Edited Pictures in Social Network and Borderline Personality Organization: Focusing on Shame, Guilt, Social Comparison, and Body Image

Abstract

The habit to share edited pictures through social networks have been reported in young people and associated to psychological vulnerabilities. The research addresses the effects of the exposure to edited pictures on guilt, shame, social comparison tendencies, body image dissatisfaction. Moreover, the study assesses the mediating role of borderline organization on perceived identification and attractiveness in edited and original personal pictures.

We asked seventy young women to rate perceived identification and attractiveness in their original and edited pictures. Subjects report higher identification in the original picture compared to the edited ones; attractiveness does not change between original and edited pictures, but high identification in edited ones negatively affects the score of attractiveness in original versions. They report negative associations between the level of identification and attractiveness in the original picture and dysphoria, guilt and body image. Identification and attractiveness in personal pictures are influenced by psychological vulnerabilities. Eventually, borderline organization features mediate the association between guilt and body image satisfaction with identification and attractiveness respectively. Furthermore, psychopathological features might affect individual self-perception and behavior in social network.