Many people believe that narcissistic individuals have untouchable self-esteem and therefore tend to brag all the time about their own achievements. Others believe that it is precisely their low self-esteem that makes them constantly assert themselves. However, a study by Virgil Zeigler-Hill goes against this idea, as he states that the reason for self-aggrandizement is the fact that narcissists seek status.
Narcissists chase the need to be admired or to have status
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It is very common to confuse narcissism with high self-esteem, because narcissists are in constant self-affirmation of their supposed qualities and achievements. However, research has revealed that there are many instances where narcissists have behavior problems. self esteem.
However, research led by Virgil Zeigler-Hill Professor of Psychology at Oakland University in Michigan states that although there are narcissistic individuals with low self-esteem, the fact that they constantly aggrandize themselves has more to do with having status than with feeling good with themselves.
The professor further states, “What really matters to them is navigating status hierarchies… They care about being better than others. other people, they care about other people's respect and admiration, they care about the benefits you get from having status high".
Status is a priority for narcissists
It is normal for people to worry about how they are perceived by others, however, for narcissists this issue goes far beyond normality.
They don't care how they feel about themselves, after all it has to do with self-esteem, the real focus. of these individuals concerns how they are seen in society, that is, the status position they occupy.
What are narcissistic people like?
Narcissism is a personality disorder and people who live with it are extremely egocentric, they always express themselves in a grandiose way and hardly have any level of empathy with the other people.
There are different types of narcissists, some of them have high self-esteem, others don't. Therefore, the study came to the conclusion that the true focus of narcissists is the status and the fact that they are admired.
In this way, high self-esteem ends up being a consequence of feeling exalted and admired and not the other way around.
To confirm the theory, the researchers used psychology students to answer some questions and those who most exhibited narcissistic traits responded with things like “I wish I were famous”, “I wish all my enemies failed”.
