Narcissism

DiscoZombie

<div class="IPBDescription">A new study</div><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070227/ap_on_re_us/self_centered_students;_ylt=Ar0.U8USirgJ1rRoqeS6r33MWM0F" target="_blank">http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070227/ap_on_...rRoqeS6r33MWM0F</a>

<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Today's college students are more narcissistic and self-centered than their predecessors, according to a comprehensive new study by five psychologists who worry that the trend could be harmful to personal relationships and American society. <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
can't say I don't see signs of this all over the place... *cough*

RustySpoon

Whatever, can't be bothered reading it. Got better things to do.

Xyth

That article is sort of badly written, they should have defined Narcissistic before going into that huge story. Not that I don't know what it means, but that's really short-sighted of them.

Also: Comprehensive national study doesn't include only 16k people. Plenty of colleges have that many by themselves.

I guess what they are saying is that our children need more "You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake"?

douchebagatron

is it still narcissistic if i really <i>am</i> perfect?

DiscoZombie

statistically speaking, 16k people is a pretty big sample. drug safety studies, which are probably more important than these informational studies, usually have samples of only a few hundred to a few thousand patients...

I guess narcissism is a pretty big word, but they do kinda try to explain it by also using the phrase 'self-centered'... that said, AP and Reuters *do* have some annoying typos surprisingly frequently. I read a Reuters article recently that said "Owners of pets who die at animal hospitals are incinerated along with other animals and their remains disposed of at a local landfill or rendering plant." make sure none of your pets dies at an animal hospital, you may be incinerated along with the other animals =x

anyway, the results seem pretty true to me. everyone acts so full of themselves and self-righteous these days. It's like humility and modesty are no longer considered virtues by society.

Quaunaut

"Yes, <i>of course</i> were better than the current generation."

semipsychotic

<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->By 2006, they said, two-thirds of the students had above-average scores, 30 percent more than in 1982.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Assuming that they're referring to the mean NPI score, this <i>could</i> mean that the bottom 30% just hate themselves tons more. Narcissism? Nay, it's emo.

TychoCelchuuu

Yeah it's pretty bad. I've noticed everyone is narcissitic except me. I'm like the last perfect person alive. It sucks; rather lonely and all that.

Moquiao

<!--quoteo(post=1609771:date=Feb 27 2007, 11:54 PM:name=TychoCelchuuu)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TychoCelchuuu @ Feb 27 2007, 11:54 PM) [snapback]1609771[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
Yeah it's pretty bad. I've noticed everyone is narcissitic except me. I'm like the last perfect person alive. It sucks; rather lonely and all that.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->


agree

Xyth

I think Im the exact opposite of narcissistic. I don't really care about anybody, let alone myself. I really harbor no morales at all, I judge everything in my life in a case-by-case basis.

Im like a hollow shell of a person.

Edit: Semipsychotic: I don't think you understand the definition of narcissism

pardzh

Uh, I don't see how this can have any scientific merit at all.

How can you possibly claim to quantify something like narcissism?

eediot

Quantify itself? No. Quantify people's tendencies towards it? Yes.

pardzh

<!--quoteo(post=1609852:date=Feb 27 2007, 11:29 PM:name=emperor_awesome)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(emperor_awesome @ Feb 27 2007, 11:29 PM) [snapback]1609852[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
Quantify itself? No. Quantify people's tendencies towards it? Yes.
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God I hate psychology.

Zig

I think it's partly because as we came closer to the end of the century, there was more and more emphasis on being confident and independent and all this, and now everyone you meet is just all about themselves because they grew up being told that they could do anything, that they were the most special little kid in the world, blah blah blah.

In before all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world.

BlackMage

i think they just need more mittens...

AnarkiThreeXSix

mittens of love?
or hate?

OR D-DD-D-DDIIISTRUUUCTIOOOON?!

MedHead

I was listening to the radio yesterday, and the host had some high school and college students on the air with him, talking about alternative fuel cars and the politics surrounding it. One of the college students, who was getting a masters in an art degree, came on the air and said that it was the responsibility for college students like him to tell "the people" about the benefits of alternative fuels. I don't know what he said after that, because I swiftly turned the radio off.

semipsychotic

<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Edit: Semipsychotic: I don't think you understand the definition of narcissism<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yeah, emo kids <i>are</i> narcissistic and don't understand true self-contempt/hate at all, but what does it matter? Either way, it's odd that the study cites an increase in above-average scores as signaling an overall increase.

TychoCelchuuu

<!--quoteo(post=1610001:date=Feb 28 2007, 09:08 AM:name=MedHead)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(MedHead @ Feb 28 2007, 09:08 AM) [snapback]1610001[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->
I was listening to the radio yesterday, and the host had some high school and college students on the air with him, talking about alternative fuel cars and the politics surrounding it. One of the college students, who was getting a masters in an art degree, came on the air and said that it was the responsibility for college students like him to tell "the people" about the benefits of alternative fuels. I don't know what he said after that, because I swiftly turned the radio off.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

That's less narcissism than it is arrogance; he might be a perfectly selfess guy who just happens to have a low opinion of everyone who isn't in college for some reason. It wouldn't be correct to extrapolate that to teenager narcissity, at least without knowing a bit more why he thinks college kids are magically different.

Xyth

Narcissism /= Exaggerated feelings of self-worth

Thaldarin

You're special, I'm special, We're just all a bunch of special fu**ers! <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />