I don’t think that’s the only purpose. It’s also to become familiar to people. If people frequently see your picture, you feel familiar to them. That’s easier with a picture where you are easy to recognise. That means a profile picture that doesn’t show much more than your face and thus doesn’t leave much room for personality signaling.
This theory does not survive cursory browsing of Facebook profile pics. We visually express personality mainly through the face. A profile picture that doesn’t show much more than your face still has all of that room for personality.
This theory does not survive cursory browsing of Facebook profile pics. We visually express personality mainly through the face.
It depends what you mean with expressing personality. A facebook photo that shows you engaging in a certain hobby does show a certain value of your personality. Face only pictures don’t have much room for that.
I don’t think that’s the only purpose. It’s also to become familiar to people. If people frequently see your picture, you feel familiar to them. That’s easier with a picture where you are easy to recognise. That means a profile picture that doesn’t show much more than your face and thus doesn’t leave much room for personality signaling.
This theory does not survive cursory browsing of Facebook profile pics. We visually express personality mainly through the face. A profile picture that doesn’t show much more than your face still has all of that room for personality.
It depends what you mean with expressing personality. A facebook photo that shows you engaging in a certain hobby does show a certain value of your personality. Face only pictures don’t have much room for that.