TheOxford Dictionarydefines narcissism as “ selfishness , involving a sentience of entitlement , a lack of empathy , and a motive for admiration , as characterizing a personality type . ” It is a personality disorder that is thought to affectroughly 1 percentof the universe ( including , it may seem , certainpoliticiansandSilicon Valley CEOs ) but itcan take on unlike formsdepending on , among other things , your breeding .
We recognize that it can regulate on the face of it trivial habits fromhow you take your coffeetowho you keep up on Instagram , and there is evenresearchto suggest that while it may be damaging to hoi polloi around you , it can , in fact , pay to be a narcissist . But what exactly earn one person a clinically diagnosed narcissist – and another not ?
A study recently published in theJournal of Research in Personalityset out to double an influential2007 studyled by W. Keith Campbell at the University of Georgia , using a sample size five meter larger than the original experiment . allot to research worker from the University of Potsdam , Ramzi Fatfouta and Michela Schröder - Abé , this is the first attempt to reproduce Campbell ’s study .
Campbell ’s body of work destroy the " mask hypothesis " of narcissism . That is , that a narcissist ’s conscious verbalism of rhetoric and self - grandness mask a subconscious feeling of self - loathing . Instead , he found that narcissists possessed very favorable persuasion of themselves consciously and subconsciously – provided they felt they held some variety of agency over that particular character trait . So , for example , a narcissistic person might really believe that they are far more intelligent and ambitious than the median person on the street . Yet , in the experiment , they did n’t rate themselves any eminent on so - squall " communal traits " , such as benignity and aroused intimacy . On these , they were neither positive nor negative , but neutral .
Alas , Fatfouta and Schröder - Abé were unable to in full copy the written report . The researcher had 730 unpaid worker complete a set of self - esteem tests and information processing system - based Book association games , but they did not regain a correlativity between eminent narcissistic scores and positive ego - assessment on " agentic trait " , such as condition , intelligence , and ambition . As with the communal traits , their subconscious assessments of their agentic trait were achromatic .
However , like Campbell , the researchers agree the mask theory of narcissism does n’t hold up up .
In sum , the study authors ' write , “ Narcissists do not seem to dislike ( or like ) themselves deeply down deep down . ” Adding , “ We close that narcissists ’ implicit ego - panorama may be more neutral than positivistic or may reckon on other contextual factor . ”
So , basically , we are no closer to working out on the dot what makes a narcissist tick . And perhaps , just as there aredifferent type of self-love , there is no one - size of it - fits - all explanation .
[ H / T : ScienceAlert ]
