Understanding and Exploring Narcissism: Impact on Students and College Campuses

Narcissist” is a term that may be used lightly to describe or label someone that is selfcentered. However, research that suggests a possible increase in narcissistic personality tendencies among college-aged American students has a very real and serious impact on society. The goal of this paper is to examine the evolution of the concept of narcissism and its detrimental effects on society. This will then be applied to the impact that narcissism has on college students and campus environments. It is important to note that individuals high in narcissistic traits encounter many problems including difficulties with interpersonal and professional relationships, and poor insight and self-awareness. Moreover, students high in narcissism are in danger of academic failure, especially in certain prestigious collegiate environments that are more likely to foster narcissistic tendencies. UNDERSTANDING AND EXPLORING NARCISSISM 5 Understanding and Exploring Narcissism: Impact on Students and College Campuses Personality is an inherent part of human nature. When personality features become more extreme and abnormal, they have the ability to manifest themselves as personality disorders. One of the most prominent abnormalities in personality characteristics among college students is narcissism, which is among the most difficult to treat and thus in need of greater research (Stovall, King, Wienhold, & Whitehead III, 1998). This paper examines narcissistic personality tendencies in the context of the evolution of their concept over time and their detrimental effects on society. It then shifts focus to apply this examination to college students and campuses in the United States. Despite the dispute about the changes in levels of narcissism over the past few decades in college-aged individuals, there are logical environments in which narcissism has the ability to be cultivated among students. This issue is relevant in American society today because college-aged individuals are future leaders, and narcissism is very detrimental to society as a whole and can render narcissistic students unsuccessful in their academic endeavors and beyond. Jean Twenge is the leading psychologist in the study of narcissism in the collegeaged American population. Twenge’s research reveals that the rates of narcissism among the college-aged population are on the rise (Twenge & Foster, 2010; Twenge & Campbell, 2008; Twenge, Konrath, Foster, Campbell, & Bushman, 2008). Among college students, Twenge at al. (2008) conducted a meta-analysis of narcissistic personality traits as shown through scores on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory. The study included the scores from four-year American institutions from the years 1979-2006. There were a total of 16, 475 subjects studied, and the authors found an upward shift in UNDERSTANDING AND EXPLORING NARCISSISM 6 scores on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory, meaning that the average college student now embraces, on average, two more narcissistic tendencies than did his peers a couple decades ago (p. 889). That is, on average, today’s college student is at least a bit more narcissistic. Further, Twenge and Campbell (2008) conducted a study based on responses of high school seniors from the year 1975 through the year 2006 and found that, in general, narcissistic personality tendencies are on the rise in that population as well. Unrealistic expectations among this population have increased, a concept that will later be discussed as a narcissistic tendency. Twenge has proposed many theories to account for an increase in narcissism, many of which center around cultural changes. Now, from a young age, Americans are taught that they are very special and unique individuals (Twenge & Foster, 2010), which may be causing increases in self-esteem, extroversion, and assertiveness, which are key elements of narcissism. Further, today’s American society places a large emphasis on materialism and wealth, thus encouraging focus on pleasures and success for individuals. Another facet of American culture today is technology. Websites such as Facebook, YouTube, Myspace, and Twitter create spaces for individuals to enhance themselves and show themselves to the rest of the country and world (Twenge et al., 2008). These changes in American culture could be facilitating a change in personality traits among young Americans, and Twenge proposes that this narcissistic shift may have negative consequences on society. In contrast to Twenge’s findings and theories, Trzesniewski, Donnellan and Robins (2008) did not find an increase in narcissism among college students, but this could have been because of sampling differences (e.g. only Northern Californian college UNDERSTANDING AND EXPLORING NARCISSISM 7 students were assessed). They criticized Twenge on three counts. First, they believed that she overgeneralized her findingsthat she unrealistically believed that every single college student is becoming more narcissistic. Second, they suggested that since she analyzed aggregated data and group means instead of individual data, her results could have been skewed. Lastly, they criticized her use of the NPI (which will be discussed in the next section of this paper). They argued that the use of this test renders it difficult to analyze changes in scores as signifying a change in overall narcissism. There is much dispute as to what the scores on the NPI actually mean. Further, Rosenthal and Hooley (2010) argue that the rise in narcissism that Twenge has observed may not be as negative as she makes it out to be. The increase could be positive in that it could reflect a boost in self-esteem among college-aged individuals, and thus could be good for society. No matter what the finding or criticisms of it, if there is a growing amount of narcissism in college students, this is extremely detrimental not only to society but also to narcissistic individuals at the academic level. And whatever the finding-whether there are more narcissistic individuals now than there were a few decades agothere are certain contemporary collegiate environments that can lead to the cultivation of a narcissistic student. The Evolution of Narcissism The evolution of the concept of narcissism started centuries ago with a simple story. The myth of Narcissus, told by both the Roman poet Ovid and by the Greek poet Conon, is a well-known one (Greek Myths & Greek Mythology, 2012). In short, it is the tale of a beautiful young man who falls hopelessly in love with his reflection in a pond. Upon finding that he can never get love back from this mysterious reflection, he either UNDERSTANDING AND EXPLORING NARCISSISM 8 kills himself, as Ovid conveys, or dies of sorrow, as Conon proposes. Narcissus does this because he does not believe that anyone will ever be as good or as beautiful as the reflection, which ties closely to the concept of narcissism as it is known today. Ever since Narcissus’s story became well known, a number of prominent mental health care practitioners have studied narcissism. Sigmund Freud, among other early psychoanalysts, examined the term of narcissism in a looser sense than it is seen today. He believed that narcissism could be closely tied with high self-esteem, because it can include normal, affirmative feelings about the self, and because narcissists can be strong and self-assured in healthy ways (cited in Pulver, 1970). Further, Freud argued that the inherent desire to care for the self gets confused with one’s sexual desires for other humans, which can result in a sexual desire aimed at the self. This desire creates normal narcissism. Pathological, or abnormal, narcissism arises when the individual’s sexual desires are not for others, but rather are only for the self. This produces fantasies of power and excessive self-enhancement. Pathological narcissism is an extreme, distorted version of the normal narcissism that everyone possesses (Freud, 1914). In addition to Freud, Heinz Kohut was another prominent psychologist to present strong feelings about narcissism and what it means to be a narcissist, and he based many of his theories upon Freud’s. According to Kohut, children have a natural and normal dependency upon caregivers. Young children look up to caregivers as ideal role models and this image is called the “parent imago. ” In order to develop a healthy sense of self and personality, the child needs to have his own self-worth mirrored back by these caregivers. In other words, the caregiver needs to, to some extent, let the child know that he is worth something and is competent. If this doesn’t happen in childhood, the UNDERSTANDING AND EXPLORING NARCISSISM 9 individual develops a grandiose fantasy, that is, a fantasy in which he is actually worth a lot despite never being told so. This can lead the individual into narcissistic personality tendencies that can become pathological, because the individual is always searching for that reflection of self-worth that he never got in childhood (Kohut, 1966). Further, Kohut believed that narcissism is a failure to possess healthy internal self-esteem and that it arises from the childhood environment, rather than from the individual himself (Watson, Little, Sawrie, & Biderman, 1992). Proceeding Freud’s and Kohut’s theories, more psychological focus was put on narcissism. In 1980, Narcissistic Personality Disorder was introduced into the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or the DSM-III (American Psychiatric Association, 1980). The abbreviated criteria for Narcissistic Personality Disorder according to the DSM-III are as follows: A. Grandiose sense of self-importance or uniqueness. B. Preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love. C. Exhibitionism. D. Cool indifference or marked feelings of rage, inferiority, shame, humiliation, or emptiness in response to criticism, indifference of others, or defeat. E. At least two of the following characteri