Narcissism: a problem endemic within Alcoholics Anonymous
Development and Validation of the Single Item Narcissism Scale (SINS),
Konrath S, Meier BP, Bushman BJ, August 05, 2014 DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0103469
Extract
from the above study:
“Introduction
Some individuals think they are great and special people who should be admired and respected by others. Such people are often called “narcissists.” The term narcissism comes from the mythical Greek character Narcissus, who fell in love with his own image reflected in the water. In the extreme, narcissism can be a clinical disorder [1], however, it is also widely studied as a personality trait in non-clinical populations [2]. The narcissistic personality is characterized by inflated views of the self, grandiosity, self-focus, vanity, and self-importance [3]. Narcissistic individuals have an exceptionally positive view of themselves, and the narcissistic personality is associated with a complex configuration of intrapersonal and interpersonal outcomes [4]. As outlined below, there are many scientific puzzles in the area of narcissism research and a single-item measure of narcissism would give scholars a practical tool that could be used to obtain a better understanding of this trait.
On the one hand,
narcissism is associated with some positive intrapersonal outcomes.
For example, people scoring higher in narcissism are high in
creativity [5],
happiness [6],
and self-esteem [7],
[8],
and low in anxiety [9],
[10]
and depression [10],
[11].
On the other hand,
narcissism is associated with many negative outcomes such as being
prone to defensive and self-protective strategies. When narcissistic
people are faced with threats to their self-worth, concepts of
worthlessness are immediately activated, and then quickly suppressed
[12].
In addition, after receiving negative evaluations they are likely to
see problems with the evaluation technique or the evaluator rather
than reflect on how to improve [13].
Narcissistic people also have difficulty maintaining healthy
interpersonal relationships [14],
[15],
perhaps because of their relatively low empathy [16],
[17]
and low commitment to relationship partners [18].
Narcissists believe they are entitled to the admiration and respect
of others, and, when they do not get it, they become angry and
aggressive [19],
[20],
[21],
[22].
Scholars have tried to
reconcile these striking disparities by trying to understand the
underlying dynamics of narcissistic cognition, affect, and
motivation, within the context of their social interactions [4].
They argue that to fully understand narcissism, we must understand
both the grandiose (or overt) and the vulnerable (or covert) aspects
of it, and how these change depending on others' approval or
disapproval.
Some scholars see the
grandiose and vulnerable aspects as existing simultaneously within
single individuals. They see narcissistic people as experiencing
ongoing vacillations of extremes of self-worth that are dependent
upon situations (e.g. success versus failure) and others' evaluations
[4],
[23].
Other scholars conceptualize two distinct types of narcissism, with
different people leaning toward more grandiose (overt) versus more
vulnerable (covert) types. Vulnerable and grandiose narcissism both
involve feelings of grandiosity, high self-preoccupation, and a
strong need for admiration, but vulnerable narcissists appear to be
more shy and fragile, and often experience shame and worry that
others might negatively evaluate them for their self-focus (see [24],
or a review).
Some scholars argue that
linking grandiose narcissism with overt qualities and vulnerable
narcissism with covert qualities is erroneous, and that grandiose and
vulnerable subtypes can both express themselves in overt and covert
ways – yet these arguments seem to apply specifically to clinical
populations [25].
Regardless of how these aspects of narcissism are specifically
defined, the distinction between grandiosity and vulnerability is
important because they measure more obvious versus less obvious ways
of being narcissistic, respectively.”
Cheerio
The
Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)
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