Egos Inflating over Time: Rising Narcissism- Implications by Sarah Konrath (PDF)

[Andre]

Egos Inflating over Time: Rising Narcissism and its Implications for Self-Construal, Cognitive Style, and Behavior  (PDF)

by Sarah H. Konrath

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillmentof the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy (Psychology) in The University of Michigan 2007

Abstract:    

In four articles I examine changes in narcissism over time and the implications of those changes. First in the introduction I review research on the history of narcissism as a personality disorder and as a personality trait. In Article 1 my colleagues and I conduct a cross-temporal meta-analysis and find that scores on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (Raskin & Terry, 1988) have been rising since the 1980s in American college students. In the second article we present our theory that high self-focus in combination with low other-focus (i.e. social atomization) is related to a highly analytic cognitive style as measured by tests such as the Embedded Figures Test (Witkin et al, 1971). We review research in three separate areas of psychology in order to provide evidence for our theory: individualism/self-construal, narcissism, and autism. In two studies the third article shows that narcissism is related to an analytic cognitive style and lower self-reported holism. We also find that narcissism is related to higher independent and lower interdependent self-construal. In the final article we find that inducing a feeling of similarity between narcissists and potential targets of aggression leads to reduced aggression after an ego-threat.

Click here to retrieve 208-page PDF document

[CZBZ]

Hi Andre!



This sentence caught my attention which means I'll be reading the dissertation this afternoon: "In the final article we find that inducing a feeling of similarity between narcissists and potential targets of aggression leads to reduced aggression after an ego-threat."

Finding ways to reduce narcissist's aggression would be valuable information. I'm curious to read what this paper suggests.

ALSO: Sarah Konrath, author of this pdf document, credits the following list of 'collaborators' the names of which many of us will recognize as respectable and leading researchers on narcissism:

"Many thanks to my advisors, Brad Bushman, Norbert Schwarz, David Winter, and Kathryn Burson, and to the members of the Social Cognition and Political Psychology Labs at University of Michigan. Thanks also to my collaborators on these papers, Keith Campbell, Joshua Foster, and Jean Twenge." ~Sarah Konrath


Thanks for the link and Welcome to WoN!

CZBZ