Narcissism on rise, Ohio State research finds
What do Genghis Khan, Kanye West and Gaston from “Beauty and the Beast” have in common?
Those historical, contemporary and fictional characters are all narcissists, according to Ohio State University psychologist Amy Brunell.
Narcissism, which is characterized by a sense of superiority and entitlement, self-obsession and lack of empathy for others, is on the rise. And Brunell has spent the past decade studying how narcissists move through the world — which, of course, revolves around them.
“It’s a different window into the world,” she said. “Once you start learning about narcissism, you start seeing it everywhere.”
Narcissists pursue their own gratification and ambitions without guilt or regard for others, she said. Romantically, their relationships tend to be short-lived, unstable and hostile; narcissists report more casual sex and more sexual partners.
In a research study published online in the journal PLOS ONE, Brunell and her colleagues examined whether narcissists are especially attracted to the game of luring partners away from their significant others.
“Are they more interested in the game of stealing someone in a relationship?” she said. “Most people are looking for kindness and understanding and warmth and love. Narcissists just want power and status, to be noticed.”
The researchers found that although narcissists do show a greater frequency of sexual poaching, they don’t necessarily hunt for partners who are already committed to someone else. Rather, they are more likely to disregard the status of someone they’re chasing.
“They don’t really care if you’re in a relationship or not. If you have beauty or status or could be otherwise pursued as a trophy, they’re interested,” Brunell said.
In the first of four studies, 247 college students in introductory psychology courses filled out a commonly used 40-item narcissism test, a general personality assessment and a survey designed to measure their experiences in mate poaching. Using the results, the researchers linked narcissism with more frequent attempts at sexual encounters with already-committed partners.
A second study further analyzing those results found that narcissistic women are more often guilty of mate poaching, Brunell said.
In a third study, 249 students were shown potential romantic partners on a platform similar to a dating service such as Tinder or okcupid.com, including a picture of an attractive individual, a description that suggested they shared interests, and the target’s relationship status.
Researchers than gauged participants’ interest in the profile; they found no evidence that narcissists preferred single or taken targets.
In the last study, researchers compared the narcissism scores of 240 college-student participants with their likelihood of poaching an already-committed person. They found that narcissists were more interested in a hookup or short-term fling but not a long-lasting relationship.
Altogether, the experiments suggest that narcissists are more likely to try to poach partners from existing relationships, especially for a low-cost sexual encounter such as a casual hookup or one-night stand.
The findings are consistent with what researchers already know about narcissism, said Brad Bushman, an Ohio State communication and psychology professor.
“They believe they’re special people who deserve special treatment,” Bushman said. “Narcissists play games, especially with relationship partners. They think they can have anybody they want.”
In his own research, Bushman has found that parents can boost their children’s narcissistic tendencies by “overvaluing” them and that narcissists will reliably identify themselves as such if asked directly.
Bushman also co-authored a 2008 research paper that analyzed decades of data and found that the average narcissism level of college students had risen by 30 percent from 1979 to 2006. Similar studies have documented a sharp drop in measures of empathy over the same period.
He said studies indicate that parental “overvaluing” and “selfie culture” are partly to blame.
“The fact that narcissism levels over time are increasing is disturbing. We should all be interested in this,” he said. “Narcissists only think about themselves. They lack empathy. They don’t care about communal things, like whether they’re a good friend or kind to others. It’s not good for society.”