| The perpetrators of the recent spate of financial | | | | the unjust, capricious, emotionally dangerous world |
| frauds in the USA acted with callous disregard for | | | | that he occupies. But, at the same time, it fosters in |
| both their employees and shareholders - not to | | | | him a false sense of "nothing can happen to me, |
| mention other stakeholders. Psychologists have often | | | | because I am not here, I am not available to be |
| remote-diagnosed them as "malignant, pathological | | | | punished, hence I am immune to punishment".The |
| narcissists".Narcissists are driven by the need to | | | | comfort of false immunity is also yielded by the |
| uphold and maintain a false self - a concocted, | | | | narcissist's sense of entitlement. In his grandiose |
| grandiose, and demanding psychological construct | | | | delusions, the narcissist is sui generis, a gift to |
| typical of the narcissistic personality disorder. The | | | | humanity, a precious, fragile, object. Moreover, the |
| false self is projected to the world in order to garner | | | | narcissist is convinced both that this uniqueness is |
| "narcissistic supply" - adulation, admiration, or even | | | | immediately discernible - and that it gives him special |
| notoriety and infamy. Any kind of attention is usually | | | | rights. The narcissist feels that he is protected by |
| deemed by narcissists to be preferable to | | | | some cosmological law pertaining to "endangered |
| obscurity.The false self is suffused with fantasies of | | | | species".He is convinced that his future contribution |
| perfection, grandeur, brilliance, infallibility, immunity, | | | | to others - his firm, his country, humanity - should |
| significance, omnipotence, omnipresence, and | | | | and does exempt him from the mundane: daily |
| omniscience. To be a narcissist is to be convinced of | | | | chores, boring jobs, recurrent tasks, personal |
| a great, inevitable personal destiny. The narcissist is | | | | exertion, orderly investment of resources and |
| preoccupied with ideal love, the construction of | | | | efforts, laws and regulations, social conventions, and |
| brilliant, revolutionary scientific theories, the | | | | so on.The narcissist is entitled to a "special |
| composition or authoring or painting of the greatest | | | | treatment": high living standards, constant and |
| work of art, the founding of a new school of | | | | immediate catering to his needs, the eradication of |
| thought, the attainment of fabulous wealth, the | | | | any friction with the humdrum and the routine, an |
| reshaping of a nation or a conglomerate, and so on. | | | | all-engulfing absolution of his sins, fast track privileges |
| The narcissist never sets realistic goals to himself. He | | | | (to higher education, or in his encounters with |
| is forever preoccupied with fantasies of uniqueness, | | | | bureaucracies, for instance). Punishment, trusts the |
| record breaking, or breathtaking achievements. His | | | | narcissist, is for ordinary people, where no great loss |
| verbosity reflects this propensity.Reality is, naturally, | | | | to humanity is involved.Narcissists are possessed of |
| quite different and this gives rise to a "grandiosity | | | | inordinate abilities to charm, to convince, to seduce, |
| gap". The demands of the false self are never | | | | and to persuade. Many of them are gifted orators |
| satisfied by the narcissist's accomplishments, standing, | | | | and intellectually endowed. Many of them work in in |
| wealth, clout, sexual prowess, or knowledge. The | | | | politics, the media, fashion, show business, the arts, |
| narcissist's grandiosity and sense of entitlement are | | | | medicine, or business, and serve as religious |
| equally incommensurate with his achievements.To | | | | leaders.By virtue of their standing in the community, |
| bridge the grandiosity gap, the malignant (pathological) | | | | their charisma, or their ability to find the willing |
| narcissist resorts to shortcuts. These very often lead | | | | scapegoats, they do get exempted many times. |
| to fraud.The narcissist cares only about appearances. | | | | Having recurrently "got away with it" - they develop |
| What matters to him are the facade of wealth and | | | | a theory of personal immunity, founded upon some |
| its attendant social status and narcissistic supply. | | | | kind of societal and even cosmic "order" in which |
| Witness the travestied extravagance of Tyco's Denis | | | | certain people are above punishment.But there is a |
| Kozlowski. Media attention only exacerbates the | | | | fourth, simpler, explanation. The narcissist lacks |
| narcissist's addiction and makes it incumbent on him | | | | self-awareness. Divorced from his true self, unable to |
| to go to ever-wilder extremes to secure | | | | empathise (to understand what it is like to be |
| uninterrupted supply from this source.The narcissist | | | | someone else), unwilling to constrain his actions to |
| lacks empathy - the ability to put himself in other | | | | cater to the feelings and needs of others - the |
| people's shoes. He does not recognize boundaries - | | | | narcissist is in a constant dreamlike state.To the |
| personal, corporate, or legal. Everything and everyone | | | | narcissist, his life is unreal, like watching an |
| are to him mere instruments, extensions, objects | | | | autonomously unfolding movie. The narcissist is a |
| unconditionally and uncomplainingly available in his | | | | mere spectator, mildly interested, greatly entertained |
| pursuit of narcissistic gratification.This makes the | | | | at times. He does not "own" his actions. He, |
| narcissist perniciously exploitative. He uses, abuses, | | | | therefore, cannot understand why he should be |
| devalues, and discards even his nearest and dearest | | | | punished and when he is, he feels grossly wronged.So |
| in the most chilling manner. The narcissist is utility- | | | | convinced is the narcissist that he is destined to |
| driven, obsessed with his overwhelming need to | | | | great things - that he refuses to accept setbacks, |
| reduce his anxiety and regulate his labile sense of | | | | failures and punishments. He regards them as |
| self-worth by securing a constant supply of his drug - | | | | temporary, as the outcomes of someone else's |
| attention. American executives acted without | | | | errors, as part of the future mythology of his rise to |
| compunction when they raided their employees' | | | | power/brilliance/wealth/ideal love, etc. Being punished |
| pension funds - as did Robert Maxwell a generation | | | | is a diversion of his precious energy and resources |
| earlier in Britain.The narcissist is convinced of his | | | | from the all-important task of fulfilling his mission in |
| superiority - cerebral or physical. To his mind, he is a | | | | life.The narcissist is pathologically envious of people |
| Gulliver hamstrung by a horde of narrow-minded and | | | | and believes that they are equally envious of him. He |
| envious Lilliputians. The dotcom "new economy" was | | | | is paranoid, on guard, ready to fend off an imminent |
| infested with "visionaries" with a contemptuous | | | | attack. A punishment to the narcissist is a major |
| attitude towards the mundane: profits, business | | | | surprise and a nuisance but it also validates his |
| cycles, conservative economists, doubtful journalists, | | | | suspicion that he is being persecuted. It proves to |
| and cautious analysts.Yet, deep inside, the narcissist is | | | | him that strong forces are arrayed against him.He |
| painfully aware of his addiction to others - their | | | | tells himself that people, envious of his achievements |
| attention, admiration, applause, and affirmation. He | | | | and humiliated by them, are out to get him. He |
| despises himself for being thus dependent. He hates | | | | constitutes a threat to the accepted order. When |
| people the same way a drug addict hates his pusher. | | | | required to pay for his misdeeds, the narcissist is |
| He wishes to "put them in their place", humiliate | | | | always disdainful and bitter and feels misunderstood |
| them, demonstrate to them how inadequate and | | | | by his inferiors.Cooked books, corporate fraud, |
| imperfect they are in comparison to his regal self and | | | | bending the (GAAP or other) rules, sweeping |
| how little he craves or needs them.The narcissist | | | | problems under the carpet, over-promising, making |
| regards himself as one would an expensive present, | | | | grandiose claims (the "vision thing") - are hallmarks of |
| a gift to his company, to his family, to his neighbours, | | | | a narcissist in action. When social cues and norms |
| to his colleagues, to his country. This firm conviction | | | | encourage such behaviour rather than inhibit it - in |
| of his inflated importance makes him feel entitled to | | | | other words, when such behaviour elicits abundant |
| special treatment, special favors, special outcomes, | | | | narcissistic supply - the pattern is reinforced and |
| concessions, subservience, immediate gratification, | | | | become entrenched and rigid. Even when |
| obsequiousness, and lenience. It also makes him feel | | | | circumstances change, the narcissist finds it difficult |
| immune to mortal laws and somehow divinely | | | | to adapt, shed his routines, and replace them with |
| protected and insulated from the inevitable | | | | new ones. He is trapped in his past success. He |
| consequences of his deeds and misdeeds.The | | | | becomes a swindler.But pathological narcissism is not |
| self-destructive narcissist plays the role of the "bad | | | | an isolated phenomenon. It is embedded in our |
| guy" (or "bad girl"). But even this is within the | | | | contemporary culture. The West's is a narcissistic |
| traditional social roles cartoonishly exaggerated by the | | | | civilization. It upholds narcissistic values and penalizes |
| narcissist to attract attention. Men are likely to | | | | alternative value-systems. From an early age, children |
| emphasise intellect, power, aggression, money, or | | | | are taught to avoid self-criticism, to deceive |
| social status. Narcissistic women are likely to | | | | themselves regarding their capacities and attainments, |
| emphasise body, looks, charm, sexuality, feminine | | | | to feel entitled, and to exploit others.As Lilian Katz |
| "traits", homemaking, children and childrearing.Punishing | | | | observed in her important paper, "Distinctions |
| the wayward narcissist is a veritable catch-22.A jail | | | | between Self-Esteem and Narcissism: Implications for |
| term is useless as a deterrent if it only serves to | | | | Practice", published by the Educational Resources |
| focus attention on the narcissist. Being infamous is | | | | Information Center, the line between enhancing |
| second best to being famous - and far preferable to | | | | self-esteem and fostering narcissism is often blurred |
| being ignored. The only way to effectively punish a | | | | by educators and parents.Both Christopher Lasch in |
| narcissist is to withhold narcissistic supply from him | | | | "The Culture of Narcissism" and Theodore Millon in his |
| and thus to prevent him from becoming a notorious | | | | books about personality disorders, singled out |
| celebrity.Given a sufficient amount of media | | | | American society as narcissistic. Litigiousness may be |
| exposure, book contracts, talk shows, lectures, and | | | | the flip side of an inane sense of entitlement. |
| public attention - the narcissist may even consider | | | | Consumerism is built on this common and communal |
| the whole grisly affair to be emotionally rewarding. | | | | lie of "I can do anything I want and possess |
| To the narcissist, freedom, wealth, social status, | | | | everything I desire if I only apply myself to it" and on |
| family, vocation - are all means to an end. And the | | | | the pathological envy it fosters.Not surprisingly, |
| end is attention. If he can secure attention by being | | | | narcissistic disorders are more common among men |
| the big bad wolf - the narcissist unhesitatingly | | | | than among women. This may be because narcissism |
| transforms himself into one. Lord Archer, for | | | | conforms to masculine social mores and to the |
| instance, seems to be positively basking in the media | | | | prevailing ethos of capitalism. Ambition, achievements, |
| circus provoked by his prison diaries.The narcissist | | | | hierarchy, ruthlessness, drive - are both social values |
| does not victimise, plunder, terrorise and abuse | | | | and narcissistic male traits. Social thinkers like the |
| others in a cold, calculating manner. He does so | | | | aforementioned Lasch speculated that modern |
| offhandedly, as a manifestation of his genuine | | | | American culture - a self-centred one - increases the |
| character. To be truly "guilty" one needs to intend, to | | | | rate of incidence of the narcissistic personality |
| deliberate, to contemplate one's choices and then to | | | | disorder.Otto Kernberg, a notable scholar of |
| choose one's acts. The narcissist does none of | | | | personality disorders, confirmed Lasch's intuition: |
| these.Thus, punishment breeds in him surprise, hurt | | | | "Society can make serious psychological abnormalities, |
| and seething anger. The narcissist is stunned by | | | | which already exist in some percentage of the |
| society's insistence that he should be held | | | | population, seem to be at least superficially |
| accountable for his deeds and penalized accordingly. | | | | appropriate."In their book "Personality Disorders in |
| He feels wronged, baffled, injured, the victim of bias, | | | | Modern Life", Theodore Millon and Roger Davis state, |
| discrimination and injustice. He rebels and | | | | as a matter of fact, that pathological narcissism was |
| rages.Depending upon the pervasiveness of his | | | | once the preserve of "the royal and the wealthy" |
| magical thinking, the narcissist may feel besieged by | | | | and that it "seems to have gained prominence only in |
| overwhelming powers, forces cosmic and intrinsically | | | | the late twentieth century". Narcissism, according to |
| ominous. He may develop compulsive rites to fend | | | | them, may be associated with "higher levels of |
| off this "bad", unwarranted, persecutory | | | | Maslow's hierarchy of needs ... Individuals in less |
| influences.The narcissist, very much the infantile | | | | advantaged nations .. are too busy trying (to survive) |
| outcome of stunted personal development, engages | | | | ... to be arrogant and grandiose".They - like Lasch |
| in magical thinking. He feels omnipotent, that there is | | | | before them - attribute pathological narcissism to "a |
| nothing he couldn't do or achieve if only he sets his | | | | society that stresses individualism and |
| mind to it. He feels omniscient - he rarely admits to | | | | self-gratification at the expense of community, |
| ignorance and regards his intuitions and intellect as | | | | namely the United States." They assert that the |
| founts of objective data.Thus, narcissists are | | | | disorder is more prevalent among certain professions |
| haughtily convinced that introspection is a more | | | | with "star power" or respect. "In an individualistic |
| important and more efficient (not to mention easier | | | | culture, the narcissist is 'God's gift to the world'. In a |
| to accomplish) method of obtaining knowledge than | | | | collectivist society, the narcissist is 'God's gift to the |
| the systematic study of outside sources of | | | | collective."Millon quotes Warren and Caponi's "The |
| information in accordance with strict and tedious | | | | Role of Culture in the Development of Narcissistic |
| curricula. Narcissists are "inspired" and they despise | | | | Personality Disorders in America, Japan and |
| hamstrung technocrats.To some extent, they feel | | | | Denmark":"Individualistic narcissistic structures of |
| omnipresent because they are either famous or | | | | self-regard (in individualistic societies) ... are rather |
| about to become famous or because their product is | | | | self-contained and independent ... (In collectivist |
| selling or is being manufactured globally. Deeply | | | | cultures) narcissistic configurations of the we-self ... |
| immersed in their delusions of grandeur, they firmly | | | | denote self-esteem derived from strong identification |
| believe that their acts have - or will have - a great | | | | with the reputation and honor of the family, groups, |
| influence not only on their firm, but on their country, | | | | and others in hierarchical relationships."Still, there are |
| or even on Mankind. Having mastered the | | | | malignant narcissists among subsistence farmers in |
| manipulation of their human environment - they are | | | | Africa, nomads in the Sinai desert, day laborers in |
| convinced that they will always "get away with it". | | | | east Europe, and intellectuals and socialites in |
| They develop hubris and a false sense of | | | | Manhattan. Malignant narcissism is all-pervasive and |
| immunity.Narcissistic immunity is the (erroneous) | | | | independent of culture and society. It is true, though, |
| feeling, harboured by the narcissist, that he is | | | | that the way pathological narcissism manifests and is |
| impervious to the consequences of his actions, that | | | | experienced is dependent on the particulars of |
| he will never be effected by the results of his own | | | | societies and cultures.In some cultures, it is |
| decisions, opinions, beliefs, deeds and misdeeds, acts, | | | | encouraged, in others suppressed. In some societies |
| inaction, or membership of certain groups, that he is | | | | it is channeled against minorities - in others it is |
| above reproach and punishment, that, magically, he is | | | | tainted with paranoia. In collectivist societies, it may |
| protected and will miraculously be saved at the last | | | | be projected onto the collective, in individualistic |
| moment. Hence the audacity, simplicity, and | | | | societies, it is an individual's trait.Yet, can families, |
| transparency of some of the fraud and corporate | | | | organizations, ethnic groups, churches, and even |
| looting in the 1990's. Narcissists rarely bother to cover | | | | whole nations be safely described as "narcissistic" or |
| their traces, so great is their disdain and conviction | | | | "pathologically self-absorbed"? Can we talk about a |
| that they are above mortal laws and | | | | "corporate culture of narcissism"?Human collectives - |
| wherewithal.What are the sources of this unrealistic | | | | states, firms, households, institutions, political parties, |
| appraisal of situations and events?The false self is a | | | | cliques, bands - acquire a life and a character all their |
| childish response to abuse and trauma. Abuse is not | | | | own. The longer the association or affiliation of the |
| limited to sexual molestation or beatings. Smothering, | | | | members, the more cohesive and conformist the |
| doting, pampering, over-indulgence, treating the child | | | | inner dynamics of the group, the more persecutory |
| as an extension of the parent, not respecting the | | | | or numerous its enemies, competitors, or adversaries, |
| child's boundaries, and burdening the child with | | | | the more intensive the physical and emotional |
| excessive expectations are also forms of abuse.The | | | | experiences of the individuals it is comprised of, the |
| child reacts by constructing false self that is | | | | stronger the bonds of locale, language, and history - |
| possessed of everything it needs in order to prevail: | | | | the more rigorous might an assertion of a common |
| unlimited and instantaneously available Harry | | | | pathology be.Such an all-pervasive and extensive |
| Potter-like powers and wisdom. The false self, this | | | | pathology manifests itself in the behavior of each and |
| Superman, is indifferent to abuse and punishment. | | | | every member. It is a defining - though often implicit |
| This way, the child's true self is shielded from the | | | | or underlying - mental structure. It has explanatory |
| toddler's harsh reality.This artificial, maladaptive | | | | and predictive powers. It is recurrent and invariable - |
| separation between a vulnerable (but not punishable) | | | | a pattern of conduct melding distorted cognition and |
| true self and a punishable (but invulnerable) false self | | | | stunted emotions. And it is often vehemently denied. |
| is an effective mechanism. It isolates the child from | | | | |