February
Market Moment: Rising Narcissism Among College Students?
By DAVID CRARY AP National Writer
NEW YORK Feb 27, 2007 (AP)— 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.
“We need to stop endlessly repeating ‘You’re special’ and having children repeat that back,” said the study’s lead author, Professor Jean Twenge of San Diego State University. “Kids are self-centered enough already.”
Twenge and her colleagues, in findings to be presented at a workshop Tuesday in San Diego on the generation gap, examined the responses of 16,475 college students nationwide who completed an evaluation called the Narcissistic Personality Inventory between 1982 and 2006.
The standardized inventory, known as the NPI, asks for responses to such statements as “If I ruled the world, it would be a better place,” “I think I am a special person” and “I can live my life any way I want to.”
I’m not sure how this advances our understanding of the Millennials in a meaningful way. I think most of us have known that they think of themselves as special and demand more personalized, individual attention than their predecessors. What Professor Twinge blames almost entirely on parenting is also, I think, a result of a ‘long tail‘ product and media atmosphere in general. Not only are teens encouraged to build unique identities, but they are (perhaps for the first time) given the niche tools to actually create that unique persona whereas in the past they were limited to broadcast media, chain stores, etc. that were essentially the same everywhere.
Perhaps this is less a case of an increase in narcissism and more a case of a breakdown of group identity (be it national, regional, or clique). In the past, a common media and product atmosphere forced a sort of conformity and community mentality. With growing globalization and the ability for an individual to specialize and create their own media and product universe, we have less and less in common with our neighbors. I can only imagine a stronger individualism would arise from that situation–and a stronger sense of international community.
Maybe it’s just the AP reporter’s spin, but Professor Twinge’s quoted comments and one-liners seemed a little acid and got old fast. They certainly weren’t academic or helpful. While she touched on MySpace and YouTube as a part of the ‘problem,’ she didn’t go beyond the names of those services in attempting to describe their role in the change in the way teens think of themselves.
Oh. I get it. MySpace and YouTube. Ha. Ha. Ha. :(
February 28th, 2007 at 9:32 pm
“With growing globalization. . . .” I completely agree.
I’ve also found that over the last few years at Mansfield University, students seem more polite, socially conscious, and politically aware. Certainly not the characteristics of narcissism.
June 1st, 2007 at 9:26 am
I’m catching up on reading some other blogs and found this one…right after I had posted on my blog in response to the NPR piece on the work expectations of Millennials (May 30), which also cited Twenge’s research.
I agree that we can’t paint an entire generation with too broad a brush. Yet, I have experience as both a college admissions dean/director (20 years) and as a work supervisor of Millennials. More often than not, I have observed that Millennials in the workplace do carry with them the aura of “I’m special” and seem not to understand the concept of meeting expectations and objectives. For many, merely showing up every day was a feat that they deemed worthy of a raise or effusive praise.
My older employees (and I guess I must include myself in this category) seemed to have a completely different perspective on work. The important thing to us was to pursue the job or task to its conclusion and do the job well. If, at the end, we received a pat on the back or a word of thanks, it was almost always a surprise (and in some cases, we would demur–with no false modesty–that we were merely “doing our job”).
I think, as I noted in my blog piece, that this will have implications in the classroom as well.