Enough About Me – What Do You Think About Me?
Narcissism has been increasing in our society for a long time. Authors Twenge and Campbell reported that research indicates that all the major characteristics that define narcissism including assertiveness, extraversion, dominance, self-esteem and individualistic focus, increased significantly between the 1950’s and the 1990’s with the increase accelerating since 2002. More so, these authors cite a study conducted by Stinson, Dawson and Goldstein et al., which shows that within a large sample surveyed from 2006-2007 1 out of 10 individuals in their 20’s experienced narcissistic personality disorder, the more extreme form of these traits. This compares with only 1 in 30 individuals over the age of 64 endorsing having experienced NPD although they had lived at least 40 years longer and one could reason, had much longer to develop the disorder.
In a meta-analysis examining many studies together, Twenge, , Konrath, Foster, Campbell and Bushman showed that this narcissism appears to be increasing even faster in college students. By 2006, college students scores on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory increased by 30% over the average scores for the original sample comprising the years 1979-1985. And this surge toward narcissism appears to be speeding up, with the years between 2000-2006 showing an especially steep increase. Twenge and Campbell analyzed data gathered from college students in 2008-2009 on the NPI which showed that a full third of college students sampled rated the majority of the questions in the narcissistic direction compared with 1 out of 5 in 1994. Two thirds were above average on narcissism scores.
The Characteristics of Narcissistic Personality Disorder
According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (1994), the main characteristic of this disorder is “a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and lack of empathy that begins in early adulthood and is present in a variety of contexts.” The DSM goes on to state that individuals with the disorder display “a grandiose sense of self importance, a preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty or ideal love. These individuals also display characteristic views of how other are to relate to them. They “believe that they are superior, special or unique and expect other to recognize them as such and generally require excessive admiration.” Their sense of entitlement is displayed by their “unreasonable expectation of especially favorable treatment, and resulting in the conscious or unwitting exploitation of others.” Due to seeing only their own needs they are oblivious to the needs or feelings of others yet despite problems in social relationships they possess the delusional belief that others envy them.
The Difference in Professors and Colleges Students Expectations
Based on numerous interviews with professors and students in colleges across the country, Cox has concluded that professors and college students view education differently. Whereas professors see a college education in terms of education, in other words teaching students how to learn, think analytically, form opinions that are adequately supported, express themselves professionally both in writing and speaking in addition as well as learn a body of knowledge, college students see their degrees as a means to an end and only care of the final product of the class, the grade. Thus, college students are intolerant of professors attempts to promote active engagement, as they see these strategies as getting in the way of their ultimate goal, a degree, only necessary as a requirement on the way to obtaining a choice job.
The Customer Mentality
Administration supports the narcissistic intolerance of students against faculty due to colleges now having a:”customer mentality” Bauerlein asserts. In other words, faculties primary objective should be to keep the customers, the students, happy. Faculty soon learn that to maintain employment they need to assign little to no homework and lower expectations of student learning, raising grades such that everyone passes, no one complains and everyone’s happy. Administration supports this approach because colleges need students to stay in business and they need to attract good students that remain until graduation. As today’s Generation Me is used to getting what they want, easy A’s and more time to spend using upscale amenities is attractive. They expect coursework not to interfere. If they perceive it is they have no difficulty reporting a faculty member to a chair or dean, knowing they will be backed.
Babcock noted in a large study of college students and professors, that professors receive lower scores on evaluation during terms when they graded more rigorously or requires more. Since student evaluations are increasingly important for maintaining their position, promotion and salary, and especially not that there are cites where teachers can be evaluated on line, college professors soon learn it’s against their best interests to go against what the students want, further reinforcing their belief that they can control everything in their environment, and further increasing narcissistic characteristics. Babcock states this has resulted in a free fall in standards at U.S. Colleges and Universities.
Where Will All This Self Indulgence Lead?
In his book “The Dumbest Generation,” Bauerlain goes on to assert that such narcissism is the result of over indulgent, permissive, parents, teachers and other adult role models. He predicts that these characteristics will lead this self-absorbed generation to become “dull witted” and who will feel satisfied only when their newest power grab has been successful.
Twenge states that this trend is concerning. The more narcissistic college students become the more likely they will lack empathy, value self-promotion over helping others and react aggressively to constructive criticism and in the book published with Campbell, the authors add that these students are also at risk for the inability to maintain positive relationship, lack warmth, and exhibit game playing, dishonesty and controlling and violent behavior. In other words they are manipulative and will stop at nothing even potentially violence to get what they want.
Are There Solutions?
Twenge and Campbell state that given how drastic the upsurge in narcissism is in college students, and how prevalent these characteristics have become, they are unsure if there are remedies to the problem. However, they add decreasing permissiveness and indulgence and more authoritative parenting from the start and carrying throughout young adulthood might help stem this trend. However, while individual families might believe in putting such boundaries in place it is unlikely until there is a general consensus that the younger generation is in trouble that society will change. Thus, these kids will eventually be exposed to and likely pick up the narcissistic attitude of other children and the society around them.
Sources
- American Psychiatric Association, (1994). Narcissistic Personality Disorders. In The DSM-IV-TR, APA: Washington.
- Babcock, P., (2011, January 21). Falling standards in universities. The New York Times. Retrieved July 25, 2011.
- Bauerlain, M., (2008, May). The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes our Future (Or, Don’t Trust Anyone Under 30). Penguin: New York.
- Bauerlain, M., (201 r0, October 13). Keeping customer’s happy. The New York Times. Retrieved July 25, 2010.
- Cox, R., (2009). The College Fear Factor: How Students and Professors Misunderstand Each Other. Harvard University Press: Boston.
- Stinson, F. S., Dawson, D. A., Goldstein, R. B., et al., (2008). Prevalence, correlates, diability, and comorbidity of DSM IV Narcissistic Personality Disorder: Results from the Wave 2 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 69, 1033- 1045.
- Twenge, J. M., (2006 ). Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled – And More Miserable Than Ever Before. Free Press (Simon and Schuster): New York.
- Twenge, J. M., & Campbell, W. K., (2009). The Narcissistic Epidemic. Free Press: New York.
- Twenge, J. M., Konrath, S., Foster, J., & ., Campbell, W. K., Bushman, B., (2008), Egos inflating over time: A cross temporal meta-analysis of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory. Journal of Personality, 76, 875-901.
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