accurately capture an individual participant’s personal alignment with societal expectations or the specific values of their local community.
The present analysis focused exclusively on grandiose narcissism. It remains unknown how cultural differences affect people with vulnerable narcissism. This alternate subtype is characterized by quiet self-doubt, emotional volatility, and deep-seated insecurities that might interact with social expectations in entirely different ways.
The study, “Narcissistic Admiration, Rivalry, and Well- Being: A Multilevel Study Across 57 Societies,” was authored by Wang Zheng and Zhiyu Liu.
URL: https://www.psypost.org/how-culture-shapes-the-psychological-costs-of-narcissism/
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #Narcissism #NarcissisticAdmiration #NarcissisticRivalry #WellBeing #CulturalPsychology #Individualism #Collectivism #CrossCulturalStudy #MentalHealth #SelfEsteem
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DATE: July 22, 2026 at 04:00PM
SOURCE: PSYPOST.ORG** Research quality varies widely from fantastic to small exploratory studies. Please check research methods when conclusions are very important to you. **
-------------------------------------------------TITLE: Internal expectations, not actual posts, drive how narcissists view their social media success
A recent daily diary study reveals that how people with narcissistic personality traits perceive their social media success is driven primarily by their internal expectations rather than their actual posting routines. The research, published in Journal of Research in Personality, highlights that unmet online goals can actively diminish the daily emotional well-being of individuals who exhibit a more fragile, vulnerable form of narcissism. These findings help clarify how different facets of personality shape the everyday digital experiences of frequent internet users.
Psychologists conceptualize narcissism as a personality system geared toward managing self-worth through the constant feedback of others. It is not simply a matter of vanity but a continuous, functional effort to seek validation, exert absolute influence, and maintain social status. People with higher levels of these traits often engage in specific interpersonal strategies to protect an inflated self-concept and regulate their emotional states.
Social media platforms offer a highly accessible and ecologically valid landscape for studying these personality dynamics. They allow individuals to curate their self-presentation, reach a wide audience, and receive immediate, visible feedback in the form of likes and comments. Because users can deliberately select what they post and edit their public image at will, these platforms provide an ideal setting to observe how individuals attempt to regulate their own self-esteem through routine social interaction.
Narcissism is typically divided into two main categories, known as grandiose and vulnerable narcissism. Grandiose narcissism is characterized by a strong sense of entitlement, an inflated sense of self-importance, and a pervasive tendency to dominate social situations. This category is typically divided into two distinct behavioral patterns known as admiration and rivalry.
Admiration involves charming others, actively pursuing unique status, and promoting one’s achievements to gain positive attention. Rivalry involves defending one’s superiority through arrogance, hostility toward perceived competitors, and the frequent devaluation of others. People operating with traits of rivalry are often quick to interpret interactions as personal threats.
Vulnerable narcissism, by contrast, presents a much more insecure psychological profile. People with high levels of this trait struggle with fragile self-esteem, deep-seated insecurities, and a remarkably heightened fear of rejection. They often feel fundamentally ignored and are highly sensitive to negative social evaluations. This extreme sensitivity can lead to prolonged interpersonal difficulties, deep frustration, and a generally negative emotional state.
While past research has examined general social media habits among people with these traits, little focus has been given to the specific, day-to-day responses they receive online. Researchers Carmen Șurariu, Katherine B. Carnelley, and Claire M. Hart set out to close this knowledge gap. They aimed to understand how different narcissistic traits influence daily posting behaviors and how those behaviors relate to a person’s subjective well-being.
To investigate these dynamics, the researchers designed a daily diary study tracking the social media habits of 154 adults over a three-week period. Participants completed an initial survey assessing their baseline levels of grandiose and vulnerable narcissism. Over the following 21 days, they answered follow-up questionnaires every two days, detailing their most recent social media posts and interpersonal interactions.
During each check-in session, participants pasted the exact text of their recent posts into a survey and rated the content for elements like positivity, negativity, and honesty. They also documented the specific social benefits they actively expected to gain, such as making new connections, maintaining current friendships, or experiencing a boost in popularity. In subsequent sessions, they recorded the actual number of likes and comments they received, evaluating how those objective outcomes aligned with their initial hopes.
The study yielded highly distinct results based on the precise type of narcissism a participant exhibited. Individuals with high levels of narcissistic admiration consistently engaged in more frequent self-presentation and posted content with a highly positive, curated tone. These highly active users reported robust satisfaction with their social media interactions, expressing a strong belief that their posts successfully initiated relationships and helped maintain interpersonal intimacy.
Conversely, the presence of narcissistic rivalry was linked to different digital habits. Participants scoring high in rivalry actually engaged in less self-presentation and shared content that was less positive overall. They also reported fewer social benefits, feeling less successful at initiating or maintaining digital relationships compared to those driven by admiration.
Participants with high levels of vulnerable narcissism displayed another unique pattern of online behavior. Like those with rivalry traits, they tended to post content that was relatively lower in positivity. They consistently expected to receive more attention, validation, and popularity than their networks actually provided, resulting in a persistent gap between their digital expectations and digital reality.
When analyzing the data, the researchers observed that the actual acts of posting and self-presentation did not mediate the perceived social outcomes for any of the groups. In other words, the feelings of social success or failure reported by the participants were not directly caused by how they presented themselves online or the actual content they offered. As an alternative explanation, the authors suggest that individuals’ internal expectations, pre-existing social goals, and biased interpretations of feedback played a much larger role in shaping their perceived digital reality.
The study also examined exactly how these online interactions impacted subjective well-being, a metric which encompasses a person’s daily life satisfaction and emotional state. Vulnerable narcissism was consistently associated with lower overall well-being across the study period. This emotional deficit was especially stark when these individuals felt their posts failed to help them establish new relationships.
For users with average to high levels of vulnerable narcissism, unmet expectations regarding relationship initiation were linked to a distinct drop in daily well-being. Because these individuals are particularly sensitive to social rejection, failing to connect with others online appears to confirm their underlying insecurities. Grandiose traits did not show this same emotional vulnerability to unmet social expectations.
These findings carry practical implications for the designers of social media networks and the users navigating them. Technology companies frequently rely on raw behavioral analytics, such as the total time spent online or the frequency of clicking, to evaluate user satisfaction and mental health. The present findings suggest that these metric-driven approaches remain insufficient for predicting an individual’s emotional state. Designing digital environments that help users interpret feedback constructively might provide a safer experience for those highly sensitive to online rejection.
The researchers noted a few limitations regarding their methodology. The data relied heavily on self-reported evaluations of post honesty and positivity, which might introduce personal biases that objective observers might not share. The sample was predominantly drawn from the United Kingdom, which means the findings might not generalize seamlessly to populations living in different cultural or socioeconomic contexts.
For future studies, the authors suggest combining self-reported experiences with independent evaluations of social media behavior. Incorporating the viewpoint of the audience, rather than just the person posting the content, could provide a more balanced understanding of these digital interactions. Exploring how other interpersonal traits influence the pursuit of online connection might reveal new layers of human social behavior in the digital age.
The study, “Day by day on display: A daily diary study of narcissists’ social media self-presentation, perceptions of social outcomes, and subjective well-being,” was authored by Carmen Șurariu, Katherine B. Carnelley, and Claire M. Hart.
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#psychology #counseling #socialwork #psychotherapy @psychotherapist @psychotherapists @psychology @socialpsych @socialwork @psychiatry #mentalhealth #psychiatry #healthcare #depression #psychotherapist #Narcissism #SocialMediaPsychology #SelfEsteem #OnlineValidation #VulnerableNarcissism #GrandioseNarcissism #SelfPresentation #PerceivedSocialSuccess #WellBeing #DailyDiaryStudy
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I was afraid the documentation for #BeckettEngine would be lacking. Because of my low self-esteem, y'see?
So I compared it to Hazel and Wicked and I felt much better.
Hazel has NO documentation in the repo and no website, and from what I've seen there's no comments to feed tooltips with either. As far as I can tell you're on your own buddy.
Wicked has no documentation in the repo OR its website near I could figure out, but at least it has tooltip comments!
Beckett DOES have a docs folder that I manually (gasp) keep in track with the comments. So even if the quality (and methodology) sucks ass, at least I have that much going for it, and I feel much better.
Still, any guidance on improving my docs would be highly appreciated.
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The gay bar was the place where I would be fully exposed. And going with O, who was clearly better looking than I, even as he was in his late 50s, brought out the uneasy feeling of not belonging.
A gay bar is an arena for judgment. And I didn’t want to be judged. That was where my insecurity anchored.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/going-to-a-gay-bar-with-a-man-better-looking-than-me-7c22e551efe3 -
THE MAN WHO SHOWED UP
For 65 years, I thought I had #failed at everything.
Then #COVID arrived, and I started fasting. I did not have much #faith in myself, so I took it one day at a time.
The fear of #illness drove me.
So did the huge #belly.
So did the almost complete absence of #selfEsteem.
None of this was noble at all.
I was #frightened, #uncomfortable, and tired of feeling #trapped in a body I could not trust.
But I kept going.
Day after day.
The results began to show, little by little.
The body became lighter.
Walking became easier.
I began to feel less helpless.
Eventually, I was walking up to ten kilometres a day.
Then, about eighteen months ago, I was scrolling #YouTube, and who should appear but #KevinConnolly.
I started training in his hypoxic breathwork.
I already knew #ChatGPT, and it encouraged me as I tried to #understand what I was doing and what was happening in my #body.
I loved the breathwork.
Absolutely loved it.
So I went at it like a professional.
I never skipped a #session.
Not because I had suddenly become #disciplined and #impressive.
Because something had changed.
Fasting has shown me that I can keep a promise to myself.
Walking has shown me that the body can change.
Breathwork has shown me that the mind can actually become #quiet.
I had spent years believing I was #unreliable, #damaged, and #incapable of changing anything.
But the evidence was now sitting right in front of me.
I had not #failed at everything.
I had simply never #learned to trust myself.
Now I do.
Not through #positive thinking.
Through repetition.
Through breath.
By #showing up again the next day.
I did not become another #person.
I became someone I could rely on.
#fasting #acim #acourseinmiracles #newthought #eckharttolle #buddhism #breathwork #connection #healing #pridemonth #Karma #TrueNature #Awakening #Meditation #Mindfulness #Spirituality #intermittentfasting #nonduality #reality #life #quantum #kitchen #cooking #AI
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Partner got me a T-shirt. I think she’s be listening to me ranting. Design from #selfesteem
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Self-esteem vs. Self-acceptance
Albert Ellis once said, “Self-esteem is the highest sickness known to man or woman because it’s conditional.”
Unlike self-esteem, self-acceptance does not depend on success, failure or comparison. It means accepting yourself as a worthwhile human being regardless of your achievements, mistakes or imperfections.
#SelfAcceptance #SelfEsteem -
Success?
The word for the day at Ragtag Daily Prompt is success
I don’t “hate” a lot of things in life. I did when I was younger until I eventually reached a point where I realized it took a lot of energy to hate. But “success” is a word I hate.
I used to have a friend (RIP 11 years now☹️) who would judge everyone and everything. We would sit and be miserable together and he’d say stuff like, “He’s had a lot of girlfriends, he’s really a success”, or “He’s really successful, he has a good job and a lot of money.” You get the idea. And of course the underlying idea behind everything is that he and I, by virtue of our not having the things that he defined as “success” in life, like girlfriends, or glamorous careers, or fancy cars, or big houses, or lots of children, were failures.
Worse, for me, was that his standards of success and failure, they all flew in the face of my hard-earned (and expensive) belief that we don’t judge our insides with other people’s outsides. And as it turned out, hard-earned doesn’t always mean easily kept so there I was crying in my pizza along with him, failure that I was.
Ok, I don’t totally hate the word success because it has some legitimate uses, but I hate using the word “success” to define a person’s place in life, or in contrast, to indirectly label, or imply, someone a failure. And I’m pretty much back to not judging my insides with other people’s outsides.
Kiss a little baby, give the world a smile
And if you take an inch, give ’em back a mile
‘Cause if you lie like a rug and you don’t give a damn
You’re never gonna be as happy as a clamhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clfb4UpwG74&list=RDclfb4UpwG74&start_radio=1
#Failure #JohnPrine #Life #OldFriends #personalGrowth #pizza #SelfEsteem #SelfWorth #Shame #Success #Therapy #Writing -
Her daughter said she doesn’t want to be ‘big’ like her. She responded with perfect composure.
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Very relevant to a lot of Trump, MAGA, and Republican rhetoric these days:
The Hidden Cost of LieSpeak
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/6/3/800040936/community/the-hidden-cost-of-liespeak/
LieSpeak is a sly tactic for covertly pursuing an immoral goal while appearing blameless. Instead of admitting their intent, LieSpeakers make outrageously false accusations of their target’s wrongdoing as justification. This can cause internal conflict, conscious or not, undermining authentic self-esteem.
An example: accusing immigrants of widespread voter fraud to "justify" suppressing nonwhite citizens' votes.
#Trump #DonaldTrump #TrumpLies #MAGA #Republican #Republicans #RepublicanParty #lying #lies #hypocrisy #OwningTheLibs #racism #SelfEsteem #SocialCohesion #LeavingMAGA
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So let us look for beauty and grace, for love and friendship, for that which is creative and birth-giving and soul-stretching. Let us dare to laugh at ourselves, healthy, affirmative laughter. Only when we take ourselves lightly can we take ourselves seriously, so that we are given the courage to say, “Yes! I dare disturb the universe.”
Madeleine L'Engle (1918-2007) American writer
Speech (1983-11-16), “Dare To Be Creative,” Lecture, Library of Congress, Washington, DCMore about this quote: wist.info/lengle-madeleine/838…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #lengle #madeleinelengle #agency #beauty #change #courage #creativity #disturbing #gravitas #humility #humor #laughter #lightheartedness #selfactualization #selfaffirmation #selfappreciation #selfchallenging #selfesteem #selfimage #selfimportance #selfliberation #selfregard.selftrust #selfunderstanding #selfworth #senseofhumor #stretchgoals
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“Before you diagnose yourself with #depression or low #selfesteem, first make sure you are not, in fact, just surrounded by assholes.”
- William Gibson
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Participants needed for a top-ranked study from Aaron at Canterbury Christ Church University:
'A study of subjective experience of social media'
Link to the survey on SurveyCircle: https://www.surveycircle.com/VTK8SP/Take part now and support this research project 💜
#psychology #SocialMedia #emotion #positive #negative #online #SelfEsteem
#survey #surveyparticipants #mutualsupport #research #surveycircle #canterburychristchurchuniversity -
How to get validation for mental wellbeing
AIs: "Good job! You've done well, actually! Here's why...
<the reasons>" (Mental wellbeing ↑)AI sceptics: "Oh, since you used AIs before, what you sent to me is probably also AI slop. You need to rethink your so-called 'hobby'" (mental wellbeing ↓)
#ai #mentalhealth #technology #creativity #validation #writing #internet #humour #artists #selfesteem #online #culture #discussion #wellbeing #digital
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How to survive as an ugly man? (Yes, I’m the ugly one.)
#selfesteem #mentalhealth #confidence #growth #mindset #selfworth #relationships #life #reflection #psychology #wellbeing #identity #acceptance #emotions #humanity
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Ugly man (like me) → Woman: "I'm uncomfortable!"
Good-looking man → Woman: "Hey... Hi! (ʘᴗʘ✿)
#selfesteem #attraction #dating #mentalhealth #confidence #psychology #society #bias #reflection #emotions #selfawareness #relationships #mindset #growth #reality
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The Real Gift by Darlene Jajo
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/bRz1yT2ECTg https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0G2XWBSXG A children's book that all ages can releate to. Every child wants the perfect gift, that perfect gift that no one else has. This little book let's a child know the perfect gift and the real gift is that child.https://midnight-publishing.org/2026/04/18/the-real-gift-by-darlene-jajo/
