(ORDO NEWS) — In this day and age when flaunting yourself on social media has become the norm, narcissistic traits are ubiquitous.
In today’s slang, such repulsive behaviors as pretentiousness, superiority, and smugness are known as “bending.” Perhaps these traits are more common these days, but narcissism is still viewed as a pathological personality trait, akin to sadism, manipulativeness, or even psychopathy.
However, a 2021 study of 270 people with an average age of 20 lends more credence to the notion that narcissistic behavior does not always have the same causes as psychopathy.
“For a long time, it was not clear why narcissists engage in unpleasant behaviors such as self-praise, because it actually makes others think less of them. Our work shows that these narcissists are not grandiose, but rather insecure,” says clinical psychologist Pascal Wallisch from New York University (NYU).
“More specifically, our results suggest that narcissism is better understood as a compensatory adaptation for coping with and hiding low self-esteem,” added clinical psychologist Mary Kowalczyk, also of New York University.
Psychologists already distinguish between two rather different types of narcissists: “vulnerable narcissists” who have low self-esteem, attachment anxiety, and are highly sensitive to criticism; and “grand narcissists” who have high self-esteem and self-praise.
The latest research helps to further distinguish between these two types.
Kowalczyk and team used a range of measures to assess the levels of various personality traits, including narcissism, self-esteem, and psychopathy in each of the participants, and found that flexible behavior was strongly associated with people who also had high self-doubt and guilt. Those who exhibited psychopathy exhibited relatively low levels of guilt.
“Narcissists are insecure, and they deal with that insecurity by bending over. In the long run, this makes other people love them less, which further exacerbates their self-doubt and then leads to a vicious cycle of flexive behavior,” says Kowalczyk.
Unlike people with grandiose narcissism, who sincerely believe in their own worth and show no signs of self-doubt. According to the researchers, the difference between these two types goes further than just a difference between categories.
“We believe that what was previously considered grandiose narcissism is actually better understood as one of the behavioral manifestations of psychopathy,” the group writes in their paper.
They acknowledge that further studies are needed in a more diverse population over a broader time scale to confirm the results. However, these new findings are consistent with those of a small 2017 study in which brain scans of narcissistic men showed emotional distress and conflict when they were shown a picture of them.
In fact, there are conflicting studies on whether or not narcissists like themselves; By defining the two types of narcissism more precisely, we can better understand their behavior, since both types of narcissists can also cause real harm to others in the form of narcissistic violence.
Pathologically speaking, narcissistic traits, which are also thought to be fueled by a heightened focus on individualism, can be seen in our society in the way we write with more “I” than “we”, as in our songs there is more emphasis. given to himself, as well as to shift the focus to stories based on fame.
The researchers also measured these shifts. For example, the approval rate for the statement “I’m an important person” rose from 12 percent to 80 percent among teenagers between 1963 and 1992.
What’s more, exposing ourselves on social media is something that many of us engage in, collectively shaping and fueling the insecurities that we don’t fit into society. Such behavior is inherent in us as a socially obligatory form.
While narcissists are known to be great at using social media, the question of whether social media can increase levels of narcissism has been less compelling, but the new paper suggests that “increasing these behaviors – specifically self-enhancement – makes sense within our proposed framework.” schemes, since social media work by its very nature invites constant social comparison and evaluation, which can exacerbate self-worth insecurity.”
So the next time you’re ready to dismiss someone’s boastful behavior as self-aggrandizement, it might be worth considering that they’re just… insecure.
—
Online:
Contact us: [email protected]
Our Standards, Terms of Use: Standard Terms And Conditions.