Narcissism is a behavior or mania that manifests itself on an individual or collective level (collective narcissism). This adjective, which has its origins in the mythological figure of Narcissus, refers to the man who prides himself on being beautiful, who is in love with himself or who takes too much care of his composure. The myth states that Narcissus is a young man of singular beauty who arouses passions between mortals and gods, who are not reciprocal to the child’s inability to recognize and love the other.
Seeing his own face reflected in the water, Narcissus is delighted and can’t help but gaze at himself. The young man then fails to satisfy his own basic needs, absorbed in his image, and ends up turning into a beautiful and horrible flower, the narcissus. .
- Narcissism is associated with a grandiose and swollen image of oneself.
- Narcissistic people think they look better.
- They are smarter and more important than others.
- So they feel they deserve special treatment.
Narcissism is a type of personality that can lead to a personality disorder, this disorder affects 1 to 2% of the population, being more common in men, the traits associated with this disorder correspond to a great vision of oneself, problems of empathy, feelings of self-reliance and the need for admiration and attention. These traits take over the person, causing several problems.
Although the causes of narcissism are diverse, some of them are social, narcissism is generally more important in cultures that value individuality and self-provision, this narcissism also applies to groups. To know how this is going, you have to think about love, the love of a group in relation to itself.
But what happens when narcissism is shared by a group?Normally, people belong to several groups: nationality, sex, religion, etc. Membership in these groups involves a degree of involvement that can be more or less important, when the involvement is very important, it is often said that the person identifies a lot with their group.
Identifying a lot with a group means accepting the explicit and implicit rules of that same group, and those who feel highly identified will also internalize the values of that group, for example, if the rules of the group dictate that they be viewed in a certain way, the members of the group who identify with them will dress according to the rules.
The group’s standards and values condition certain behaviors by reinforcing. In a given situation, the way we behave can be very different. We can do things differently in a situation. However, if standards and values prescribe any form of behavior, our tendency will be to follow them.
So let’s say we’re talking about someone who belongs to a group that identifies a lot, if this group has narcissistic behavior among its norms and values, it’s also likely that this person will develop narcissistic behavior. In addition, all members of the group, at least those who identify a lot with it, will behave narcissistically.
In this situation, this group or community will be narcissistic. What will happen in psychology is called collective narcissism. Collective narcissism is defined as a significant emotional investment in an unrealistic belief that alludes to the exaggerated greatness of a group to which it belongs. To the extent that people can idealize themselves, they will be able to idealize the social groups to which they belong and differentiate themselves from other groups.
One of the characteristics of narcissism is that it has inflated the beliefs of superiority that require continuous external validation, imagine someone who thinks he is superior and needs to remember it every minute, when this does not happen, when others criticize you or question your superiority. , a likely outcome will be anger, which may be accompanied by aggression and violence.
In collective narcissism, members of the group would think that their group is much better than others, if other people in other groups do not recognize or question this, the result would be the same, the group would feel threatened and its members react in anger that could lead them to resort to violence against those who do not recognize their superiority.
In addition, narcissistic groups are often very sensitive and perceive/imagine threats at every turn; collective narcissism is linked to the attack of other groups when it is perceived that these groups threaten the image of our group; at the same time, does collective narcissism increase the likelihood of a situation between groups?disagreement, confrontation, debate, etc. ? be interpreted as threatening.
We all know groups with historically narcissistic characteristics, and we all know the consequences of the illusions of greatness of a group with a lot of power, for example, there is no need to go back too far in time and imagine the achievements of Hitler’s supporters in Nazi Germany.
The solution to this collective narcissism is complicated, because the means/variables of change that work as a group can be much more sensitive than those who work with people, and a mistake in that sense can be fatal. Attachment, empathy, closeness to people and making them understand that no one is superior are always solutions that, applied, generate positive results.