Narcissistic
personality disorder (NPD) is a personality disorder, characterized by
exaggerated feelings of self-importance, an excessive need for
admiration, and a ...
Narcissism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Narcissism is the pursuit of gratification from
vanity or
egotistic admiration of one's own attributes. The term originated from
Greek mythology, where the young
Narcissus fell in love with his own image reflected in a pool of water.
Narcissism is a concept in
psychoanalytic theory, which was popularly introduced in
Sigmund Freud's essay
On Narcissism (1914). The
American Psychiatric Association has had the classification
narcissistic personality disorder in its
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) since 1968, drawing on the historical concept of
megalomania.
Narcissism is also considered a social or cultural problem. It is a factor in
trait theory used in various
self-report inventories of personality
[1] such as the
Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory. It is one of the three
dark triadic personality traits (the others being
psychopathy and
Machiavellianism).
Except in the sense of
primary narcissism or
healthy self-love,
narcissism is usually considered a problem in a person's or group's
relationships with self and others. Narcissism is not the same as
egocentrism.
History
The term "narcissism" comes from the Greek myth about
Narcissus (
Greek:
Νάρκισσος,
Narkissos), a handsome Greek youth who, according to
Ovid, rejected the desperate advances of the nymph
Echo.
These advances eventually led Narcissus to fall in love with his own
reflection in a pool of water. Unable to consummate his love, Narcissus
"lay gazing enraptured into the pool, hour after hour," and finally
changed into a flower that bears his name, the
narcissus.
[2][not in citation given]
The concept of excessive selfishness has been recognized throughout history. In ancient Greece the concept was understood as
hubris. It is only more recently that narcissism has been defined in psychological terms.
[citation needed]
- In 1752 Jean-Jacques Rousseau's play Narcissus: or the Self-Admirer was performed in Paris.[citation needed]
- In 1898 Havelock Ellis,
an English psychologist, used the term "Narcissus-like" in reference to
excessive masturbation, whereby the person becomes his or her own sex
object[3]
- In 1899, Paul Näcke was the first person to use the term "narcissism" in a study of sexual perversions.[citation needed]
- Otto Rank
in 1911 published the first psychoanalytical paper specifically
concerned with narcissism, linking it to vanity and self-admiration.[3]
- Sigmund Freud published a paper on narcissism in 1914 called "On Narcissism: An Introduction".[4]
- In 1923, Martin Buber published an essay "Ich und Du" (I and You), in which he pointed out that our narcissism often leads us to relate to others as objects instead of as equals.[citation needed]
Traits and signs
Life is a stage, and when the curtain falls upon an act, it is
finished and forgotten. The emptiness of such a life is beyond
imagination.
[5]
“
”
—Alexander Lowen, describing
the existence of a narcissist
Four dimensions of narcissism as a personality variable have been
delineated: leadership/authority, superiority/arrogance,
self-absorption/self-admiration, and exploitativeness/entitlement.
[6]
A 2012 book on power-hungry narcissists suggests that narcissists
typically display most, and sometimes all, of the following traits:
[7]
These criteria have been criticized because they presume a knowledge of intention (for example, the phrase "pretending to be").
[8]
Behavior is observable, but intention is not. Thus classification
requires assumptions which need to be tested before they can be asserted
as fact, especially considering multiple explanations could be made as
to why a person exhibits these behaviors.
Hotchkiss' seven deadly sins of narcissism
Hotchkiss identified what she called the seven deadly sins of narcissism:
[9]
- Shamelessness: Shame is the feeling that lurks beneath all unhealthy narcissism, and the inability to process shame in healthy ways.
- Magical thinking: Narcissists see themselves as perfect, using distortion and illusion known as magical thinking. They also use projection to dump shame onto others.
- Arrogance: A narcissist who is feeling deflated may reinflate by diminishing, debasing, or degrading somebody else.
- Envy: A narcissist may secure a sense of superiority in the face of another person's ability by using contempt to minimize the other person.
- Entitlement:
Narcissists hold unreasonable expectations of particularly favorable
treatment and automatic compliance because they consider themselves
special. Failure to comply is considered an attack on their superiority,
and the perpetrator is considered an "awkward" or "difficult" person.
Defiance of their will is a narcissistic injury that can trigger narcissistic rage.
- Exploitation:
Can take many forms but always involves the exploitation of others
without regard for their feelings or interests. Often the other person
is in a subservient position where resistance would be difficult or even
impossible. Sometimes the subservience is not so much real as assumed.
- Bad boundaries:
Narcissists do not recognize that they have boundaries and that others
are separate and are not extensions of themselves. Others either exist
to meet their needs or may as well not exist at all. Those who provide narcissistic supply
to the narcissist are treated as if they are part of the narcissist and
are expected to live up to those expectations. In the mind of a
narcissist, there is no boundary between self and other.
Clinical and research aspects
Narcissistic personality disorder
Narcissistic personality disorder affects an estimated 1% of the general population.
[10][11]
Although most individuals have some narcissistic traits, high levels of narcissism can manifest themselves in a
pathological
form as narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), whereby the patient
overestimates his or her abilities and has an excessive need for
admiration and affirmation. A revision of NPD took place in the DSM 5.
In this revision, NPD saw dramatic changes to its definition. The
general move towards a dimensional (personality trait-based) view of the
Personality Disorders has been maintained.
Some may have a limited or minimal capability of experiencing emotions.
[12]
Healthy narcissism
Healthy narcissism is a structural truthfulness of the self,
[clarification needed] achievement of self and object constancy,
[clarification needed] synchronization between the self and the
superego and a balance between
libidinal and aggressive drives
(the ability to receive gratification from others and the drive for
impulse expression). Healthy narcissism forms a constant, realistic
self-interest and mature goals and principles and an ability to form
deep
object relations.
[13] A feature related to healthy narcissism is the feeling of
greatness. This is the antithesis of insecurity or inadequacy.
A required element within normal development
Healthy narcissism might exist in all individuals.
Freud says that this is an original state from which the individual develops the love object.
[qualify evidence] He argues that healthy narcissism is an essential part of normal development.
[4]
According to Freud the love of the parents for their child and their
attitude toward their child could be seen as a revival and reproduction
of their own narcissism.
[4] The child has an
omnipotence
of thought; the parents stimulate that feeling because in their child
they see the things that they have never reached themselves. Compared to
neutral observations, the parents tend to overvalue the qualities of
their child. When parents act in an extreme opposite style and the child
is rejected or inconsistently reinforced depending on the mood of the
parent, the self-needs of the child are not met.
[citation needed]
Karen Horney
saw the narcissistic personality as the product of a certain kind of
early environment molding a certain kind of temperament. She did not see
narcissistic needs and tendencies as inherent in human nature.
[14] Craig Malkin calls a lack of healthy narcissism "echoism" after
the nypmh Echo in the mythology of Narcissus.
[15]
In relation to the pathological condition
Healthy narcissism has to do with a strong feeling of "own love"
protecting the human being against illness. Eventually, however, the
individual must love the other, "the object love to not become ill." The
individual becomes ill as a result of the frustration created when he
is unable to love the object.
[16] In pathological narcissism such as the
narcissistic personality disorder, the person’s libido has been withdrawn from objects in the world and produces
megalomania. The clinical theorists
Kernberg,
Kohut and
Millon
all see pathological narcissism as a possible outcome in response to
unempathic and inconsistent early childhood interactions. They suggested
that narcissists try to compensate in adult relationships.
[17] The pathological condition of narcissism is, as Freud suggested, a magnified, extreme manifestation of healthy narcissism.
With regard to the condition of healthy narcissism, it is suggested that this is correlated with good psychological health.
Self-esteem
works as a mediator between narcissism and psychological health.
Therefore, because of their elevated self-esteem, deriving from
self-perceptions of competence and likability, high narcissists are
relatively free of worry and gloom.
[18]
Other researchers suggested that healthy narcissism cannot be seen as
‘good’ or ‘bad’; however, it depends on the contexts and outcomes being
measured. In certain social contexts such as initiating social
relationships, and with certain outcome variables, such as feeling good
about oneself, healthy narcissism can be helpful. In other contexts,
such as maintaining long-term relationships and with other outcome
variables, such as accurate self-knowledge, healthy narcissism can be
unhelpful.
[19]
Commonly used measures
Narcissistic Personality Inventory
The Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) is the most widely used
measure of narcissism in social psychological research. Although several
versions of the NPI have been proposed in the literature, a forty-item
forced-choice version (Raskin & Terry, 1988) is the one most
commonly employed in current research. The NPI is based on the
DSM-III
clinical criteria for narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), although
it was designed to measure these features in the general population.
Thus, the NPI is often said to measure "normal" or "subclinical"
(borderline) narcissism (i.e., in people who score very high on the NPI
do not necessarily meet criteria for diagnosis with NPD).
The Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory
The Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI) is a widely used diagnostic test developed by
Theodore Millon. The MCMI includes a scale for Narcissism. Auerbach compared the NPI and MCMI and found them well correlated,
r(146) = 0.55,
p < 0.001.
[20]
It should be noted that whereas the MCMI measures narcissistic
personality disorder (NPD), the NPI measures narcissism as it occurs in
the general population. In other words, the NPI measures "normal"
narcissism; i.e., most people who score very high on the NPI do not have
NPD. Indeed, the NPI does not capture any sort of narcissism taxon as
would be expected if it measured NPD.
[21]
Empirical studies
Within psychology, there are two main branches of research into
narcissism: clinical and social psychology. These approaches differ in
their view of narcissism, with the former treating it as a disorder,
thus as discrete, and the latter treating it as a personality trait,
thus as a continuum. These two strands of research tend loosely to stand
in a divergent relation to one another, although they converge in
places.
Campbell and Foster (2007)
[22] review the literature on narcissism. They argue that narcissists possess the following "basic ingredients":
- Positive: Narcissists think they are better than others.[23]
- Inflated: Narcissists' views tend to be contrary to reality.
In measures that compare self-report to objective measures, narcissists'
self-views tend to be greatly exaggerated.[24]
- Agentic: Narcissists’ views tend to be most exaggerated in the agentic domain, relative to the communion domain.[clarification needed][23][24]
- Special: Narcissists perceive themselves to be unique and special people.[25]
- Selfish: Research upon narcissists’ behaviour in resource dilemmas supports the case for narcissists as being selfish.[26]
- Oriented toward success: Narcissists are oriented towards success by being, for example, approach oriented.[clarification needed][27]
Narcissists tend to demonstrate a lack of interest in warm and caring interpersonal relationships.
[22]
There are several ongoing controversies within narcissism literature,
namely: whether narcissism is healthy or unhealthy; a personality
disorder; a discrete or continuous variable; defensive or offensive; the
same across genders; the same across cultures; and changeable or
unchangeable.
Campbell and Foster (2007) argue that
self-regulatory strategies are of paramount importance to understanding narcissism.
[22]
Self-regulation in narcissists involves such things as striving to make
one’s self look and feel positive, special, successful and important.
It comes in both intra-psychic, such as blaming a situation rather than
self for failure, and interpersonal forms, such as using a relationship
to serve one’s own self. Some differences in self-regulation between
narcissists and non-narcissists can be seen with Campbell, Reeder,
Sedikides & Elliot (2000)
[28]
who conducted a study with two experiments. In each experiment,
participants took part in an achievement task, following which they were
provided with false feedback; it was either bogus success or failure.
The study found that both narcissists and non-narcissists self-enhanced,
but non-narcissists showed more flexibility in doing so. Participants
were measured on both a comparative and a non-comparative
self-enhancement
strategy. Both narcissists and non-narcissists employed the
non-comparative strategy similarly; however, narcissists were found to
be more self-serving with the comparative strategy, employing it far
more than non-narcissists, suggesting a greater rigidity in their
self-enhancement. When narcissists receive negative feedback that
threatens the self, they self-enhance at all costs, but non-narcissists
tend to have limits.
Sorokowski et al. (2015) showed that narcissism is related to the frequency of posting
selfie-type pictures on social media. This relationship was stronger among men than women.
[29]
Heritability of narcissism utilizing twin studies
Livesley et al. concluded, in agreement with other studies, that
narcissism as measured by a standardized test was a common inherited
trait.
[30]
Additionally, in similar agreement with those other studies, it was
found that there exists a continuum between normal and disordered
personality.
The study subjects were 175 volunteer twin pairs (ninety identical,
eighty-five fraternal) drawn from the general population. Each twin
completed a questionnaire that assessed eighteen dimensions of
personality disorder. The authors estimated the
heritability of each dimension of personality by standard methods, thus providing estimates of the relative contributions of
genetic and
environmental causation.
Of the eighteen personality dimensions, narcissism was found to have the highest heritability (0.64), indicating that the
concordance of this trait in the
identical twins
was significantly influenced by genetics. Of the other dimensions of
personality, only four were found to have heritability coefficients of
greater than 0.5:
callousness, identity problems, oppositionality and social avoidance.
Stigmatising attitude of narcissists to psychiatric illness
Arikan found that a
stigmatising attitude to
psychiatric patients is associated with narcissistic personality traits.
[31]
Narcissism in evolutionary psychology
The concept of narcissism is used in
evolutionary psychology in relation to the mechanisms of
assortative mating, or the non-random choice of a partner for purposes of procreation.
Evidence for assortative mating among humans is well established;
humans mate assortatively regarding age, IQ, height, weight,
nationality, educational and occupational level, physical and
personality characteristics, and family relatedness.
[32]
In the "self seeking like" hypothesis, individuals unconsciously look
for a mirror image of themselves in others, seeking criteria of beauty
or reproductive fitness in the context of self-reference.
Alvarez et al. found that facial resemblance between couples was a
strong driving force among the mechanisms of assortative mating: human
couples resemble each other significantly more than would be expected
from random pair formation.
[33]
Since facial characteristics are known to be inherited, the "self
seeking like" mechanism may enhance reproduction between genetically
similar mates, favoring the stabilization of genes supporting social
behavior, with no kin relationship among them.
Narcissistic supply
Narcissistic supply is a concept introduced into
psychoanalytic theory by
Otto Fenichel in 1938, to describe a type of
admiration,
interpersonal support or sustenance drawn by an individual from his or her environment and essential to their
self-esteem.
[34]
The term is typically used in a negative sense, describing a pathological or excessive need for attention or admiration in
codependents and the orally fixated, that does not take into account the feelings, opinions or preferences of other people.
Narcissistic rage and narcissistic injury
Narcissistic rage is a reaction to narcissistic injury, which is a perceived threat to a narcissist's
self-esteem or self-worth.
Narcissistic injury (or
narcissistic scar) is a phrase used by
Sigmund Freud in the 1920s;
narcissistic wound and
narcissistic blow are further, almost interchangeable terms.
[35] The term
narcissistic rage was coined by
Heinz Kohut in 1972.
Narcissistic rage occurs on a continuum from instances of aloofness,
and expression of mild irritation or annoyance, to serious outbursts,
including violent attacks.
[36] Narcissistic rage reactions are not limited to
personality disorders and may be also seen in
catatonic,
paranoid delusion and depressive episodes.
[36]
It has also been suggested that narcissists have two layers of rage.
The first layer of rage can be thought of as a constant anger (towards
someone else), with the second layer being a self-aimed wrath.
[37]
Narcissistic defences
Narcissistic defences are those processes whereby the idealized aspects of the self are preserved, and its limitations denied.
[38] They tend to be rigid and totalistic.
[39] They are often driven by feelings of
shame and
guilt, conscious or unconscious.
[40]
Narcissistic abuse
Narcissistic abuse is a term that emerged in the late twentieth
century, and became more prominent in the early 21st century because of
the works of
Alice Miller and other
Neo-Freudians, rejecting psychoanalysis as being similar to the
poisonous pedagogies.
[41] Miller used "narcissistic abuse" to refer to a specific form of
emotional abuse of children by what she considered
narcissistic parents
– parents who require the child to give up their own wants and feelings
in order to serve the parent's needs for esteem, which constitutes
narcissistic abuse.
[42] The term has also come to be used more widely to refer to forms of
abuse in adult relationships on the part of the narcissist.
Self-help culture currently assumes that someone abused by narcissistic parenting as a child likely struggles with
codependency
issues in adulthood. An adult who is or has been in a relationship with
a narcissist likely struggles with not knowing what constitutes a
"normal" relationship.
Types
Masterson's subtypes (exhibitionist and closet)
In 1993,
James F. Masterson proposed two categories for pathological narcissism,
exhibitionist and
closet.
[43]
Both fail to adequately develop an age- and phase- appropriate self
because of defects in the quality of psychological nurturing provided,
usually by the mother. The exhibitionist narcissist is the one described
in
DSM-IV and differs from the closet narcissist in several important ways.
The closet narcissist is more likely to be described as having a
deflated, inadequate self-perception and greater awareness of emptiness
within. The exhibitionist narcissist would be described as having an
inflated, grandiose self-perception with little or no conscious
awareness of the emptiness within. Such a person would assume that this
condition was normal and that others were just like him.
The closet narcissist seeks constant approval from others and appears similar to the
borderline in the need to please others. The exhibitionist narcissist seeks perfect admiration all the time from others.
Millon's variations
Theodore Millon identified five variations of narcissist.
[10] Any individual narcissist may exhibit none or one of the following:
Other forms
Acquired situational narcissism
Acquired situational narcissism (ASN) is a form of narcissism that
develops in late adolescence or adulthood, brought on by wealth, fame
and the other trappings of
celebrity. It was coined by
Robert B. Millman, professor of
psychiatry at the
Weill Cornell Medical College of
Cornell University.
ASN differs from conventional narcissism in that it develops after
childhood and is triggered and supported by the celebrity-obsessed
society. Fans, assistants and tabloid media all play into the idea that
the person really is vastly more important than other people, triggering
a narcissistic problem that might have been only a tendency, or latent,
and helping it to become a full-blown personality disorder. "Millman
says that what happens to celebrities is that they get so used to people
looking at them that they stop looking back at other people."
[44]
In its presentation and symptoms, it is indistinguishable from
narcissistic personality disorder,
differing only in its late onset and its support by large numbers of
others. "The lack of social norms, controls, and of people telling them
how life really is, also makes these people believe they're
invulnerable,"
[45] so that the person with ASN may suffer from unstable relationships, substance abuse and erratic behaviour.
A famous fictional character with ASN is
Norma Desmond, the main character of
Sunset Boulevard.
Codependency
Main article:
Codependency
Codependency is a tendency to behave in overly passive or excessively
caretaking ways that negatively impact one's relationships and quality
of life. Narcissists are considered to be natural magnets for the
codependent. Rappoport identifies codependents of narcissists as
"co-narcissists".
[46]
Collective or group narcissism
Collective narcissism (or group narcissism) is a type of narcissism where an individual has an inflated
self-love of his or her own
ingroup, where an "ingroup" is a group in which an individual is personally involved.
[47]
While the classic definition of narcissism focuses on the individual,
collective narcissism asserts that one can have a similar excessively
high opinion of a group, and that a group can function as a narcissistic
entity.
[47] Collective narcissism is related to
ethnocentrism;
however, ethnocentrism primarily focuses on self-centeredness at an
ethnic or cultural level, while collective narcissism is extended to any
type of ingroup beyond just cultures and ethnicities.
[47][48]
Conversational narcissism
Conversational narcissism is a term used by sociologist
Charles Derber in his book,
The Pursuit of Attention: Power and Ego in Everyday Life.
Derber observed that the social support system in America is
relatively weak, and this leads people to compete mightily for
attention. In social situations, they tend to steer the
conversation
away from others and toward themselves. "Conversational narcissism is
the key manifestation of the dominant attention-getting psychology in
America," he wrote. "It occurs in informal conversations among friends,
family and coworkers. The profusion of popular literature about
listening and the etiquette of managing those who talk constantly about
themselves suggests its pervasiveness in everyday life."
What Derber describes as "conversational narcissism" often occurs
subtly rather than overtly because it is prudent to avoid being judged
an egotist.
Derber distinguishes the "shift-response" from the
"support-response," as in the following two hypothetical conversation
fragments:
- John: I'm feeling really starved.
- Mary: Oh, I just ate. (shift-response)
- John: I'm feeling really starved.
- Mary: When was the last time you ate? (support-response)
Cultural narcissism
In
The Culture of Narcissism,
Christopher Lasch defines a narcissistic culture as one where every activity and relationship is defined by the
hedonistic need to acquire the symbols of wealth,
[49] this becoming the only expression of rigid, yet covert, social
hierarchies. It is a culture where
liberalism only exists insofar as it serves a consumer society, and even
art,
sex and
religion lose their liberating power.
In such a society of constant competition, there can be no allies,
and little transparency. The threats to acquisitions of social symbols
are so numerous, varied and frequently incomprehensible, that
defensiveness, as well as competitiveness, becomes a way of life. Any
real sense of community is undermined—or even destroyed—to be replaced
by virtual equivalents that strive, unsuccessfully, to synthesize a
sense of community.
Destructive narcissism
Destructive narcissism is the constant exhibition of numerous and intense characteristics usually associated with the
pathological narcissist but having fewer characteristics than pathological narcissism.
[50]
Malignant narcissism
Malignant narcissism, a term first coined in a book by
Erich Fromm in 1964,
[51] is a
syndrome consisting of a cross breed of the
narcissistic personality disorder, the
antisocial personality disorder, as well as
paranoid
traits. The malignant narcissist differs from one suffering from
narcissistic personality disorder in that the malignant narcissist
derives higher levels of psychological
gratification
from accomplishments over time (thus worsening the disorder). Because
the malignant narcissist becomes more involved in this psychological
gratification, in the context of the right conditions, the narcissist is
apt to develop the
antisocial, the
paranoid, and the
schizoid personality disorders. The term
malignant is added to the term
narcissist
to indicate that individuals with this disorder have a powerful form of
narcissism that has made them ill in the forms of paranoid and
anti-social traits.
Medical narcissism
Medical narcissism is a term coined by John Banja in his book,
Medical Errors and Medical Narcissism.
[52][53]
Banja defines "medical narcissism" as the need of health professionals to preserve their
self-esteem leading to the compromise of error disclosure to patients.
In the book he explores the psychological, ethical and legal effects
of medical errors and the extent to which a need to constantly assert
their competence can cause otherwise capable, and even exceptional,
professionals to fall into narcissistic traps.
He claims that:
...most health professionals (in fact, most professionals of any ilk)
work on cultivating a self that exudes authority, control, knowledge,
competence and respectability. It's the narcissist in us all—we dread
appearing stupid or incompetent.
Narcissism in the workplace
Narcissism as a personality trait, generally assessed with the
Narcissistic Personality Inventory, is related to behavior in the workplace. For example, individuals high on narcissism are more likely to engage in
counterproductive work behavior (CWB, behavior that harms organizations or other people in the workplace).
[54]
Although individuals high on narcissism might engage in more aggressive
(and counterproductive) behaviors, they mainly do so when their
self-esteem is threatened.
[55] Thus narcissistic employees are more likely to engage in CWB when they feel threatened.
[56]
Individuals high in narcissism have fragile self-esteem and are easily
threatened. One study found that employees who are high on narcissism
are more likely to perceive the behaviors of others in the workplace as
abusive and threatening than individuals who are low on narcissism.
[57]
The narcissistic manager will have two main sources of
narcissistic supply: inanimate –
status symbols like cars, gadgets or office views; and animate –
flattery and
attention from colleagues and subordinates.
[58]
Teammates may find everyday offers of support swiftly turn them into
enabling sources of permanent supply, unless they are very careful to
maintain proper boundaries.
[59] The need to protect such supply networks will prevent the narcissistic managers from taking objective decisions;
[60] while long-term strategies will be evaluated according to their potential for attention-gaining for the manager themself.
[61]
Organizational psychologist
Alan Downs wrote a book in 1997 describing corporate narcissism.
[62] He explores high-profile corporate leaders (such as
Al Dunlap and
Robert Allen)
who, he suggests, literally have only one thing on their minds:
profits. According to Downs, such narrow focus actually may yield
positive short-term benefits, but ultimately it drags down individual
employees as well as entire companies. Alternative thinking is proposed,
and some firms now utilizing these options are examined. Downs'
theories are relevant to those suggested by Victor Hill in his book,
Corporate Narcissism in Accounting Firms Australia.
[63]
Primordial narcissism
Psychiatrist
Ernst Simmel first defined primordial narcissism in 1944.
[64]
Simmel's fundamental thesis is that the most primitive stage of
libidinal development is not the oral, but the gastrointestinal one.
Mouth and anus are merely to be considered as the terminal parts of this
organic zone. Simmel terms the psychological condition of prenatal
existence "primordial narcissism." It is the vegetative stage of the
pre-ego, identical with the id. At this stage there is complete
instinctual repose, manifested in unconsciousness. Satiation of the
gastrointestinal zone, the representative of the instinct of
self-preservation, can bring back this complete instinctual repose,
which, under pathological conditions, can become the aim of the
instinct.
Contrary to
Lasch,
Bernard Stiegler argues in his book,
Acting Out, that
consumer capitalism is in fact destructive of what he calls primordial narcissism, without which it is not possible to extend love to others.
[65]
In other words, he is referring to the natural state of an infant as a
fetus
and in the first few days of its life, before it has learned that other
people exist besides itself, and therefore cannot possibly be aware
that they are human beings with feelings, rather than having anything to
do with actual narcissism.
Sexual narcissism
Sexual narcissism has been described as an
egocentric
pattern of sexual behavior that involves an inflated sense of sexual
ability and sexual entitlement. In addition, sexual narcissism is the
erotic preoccupation with oneself as a superb lover through a desire to
merge sexually with a mirror image of oneself. Sexual narcissism is an
intimacy dysfunction in which sexual exploits are pursued, generally in
the form of extramarital affairs, to overcompensate for low self-esteem
and an inability to experience true intimacy.
[66] This behavioral pattern is believed to be more common in men than in women and has been tied to
domestic violence in men and sexual coercion in couples.
[67][68]
Hurlbert argues that sex is a natural biological given and therefore
cannot be deemed as an addiction. He and his colleagues assert that any
sexual addiction is nothing more than a misnomer for what is actually sexual narcissism or sexual compulsivity.
[69]
While Hurlbert writes mainly of sexual narcissism in men, Schoenewolf
(2013) describes what he calls "gender narcissism" which occurs in both
males and females who compensate for feelings of sexual inadequacy by
becoming overly proud and obsessed with their masculinity or femininity.
[70]
Narcissistic parents
Narcissistic parents demand certain behavior from their children
because they see the children as extensions of themselves, and need the
children to represent them in the world in ways that meet the parents’
emotional needs. This parenting 'style' most often results in estranged
relationships with the children, coupled with feelings of resentment and
self-destructive tendencies.
[46]
Narcissistic leadership
Narcissistic leadership is a common form of
leadership.
The narcissism may be healthy or destructive although there is a
continuum between the two. A study published in the journal Personality
and Social Psychology Bulletin suggests that when a group is without a
leader, you can often count on a narcissist to take charge. Researchers
found that people who score high in narcissism tend to emerge as group
leader.
[71]
Popular culture
According to recent cultural criticism, Narcissus has replaced
Oedipus as the myth of our time. Narcissism is now seen to be at the
root of everything from the ill-fated romance with violent revolution to
the enthralled mass consumption of state-of-the-art products and the
'lifestyles of the rich and famous'
“
”
Jessica Benjamin (2000), "The Oedipal Riddle," p. 233[72]
Some critics contend that pop-culture has become more narcissistic in recent decades.
[73] This claim is supported by scholarship indicating some celebrities hire "fake paparazzi",
[74] the frequency with which "reality" programs populate the television schedules,
[73]
and the growth of an online culture in which digital media and the
"will-to-fame" are generating a "new era of public narcissism [that] is
mutating with new media forms."
[75]
In this analysis, narcissism, rather than being the pathologized
property of a discrete personality type, has been asserted as a
constituent cultural feature of an entire generation since the end of
World War II.
[76]
Supporting the contention that American culture has become more
narcissistic and that this is increasingly reflected in its cultural
products is an analysis of US popular song lyrics between 1987 and 2007.
This found a growth in the use of first-person singular pronouns,
reflecting a greater focus on the self, and also of references to
antisocial behavior; during the same period, there was a diminution of
words reflecting a focus on others, positive emotions, and social
interactions.
[77][78]
Similar patterns of change in cultural production are observable in
other Western states. A linguistic analysis of the largest circulation
Norwegian newspaper found that the use of self-focused and
individualistic terms increased in frequency by 69 per cent between 1984
and 2005 while collectivist terms declined by 32 per cent.
[78] References to narcissism and self-esteem in American popular print media have experienced vast inflation since the late 1980s.
[78]
Between 1987 and 2007 direct mentions of self-esteem in leading US
newspapers and magazines increased by 4,540 per cent while narcissism,
which had been almost non-existent in the press during the 1970s, was
referred to over 5,000 times between 2002 and 2007.
[78]
Cross-cultural studies of differences in narcissism are rare.
Instead, as there is a positive association between narcissism and
individualism and a negative one between it and
collectivism, these traits have been used as proxies for narcissism in some studies.
[79]
This approach, however, risks the misapplication of the concepts of
individualism and collectivism to create overly-fixed,
"caricature-like",
[80] oppositional categories.
[81]
Nonetheless, one study looked at differences in advertising products
between an individualistic culture, America, and a collectivist one,
South Korea. In American magazine advertisements, it found, there was a
greater tendency to stress the distinctiveness and uniqueness of the
person; conversely the South Korean ones stressed the importance of
social conformity and harmony.
[79]
This observation holds true for a cross-cultural analysis across a wide
range of cultural outputs where individualistic national cultures
produce more individualistic cultural products and collectivist national
cultures produce more collectivist national products; these cultural
effects were greater than the effects of individual differences within
national cultures.
[79]
Fictional narcissists
- Jay Gatsby, the eponymous character of F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel The Great Gatsby, "an archetype of self-made American men seeking to join high society," has been described as a "pathological narcissist" for whom the "ego-ideal"
has become "inflated and destructive" and whose "grandiose lies, poor
sense of reality, sense of entitlement, and exploitive treatment of
others" conspire toward his own demise.[82]
- In the film To Die For, Nicole Kidman's
character wants to appear on television at all costs, even if this
involves murdering her husband. A psychiatric assessment of her
character noted that she "was seen as a prototypical narcissistic person
by the raters: on average, she satisfied 8 of 9 criteria for
narcissistic personality disorder... had she been evaluated for
personality disorders, she would receive a diagnosis of narcissistic
personality disorder."[83]
See also
References
Narcissism is the pursuit of gratification from vanity or egotistic admiration of one's own attributes. The term originated from Greek mythology, where the young Narcissus fell in love with his own image reflected in a pool of water.Narcissus (1590s) by Caravaggio (Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome)
Narcissus by Caravaggio, gazing at his own reflection.
![[icon]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1c/Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg/20px-Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg.png)
![[icon]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small}
No comments:
Post a Comment