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Narcissists might be irritating attention seekers – but they are also annoyingly likely to be successful, according to researchers.
Even though their personality traits might seem negative, psychologists say their sense of superiority gives them a “mental toughness” not to give up.
An international team of researchers says narcissists tend to come out on top in education, work and romance.
Their “heightened sense of self-worth” gives them great self-confidence.
For psychologists, narcissism is one of the “dark triad” of malevolent personality traits, along with psychopathy and Machiavellianism – with narcissists having a tendency to be self-centred, vain, grandiose and to need the admiration of others.
But Dr Kostas Papageorgiou, from Queen’s University Belfast, says research shows that narcissists are often socially successful and undeterred by rejection and their craving for attention can make them “charming” and highly motivated.
“If we could abandon conventional social morality – and just focus on what is successful,” he says, then narcissism can look like a very “positive” trait.
“If you are a narcissist you believe strongly that you are better than anyone else and that you deserve reward,” says the psychologist.
This might be unbearable for everyone else around them, but Dr Papageorgiou says this kind of boundless self-belief is also linked to being “mentally tough” and a readiness to “embrace challenges”.
The “power” of narcissism is currently on public view, he says, in the prevalence of narcissistic behaviour in popular culture, whether on social media, reality television or in politics.
Dr Papageorgiou is part of a research team including academics from Goldsmiths, the University of London, King’s College London, University of Texas at Austin and Manchester Metropolitan University, which used performance in secondary school exams to show how narcissists could overtake people who had more ability than them.
Using a sample of more than 300 young people identified as narcissists in secondary school in Italy, the researchers found that they tended to score much better in exams than would have been expected from other tests of their intelligence.
Psychologists said that as well as traits such as egotism and the need to dominate, these narcissists had high levels of resilience and determination.
They were not cleverer, but were more confident and assertive and were able to overtake students who otherwise would have more ability.
Dr Papageorgiou says this pattern of advantage at school carries through to university and work – and also in romance.
He says that narcissists are likely to attract more partners.
“They’re quite charismatic. If you spend a lot of time trying to be charming and persuade other people, it might well make you more attractive, says Dr Papageorgiou.
He says there could even be an evolutionary element to what he says is a rise in narcissism, with narcissists having more sexual partners and passing on their genes to more people.
Dr Papageorgiou says about 60% of narcissism is inherited, with the rest shaped by the environment.
Narcissists can be “absolutely destructive for those around them”, says the psychologist, but there is nothing inevitable about this and they can limit the impact of these character traits.
“You can control them, rather than let them control you,” he says.
Dr Papageorgiou argues that such personality traits should not be seen as “either good or bad” but as “products of evolution” and “expressions of human nature”.
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This topic was modified 6 years, 5 months ago by
Morgan..
yes u are right they blv they are the best if they are not, and if they are not they wont give up, that is obv the good side to that, but obv other side is them saying they are better than other people when they are not, I mean I have heard about someone who had friends and no gf anyway one day he got a gf, but it made him cocky then he lost his friends and lost his gf, this prob cud be a comment prob with people with narssisitic personalty disorder/god complex, but then again they cud just make other friends maybe but then prob lose them, one time they might not have no friends, so it is a good and bad personalty to have, like for me I dont think I am clever but I dont think I am the most dumbness person in the world, my prob is I lack motivation, I wish I cud some how get it, but the good side is I am not coky and I am respectfull to people aslong as they dont disrespect me, I suppose some cocky person cud be more successfull in life in terms of bussiness, but not successfull in making friends or and getting a bf/gf, what some person who dont like there self and lacks motivation might get easyer, if people who are not cocky get more motivation then succeeds, then they will be prob better than someone who is cocky, as they wud have the social eliment in life and he bussiness element in life.
also people can be better than someone else or a multitude of people, that is ok unless they show it by what they say, if I knew I was better than one or more people I wud hopefully keep it inside, to not show people it, as then they wont like me, but again it depends if I want the social eliement or not.
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This reply was modified 6 years, 5 months ago by JUSTNOTHING.
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This reply was modified 6 years, 5 months ago by JUSTNOTHING.
Narcissists might be irritating attention seekers – but they are also annoyingly likely to be successful, according to researchers.
Even though their personality traits might seem negative, psychologists say their sense of superiority gives them a “mental toughness” not to give up.
An international team of researchers says narcissists tend to come out on top in education, work and romance.
Their “heightened sense of self-worth” gives them great self-confidence.
For psychologists, narcissism is one of the “dark triad” of malevolent personality traits, along with psychopathy and Machiavellianism – with narcissists having a tendency to be self-centred, vain, grandiose and to need the admiration of others.
But Dr Kostas Papageorgiou, from Queen’s University Belfast, says research shows that narcissists are often socially successful and undeterred by rejection and their craving for attention can make them “charming” and highly motivated.
“If we could abandon conventional social morality – and just focus on what is successful,” he says, then narcissism can look like a very “positive” trait.
“If you are a narcissist you believe strongly that you are better than anyone else and that you deserve reward,” says the psychologist.
This might be unbearable for everyone else around them, but Dr Papageorgiou says this kind of boundless self-belief is also linked to being “mentally tough” and a readiness to “embrace challenges”.
The “power” of narcissism is currently on public view, he says, in the prevalence of narcissistic behaviour in popular culture, whether on social media, reality television or in politics.
Dr Papageorgiou is part of a research team including academics from Goldsmiths, the University of London, King’s College London, University of Texas at Austin and Manchester Metropolitan University, which used performance in secondary school exams to show how narcissists could overtake people who had more ability than them.
Using a sample of more than 300 young people identified as narcissists in secondary school in Italy, the researchers found that they tended to score much better in exams than would have been expected from other tests of their intelligence.Psychologists said that as well as traits such as egotism and the need to dominate, these narcissists had high levels of resilience and determination.
They were not cleverer, but were more confident and assertive and were able to overtake students who otherwise would have more ability.
Dr Papageorgiou says this pattern of advantage at school carries through to university and work – and also in romance.
He says that narcissists are likely to attract more partners.
“They’re quite charismatic. If you spend a lot of time trying to be charming and persuade other people, it might well make you more attractive, says Dr Papageorgiou.
He says there could even be an evolutionary element to what he says is a rise in narcissism, with narcissists having more sexual partners and passing on their genes to more people.
Dr Papageorgiou says about 60% of narcissism is inherited, with the rest shaped by the environment.
Narcissists can be “absolutely destructive for those around them”, says the psychologist, but there is nothing inevitable about this and they can limit the impact of these character traits.
“You can control them, rather than let them control you,” he says.
Dr Papageorgiou argues that such personality traits should not be seen as “either good or bad” but as “products of evolution” and “expressions of human nature”.
All well and good, except you aren’t a Narcissist. You’re a Sociopath. There is a difference.
Is this the condensed version? LMAO
im so confused right now i dont know who i am anymore
Yes
you aren’t a Narcissist. You’re a Sociopath.
thank you for informing me as to who and what i am. that’s helped clear up the confusion. im impressed how you can diagnose a specific mental illness / personality disorder on total strangers in a chat forum. you must be very highly trained to do that.
just one question, you say im not a narcissist. going by a quick googled definition of narcissist as,
“a person who has an excessive interest in or admiration of themselves”
how can you conclude that i dont have an an excessive interest in or admiration of myself?
i’m a narcissist and very proud of it
1 member liked this post.
u sure SOP….
i’m a narcissist and very proud of it
If I were as beautiful as you I’m sure I’d be a narcissist too.
I also thought I was a proud narcissist but it turns out even better. I am a Sociopath.
I’ve heard narcissists described as having a God complex. They literally think they are superior beings…an example might be a surgeon,who would view himself in such a way because the patients life is literally,in hs hands.
Sociopaths are devoid of emotions or empathy. They have no guilt or shame. How to spot a sociopath.
1 member liked this post.
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This topic was modified 6 years, 5 months ago by
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