characteristics. For example, those with
Machiavellianism would display manipulative
behaviour towards others. This tendency
to manipulate others may cause those with
Machiavellian characteristics to look at other people’s
Facebook profiles to see what activities other
individuals may be involved in. This focus on other
peoples’ activities would allow the individual to see
whether other people possess characteristics or
materials that are important to the individual (such as
wealth and status). Therefore, allowing the individual
to see if that person is worth manipulating. As a
result of observing others Facebook profiles for these
desirable materials, the participants score for the
Facebook Surveillance scale would increase.
This manipulative characteristic shown in those with
Machiavellianism could help explain why research
such as Moroz et al found a positive correlation
between Machiavellianism and break-up distress
(Moroz et al, 2018). This is due to some research
suggesting that couples who break up, unfriend
their ex-partner on Facebook (Gershon, 2010).
As a result of the individual being unfriended by
their ex-partner, they would no longer have access
to their ex-partners Facebook profile. As a result
of this, since they would no longer be able to see
their ex-partners activity through looking at their
profile (Facebook Surveillance), the individual will
have greater difficulties manipulating them. This
is due to the individual being unaware of what
activities the ex-partner is doing, so the individual
is unable to influence any activities the ex-partner
may be doing. Therefore, this sudden increase in
difficulty to manipulate others would go against their
Machiavellian characteristics. As a result, causing
discomfort for the individual that leads to them
becoming distressed. Therefore, supporting the idea
that Facebook Surveillance may be a factor in why
those with Machiavellianism have a greater chance of
experiencing break-up distress.
The study conducted offers the first insight into how
aspects of the Dark Triad can influence Facebook
Surveillance. The findings of this research are
applicable to everyday life as some characteristics of
the Dark Triad such as Machiavellianism, have been
found to be associated with cybertrolling (Kircaburun,
Jonason & Griffiths, 2018). Since Machiavellianism
is linked to both Facebook Surveillance and
cybertrolling, and cybertrolling is a form of
cyberbullying, a link could be suggested to exist
between Facebook Surveillance and cyberbullying.
Therefore, children with Facebook who score highly
on Dark triad characteristics such as Machiavellianism
could be given information about what cyberbullying
is and what the negative impacts are for individuals.
Therefore, helping to prevent the occurrence of
cyberbullying on Facebook in younger children.
However, whilst the study conducted does provide
support for Dark Triad characteristics against
Facebook Surveillance, the study itself does have
a few limitations. For instance, a problem with the
study was that the NPI-13 scale does not measure
for other forms of narcissism such as vulnerable
narcissism. This is due to the NPI-13 being a brief
summary of the NPI-40, resulting in a less in-depth
analysis of the narcissistic characteristics. Therefore,
research such as Gentile et al suggests that future
research that attempts to use the NPI-13 may wish
to accompany this scale with another scale such as
the Psychological Entitlement Scale (PES) (Gentile
et al, 2013). Therefore, this change would result in
the study providing more reliable data as the scales
measuring the different characteristics would be more
in depth.
Furthermore, although the study uses categories
from the Dark Triad, this model is not an agreed upon
concept for all. For instance, some research such as
Mededovic and Petrovic supports the idea that the
Dark triad should include aspects such as sadism to
form the Dark Tetrad (Mededovic & Petrovic, 2015).
This research is relevant as it suggests that similarities
exist between each of the characteristics of the Dark
Triad and Sadism. Therefore, it could be suggested
that it may be aspects of this overlap between
characteristics of the Dark Triad and sadism that
influences the Facebook Surveillance. Thus, future
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