12 Rahman Institute of Higher Education Journal of Modern Psychology Research Paper: The Role of Psychological Needs and Dark Triad Traits of Personality in Selfie-taking Behavior Hassan Soleimani Rad 1* , Abbas Abolghasemi 2 1 M.A. in Psychology, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran. 2 Professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran. Citation: Soleimani Rad, H., & Abolghasemi, A. (2021). The Role of Psychological Needs and Dark Triad Traits of Personality in Selfie-taking Behavior. Journal of Modern Psychology, 1(2), 12-25. https://doi.org/10.22034/JMP.2021.314664.1020 https://doi.org/10.22034/JMP.2021.314664.1020 Article info: Received date: 12 Nov. 2020 Accepted date: 03 Mar. 2021 Abstract The spread of the selfie phenomenon and sending it to virtual social networks can be due to various causes and contexts, including psychological and personality factors. There is limited and conflicting research evidence in this area that requires further research. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the role of psychological needs and dark triad traits of personality in selfie- taking behavior. The present study is a causal-comparative study. A total of 300 students (in the age range of 18 to 30 years) are selected by cluster sampling from the faculties of Guilan University. They responded to a researcher-made selfie checklist, the General Health Questionnaire, the Maslow's Needs Questionnaire, and the dark triad traits Scale. Finally, data from 202 participants (103 female students) are analyzed. The multivariate analysis of variance reveals that the two groups of selfie-taker and non-selfie-taker are significantly different in psychological needs, including safety, belonging, and esteem and personality traits, including narcissism and Machiavellianism. It seems that the needs of unsatisfied safety, belonging, and esteem and the traits of narcissism and Machiavellianism can justify the phenomenon of taking selfies and sending them on virtual social networks. Keywords: Personality Traits, Psychological Needs, Selfie- taking * Corresponding author: Hassan Soleimani Rad Address: University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran. Tel: +98 (914) 9413001 E-mail: h.soleimanirad@outlook.com © 2021, The Author(s). Published by Rahman Institute of Higher Education. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)