The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement
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- ISBN13: 9781416575993
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
Narcissism—an inflated view of the self—is everywhere. Public facts say it’s what makes them stray from their wives. Parents teach it by dressing children in T-shirts that say “Princess.” Teenagers and young adults hone it on Facebook, and celebrity newsmakers have elevated it to an art form. And it’s what’s building people depressed, lonely, and buried under piles of debt.
Jean Twenge’s influential first book, Generation Me, spurred a national debate with its depiction of the challenges twenty- and thirty-somethings face in today’s world—and the fallout these issues make for educators and employers. Now, Dr. Twenge turns her focus to the pernicious spread of narcissism in today’s culture, which has repercussions for every age group and class. Dr. Twenge joins forces with W. Keith Campbell, Ph.D., a nationally recognizable practiced on narcissism, to explore this new plague in The Narcissism Epidemic, their eye-opening exposition of the alarming rise of narcissism and its catastrophic effects at every level of society. Even the world economy has been hurt by risky, unrealistic overconfidence. Drawing on their own wide research as well as decades of additional experts’ studies, Drs. Twenge and Campbell show us how to identify narcissism, minimize the forces that sustain and transmit it, and treat it or manage it where we find it. Filled with arresting, alarming, and even amusing tales of vanity gone off the tracks (would you like to hire your own personal paparazzi?), The Narcissism Epidemic is at once a riveting window into the consequences of narcissism, a prescription to combat the widespread problems it causes, and a probing analysis of the culture at large.
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The authors claims that their book describes the scientific research on narcissism, and that narcissism has led to interest-only mortgages, piles of debt, plastic surgery and cosmetic procedures, performance-enhancing drugs, grade inflation, the social networking explosion, and the national debt. (Global warming was somehow overlooked.)
One of the main sources of what the authors aver as a rapid growth of narcissism would have to be educators alleging that pupils that feel excellent about themselves do better in school. Sorry to say, this book contains no material reviewing studies cited by educators in support of their approach. Further, Canadian psychologist Krzesniewski’s review of the same data finds no evidence of an uptrend in narcissism from 1976-2006. Thus, the leader’s conclusions lack credibility and cannot be taken seriously. Ergo – this is nothing more than “junk science.”
Right, they cite copious studies supporting their conclusions – eg. that excess self-confidence (narcissism) leads to poorer literary outcomes, increased fleeting-term success as leaders (but not long-term). But that’s not nearly as valuable as also addressing studies that lead to opposing conclusions, and explaining their anomalous findings.
As for asserting that narcissism is reliable for the national debt, interest-only mortgages, performance-enhancing drugs, our rising national and trade deficits, etc. – what about alternative rational explanations such as trying to better oneself, or the viewpoints of some economists and financial experts that support these trends?
I did appreciate the authors’ citing lack of progress on 17-year-olds’ NAEP scores from 1976-2006 – math scores rose from 304 to 307, while reading held steady at 285 (< 1% improvement). So much for doubling inflation-adjusted per pupil spending over that same time period!
Finally, “Seeing the Elephant” included a chart showing that psychology is the least preferred meadow of study for foreign students (11%) – perhaps due to lack of rigor and value . . .? (Education – 13%, science and engineering – 45%, computer science 65%, engineering 68%.)
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
I had to choose between this book and Dr. Drew Pinsky’s book on the same topic that proceeded it by about a year or so.
Well, I wish I had chosen Dr. Drew’s book as a replacement for.
Where do I start? Written by not one, but two PhDs, this book is overly long with monotonously listed examples of perceived narcissism in today’s society. I’d bet these two follow TMZ more closely than the celebrity-worshipping people they deride.
What’s worse, this book is premised on two very specious asssumptions:
1. The subprime mortgage and narcissism? Anyone who was around during that time could clearly see that more than anything else, the problem was greed, pure and simple. That people could finance excessive material possessions with home equity does not automatically equate to narcissism. “Keeping up with the Joneses” was around long before neg-am loans and zero down.
2. Equating narcissism to an actual contractible disease, just like an epidemic? Wow, talk about specious. Do these people reflect that nobody is impervious to such shallow thinking and behavior? What’s worse, they go about explaining how to ‘cure’ American society just as you would an communicable disease. Hello??!? And to top it off, their suggested course of action is really just common sense: spend less, reflect more about others and less about one’s self, etc., etc.
The authors use themselves and their families in many instances as real-life examples. Who cares??!? These come across less as examples and more like wordy, self-absorbed asides that distract from the topic at hand.
For a book written by two supposedly smart people, it sure comes across as one that was dumbed down so much as to be of no use to anyone. This book is far more fluff than substance, and anyone looking for any real serious insight into the workings of the American narcissistic mind should look elsewhere.
Despite my unfortunate experience with this book, I still may give Dr. Drew’s a try. After all, he’s the one who noticed the societal trend first, and the concept of narcissism in today’s American society could be a very compelling topic if it were open more ably than here.
Reader’s Rating: 1 / 5
I establish this to be a very hard read. Its initial discussion of narcissism claims to make a clear honor between NPD and the narcissistic traits establish in our society. The rambling discussion which follows, only muddies the honor, language at part about clinical aspects of NPD that it should have left well enough alone. What is missing is a clear, concise definition of what personality traits the authors reflect are growing in our society and what is causing them. A concise paragraph or two would have surficed.
As a replacement for of presenting a clear thesis and using that as its focus, the book rambles forwards into a collection of examples and studies that take in far too many topics in too fantastic a depth before struggling back to their relationship to societal narcissism. Discussions that might have been appealing are bogged down by a disorganized presentation style. I repeatedly establish myself forgetting what the book was talking about by the time it made its point. I also grew tired of it repeating how certain traits were reliable for our fleeting comings when there was no clear tie between the point being made and the studies open. I read about middle through, but couldn’t force myself to end this in spite of a high interest level in the topic and the fact that I agree that we are a narcissitic society.
Reader’s Rating: 2 / 5
This book is about the wide and disturbing research done by 2 authors that clarify the escalation of cultural narcissism. I will say right here that there is some excellent research, but some terrible information that we do not agree with in the book. The book’s theme caught our attention in light of what the bible says the world will be like just before Christ return, that evil will increase. In 2 Timothy 3:1-4 it says “But realize this, that in the last days hard times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, lacking self-control, brutal, haters of excellent, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather then lovers of God,”
The book covers many of the social effects egocentricity has on relationships, business, the economy, family tree, child-rearing/development, and how this effects the society as a whole. The research in this area of the book was exceptional and went into much detailed accounts. One of the more appealing points was that equipment is building ‘nar-Sin-ism’ (our term) flourish!
This book is psychology based, but we establish the research appealing reading. Chapter 4 “How did we get here?” lays out the origins of the epidemic. The book even goes into the Banking/financial and mortagage crisis and how egocentricity and greed played into the economical collapse. They show how ‘entitlement’ is the key culprit, and that with each generation ’self-admiration’ has increased to treacherous levels. From a Christian perpective the section 4 – scenario/treatment would NOT be recommended reading.
Narcissism is described as feeling superior to others and entitled, missing a deep-tie to others, using people for your own ends, immodest, cheating, and manipulative with small concern for others, and is ‘Self-Worship’, at the very least it is an inflated view of the self. Although the authors write that narcissism is a disease, the bible calls it – egocentricity or self-centeredness, which is not a disease at all, but is a Sin. It is a condition of our fallen scenery, and is why we need a Savior. They point out the deference between self-confidence and narcissism and say; “There is a difference between narcissism and self-confidence, feeling ’special’ is Narrcissism – not self-esteem, not self-confidence and not something we should be building in our children.” Feeling ’special’ is unlikely to lead to ‘respect for others’, and of course, they don’t have to obey the rules.
On pg.76 they say; “When children are overindulged, it leads to outcomes resembling the ’seven deadly sins’: Pride, wrath, envy, sloth, gluttony, lust, and greed.” On this point, they refer back to psychology for a diagnosis, but the bible has various passages throughout that lists these as ’sins of the flesh’ Galatians 5:19-21, and in verse 22, tells believers to place on the fruit of the Spirit.
The book does touch on the theme of Religion, and they do admit it’s benefits to struggle the epidemic and they teach a moral ethic and ’selfless’ life. The Authors mention Joel Osteen and his misguided teachings on ‘loving yourself’ as an example of NOT producing what it claims to do.
Reader’s Rating: 3 / 5
The primary scientific evidence for the being of an “epidemic of narcissism” involves changes over time (1979 to 2006) in college student scores on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory. But, there is ongoing debate in the psychological literature concerning the merit of this evidence.
Contrary to what one would expect amidst an “epidemic of narcissism” among college students, evidence indicates that anxiety, external locus of control (being controlled by external forces), volunteering (and for the right prosocial reasons), and spirituality (belief in a privileged power, sense of purpose, and compassion)are all increasing, while empathy and agreeableness remain about the same, and medical cosmetic procedures really decreased by 12% between 2007 and 2008 (for a detailed synopsis, please see [...]).
Agreed this debate, what remains is loads of anecdotal evidence based on selected segments of the population. It makes for fun and appealing reading, but I’ve been teaching balanced empirical psychology at the college level for 35 years, and I’m not at all convinced that there really is an epidemic of narcissism.
Reader’s Rating: 2 / 5