Examples Of Narcissism In American Society

Regina Zauner

PSYC 1113- Section 106

October 10, 2015

The Narcissism Epidemic, Jean M. Twenge, PH.D and W. Keith Campbell, PH.D, Atria Paperback, 2013

The Society of “Me”

Authors Jean Twenge and Keith Campbell guide us through the current social trend of narcissism, its beginnings, causes, symptoms, and the required remedy if our nation is to ever recover. Narcissism has become an epidemic according to Twenge and Campbell. The United States has become “The Society of ‘Me’”. Twenge and Campbell explain that American society is on the edifice of a catastrophic collapse if we cannot correct the mistake we have made over the past few decades. The authors first take us thru the definition of narcissism, and the many myths associated with

We have all heard our parents and others say, “You are the only person in the universe just like you.” We are each unique, no one is just like us. But you might say, we have taken our distinctiveness too far. Granted, no two human beings or any organism is truly identical. Does that mean though, that we are allowed to flaunt that distinctiveness in the face of everyone or do we instead find our place in society so that society itself becomes better? We add our uniqueness to that of society so that our uniqueness makes that society richer and more expressive. An individual’s uniqueness in and of itself truly means nothing if it is not expressed in a way that benefits society as a whole. The Narcissist believes that no one is better than he. He can do everything better than everyone else and without any help. They also believe that they somehow deserve all the things they have, justifiably or not. This brings up the next symptom, entitlement. Entitlement manifests itself in many areas of life for the narcissist. Many of the other symptoms of narcissism are interlocked with it. Materialism, the “I want it Now!” is in part a manifestation of entitlement. The narcissist actually believes that he deserves everything he wants right now, even though he really has done nothing to earn them. He takes all the credit for a good presentation or a job that was done by his “team,” although he only stood back and let “his team”

So, we will group the final three together. Anti-social behavior, relationship problems, and religion and volunteering round out the symptoms of narcissism. Let’s start with relationship problems. Relationship problems happen to everyone. But with a person who is narcissistic, they are the problem in their relationship problems. That is, of course, unless the person they are in a relationship with is like a groupie, who hangs on their every word. Or of course there is the relationship with a person who is like a silent partner, and the emphasis is on the silent part. Unless the relationship is all about the person with narcissism, that person wants nothing to do with the relationship. There really isn’t a social part to these relationships, which brings in the anti-social behaviors part. People who are narcissistic can’t stand it when the attention is not on them. They are like a toddler or young child that interrupts their parent and refuses to be quiet until they get all the attention. Again and again we hear the proverbial “Mommy, mommy, mommy or Daddy, daddy, daddy,” until all the attention is on them. Sometimes we hear “Oh, isn’t he cute!” No, no he really isn’t. Because the narcissist is actually an adult, and people get really tired of someone else taking all the credit for all the other person’s hard work. He isn’t cute because he tends to dismiss every one of his