Attitude to the image of the Instagram user and the dark triad

The development of social network sites (SNS) entails expanded opportunities for self-presentation and changes in interpersonal interactions. The social network platform Instagram, focused on the visual presentation of information and images of users, provides a variety of opportunities for their self-presentation. Active research established that the specifics of the manifestation of realistic and false self-presentation in social networks is related to social anxiety, attention and admiration seeking, and idealization of the authentic self. The connection between self-presentation and personality traits, in particular, with the Dark Triad symptom complex (Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy) is most clearly manifested for narcissism as a search for admiration from others. At the same time, the question of how other people perceive the image of the SNS user remains open. In this study we assessed the images of a user of the social networking service Instagram according to the characteristics of self-presentation (attractiveness, realism, desire to impress, and demonstrativeness); attitude components (cognitive, emotional, and behavioral) and Dark Triad traits of the study participants. Attitude components are positively associated with attractiveness and realism of the image on the social network but did not show any connection with the desire to impress and demonstrativeness. The traits of the Dark Triad, on the contrary, raise doubts about the realism of the presented image, which can be considered as a predisposition to recognize deception on social networking sites. Narcissism reduces while psychopathy increases the evaluation of Instagram users’ desire to impress others. Machiavellianism and psychopathy negatively contribute to the attitude toward the Instagram user and evaluation of their self-presentation. However, the Dark Triad features also lead to an underestimation of the intellectual and emotional characteristics of the other. As a result, this decreases the desire to interact with them, which probably reduces the likelihood of positive responses in the SNS.