8. A Culture of Narcissism Flashcards
What were the historical conceptualizations of narcissism?
Havelock Ellis: auto-eroticism (love directed towards one’s self)
Ernst Jones: God complex
Freud: we are born with narcissism
- (as toddlers) primary narcissism and self-absorption was a natural developmental phase (this disappears as we grow)
- secondary narcissism and self-love absorption (ego libido and object libido)
Define narcissism
Grandiose self view: inflated self-importance
- excessive need for admiration
- lack of empathy and intimacy
- sense of entitlement
- using others for self-validation
Is associated with greater self-esteem, life satisfaction, but also violence and aggression
What are the different types of narcissism?
Overt vs covert narcissists - both self-absorbed and arrogant
Overt: grandiosity / exhibitionism
- higher reported happiness, self-esteem
Covert: hypersensitivity / vulnerability
- lower happiness and self-esteem
What are some findings on subclinical narcissism:
- measured by the narcissistic personality inventory
- Men have more trait narcissism than women
- self-perceived superiority on ‘super hero’ traits like intelligence, emotional stability, but not morality, agreeableness, conscientiousness
- narcissists self-enhance agentic characteristics (intelligence, power) but not communal ones (agreeableness, honesty)
What is subclinical narcissism associated with? (+)
- higher self-esteem and confidence
- higher psychological health, wellbeing, life satisfaction
- lower depression, anxiety, loneliness
- judged as more charming
What is narcissism (sub-clinical) associated with? (-)
related to provoked aggression (Rasmussen 2016 meta-analysis)
–> when someone with narcissism felt rejected, the more aggression they exhibited
- all forms of narcissism associated with all forms of aggression (strongest under provocation) (Kjaervik and Bushman)
The outward manifestation of narcissism covers up a hidden fragility
What are some theories underpinning subclinical narcissism
- Grandiose but vulnerable self-concept and low insight
-> high explicit self-esteem but hidden sense of worthlessness
-> ego threat activates concepts of worthlessness
Narcissism & dissociation: dissociation between an unconscious sense of inadequacy and a conscious feeling of superiority (low implicit self-esteem, high explicit self-esteem)
Is there a rise in narcissism?
Christopher Lasch:
- social invasion of the self (people are losing community values and are getting more absorbed in themselves)
- related this to permissive parenting (parents allowing children to get away with more)
- also associated with individualism
Do we have a rise in narcissism? Twenge et al’s cross temporal meta-analysis
30% increase in NPI scores between uni students in 1979 compared to 2006
We also have the difference of teenagers endorsing the item ‘i am an important person’ –> 1950s 12% agreed, late 80s 80% agreed
Teenagers are also more confident, assertive, entitled and more miserable
What are some possible causes of a cultural shift in narcissism?
- parenting culture and emphasis on ‘self-esteem’ over accomplishments
- social media and self-promotion (social comparison on social media)
How does narcissism track around the world?
Foster, Campbell, Twenge (2003)
Narcissism scores:
US > Europe > Canada > Asia > Middle East
- higher individualism associated with higher narcissism
the effect size is trivial however
What did the narcissism assessment in China find?
Narcissism is greater in
- younger > older
- Higher SES > lower SES
- persons from only child families
- urban areas
- individualistic values predicted narcissism
Also found a decrease in narcissism
Outline narcissistic personality disorder
Clinical narcissism
- pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, lack of empathy that begins by early adulthood (present in a variety of contexts)
Maladaptive: involves impairment or distress
- 50-75% male
Prevalence = 6%
What are the diagnostic criteria of narcissistic personality disorder
pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood in a variety of contexts - indicated by 5+
- grandiose sense of self-importance
- preoccupied with fantasies of power
- believes they are special / unique, can only be understood by special people
- excessive admiration
- sense of entitlement
- exploitative
- lacks empathy
- envious of others
- arrogant
What are the 2 pathological narcissism dimensions
grandiosity: overvalued, entitled self-image, exploitative exhibitionist behaviours; absorption in idealized fantasies; and other maladaptive self-enhancement, etc
vulnerability: characterised by a depleted, enfeebled self-image’ angry, shameful and depressed affects; self-criticalisty and suicidality; interpersonal hypersensitivity and social withdrawal
NPD and vulnerable self-esteem review (Lambe)
NPD associated with 3-11 fold increase in violence
strong predictor of more severe violence (homicide)
exposure to imperfection and failure associated with high suicide risk
higher lethality comapred to other PDS
NPI and PNI scales - and self-esteem
NPI (subclinical) - positive relationship with self-esteem
PNI: negative relationship
What are the challenges of treating NPD?
- lack of RCTs, systematic treatment reviews
- mentalization based; transference focussed; schemas focussed therapies (work by imagining what other people are thinking / feeling)
- highly co-ocurring with substance use disorder, depression, anorexia
- highly co-occurring with antisocial, histrionic, borderline and paranoid pds
Poorest treatment success when co-occurring with antisocial PD
high dropout rates
