Thursday, December 27, 2018

Why do humans change behavior when cameras focus on them?

Having attended the Orlando Magic game last night, I noticed whenever one of the in-staduim, television cameras focused on an individual, the individual would, all of sudden, change his or her facial expressions and body language. This sudden change ranged from pointing at the overhead LED stadium display, to filming themselves with their smartphone, to dancing and singing, and other extreme demonstrations of garning more attention. But why? Do all humans need attention from other humans?

Is it because they have never been on television or an LED dispay? Or perhaps they are attempting gain more attention than the previous individual who was just displayed by camera? What if it is a product of a bigger issue such as attention gathering on social media. I tentatively call this phenomenon, cybernarcissim. Cybernarcissim is the result of individuals attempting to garner attention from the online self-promotion of themselves via selfies, videos, textual posts, etc.

In considering an oppposite perspective, one individual during last night's game hid her face once she realized she was on display in the stadium. The individual was a small young girl sitting in between her parents. From this observation, one may assume her resistance to self-promoting herself because she has not been exposed to online social media because of her age. Another argument is that she has a shy personality-type. Whether shy or too young for social media, not all individuals have the need to self-promote which I find quite interesting for continued research on human behavior and narcisstic traits.

--Corey