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The Role Of Narcissism In Greek Mythology

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Greek mythology tells the tale of a young man, Narcissus, who fell so deeply in love with his reflection he drowned in it. This serves as the basis from which the concept of narcissism arose. During the 19th and 20th centuries, the idea of narcissism entered the field of psychology as a pathological disorder in which the individual is consumed by egotistical grandiosity and the entitled demand for admiration. However, psychoanalytic studies and neuroscience have helped us understand the deep complexities of Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPI) beyond the social pejorative description of personality traits consistent with grandiosity, arrogance, egocentrism, insensitivity and lack of empathy. Other notable phenotypic characteristics …show more content…

The distinction between an overt, Grandiose-narcissists and the more covert Vulnerable-narcissists is, while Grandiose-narcissists display the hallmark of self-centered, self-serving unapologetically confidence in the expression of superiority, Vulnerable-type narcissists tend to be more emotionally sensitive who rely heavily on the approval of others. Studies conducted by psychologist Paul Wink analyzed a variety of narcissism scales and confirmed the differences in NPD between, "Grandiosity-Exhibitionism" and …show more content…

Decision-making happens in the part of the brain that deals with the reward and self-regulatory system such as the mesolimbic dopamine system and the amygdala. However, because in individuals with NPD feelings of fear are intolerable, confusion about self-esteem based on approval and shifting feeling of agency bears many challenges to the brain 's ability to properly make decision. Such individuals can develop lesions in the brain from past traumas that later can lead to deficits in learning, in decision-making, and most of all can impair their ability to emotional and stressful situations. Unregulated fear processing and decision making impairs individual with NPD in the sense that they have and inability to rely on their emotions to aid in decision-making because that part of the brain has been long compromised and thus the consequences

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