Facebook profiles actually capture a person's true personality, instead of an idealized virtual identity, U.S. researchers say.

"In fact, our findings suggest that online social networkingprofiles convey rather accurate images of the profile owners, either because people aren't trying to look good or because they are trying and failing to pull it off."

In the study Gosling and colleagues collected 236 profiles of U.S. and German college-age people. The researchers used questionnaires to assess the profile owners' actual personality characteristics as well as their ideal-personality traits -- how they wished to be. Observers rated the profiles of people they did not know. These ratings were then compared to the profile owners' actual personality and their ideal-personality

Tags: facebook, social networking, personality, research psychology,

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