CDS professor co-authors paper on what makes a narcissist

A young man lounges by a pool of water. As he gazes into the pool he is rapt. The person reflected on the pool’s surface is so beautiful, so intriguing, that he falls instantly in love. It is only later that he realizes that the object of his affection is none other than himself. Consumed with despair that his love can never truly be reciprocated, the young man, in classic mythological fashion, loses his human form and turns into a flower.

This is the story of Narcissus, from whom, we derive the word “narcissist” to describe someone who is just a little too full of themselves. In the story, Narcissus loves himself so much that he falls in love with his own reflection. But is narcissism, as understood by psychologists, truly born out of an excessive self-admiration? This question is central to a recently published paper titled “Narcissism through the lens of performative self-elevation.”

The paper, co-authored by CDS Professor Pascal Wallisch, sets out to differentiate our understanding of narcissism by examining its links to insecurity and grandiosity.

Physicists infer the existence of forces by measuring the behavior and interactions of objects. Similarly, Psychologists infer constructs like anxiety or narcissism from the behavior and interactions of people. However — there is a big difference — in Psychology, behaviors cannot be taken at face value. People might exhibit the same behavior — for instance name-dropping out of genuine grandiosity or due to insecurities. To differentiate these possibilities, the authors created a measurement instrument which they termed FLEX (perFormative seLf-Elevation indeX) to capture self-elevating tendencies. The reliability and validity of this instrument was established with an omniverse analysis. By using these methods in a sufficiently large sample of participants, the authors were able to show that FLEX correlates highly with narcissism and insecurity, but not grandiosity and concluded that narcissism is not driven by an abundance of self love but actually self loathing.

Professor Wallisch remarked on the results of the research:

“For a long time, it was unclear why narcissists engage in unpleasant behaviors, such as self-congratulation, as it actually makes others think less of them. This has become quite prevalent in the age of social media — a behavior that’s been coined ‘flexing’ by Gen-Z. Our work reveals that these narcissists are not grandiose, but rather insecure, and this is how they seem to cope with their insecurities. In this light, narcissism is the end-result of a maladaptive coping cascade, not genuine self-love. The media is treating our findings like we discovered fire, and these articles have been shared widely on social media. Whereas it is nice to find recognition for one’s work, this is somewhat troubling as it suggests that they resonate broadly. What does it suggest about the state of society that so many people find our results to be so relatable?”

Though we all might know someone who, like Narcissus as the pool, can’t get enough of themselves, this research may help remind all of us that as irritating as narcissism may be all might not be as it seems on the surface.