Well, according to a bunch of psychologists — one of whom is promoting her new book — they are. But where was the study published?
Um, it wasn’t.
The lead researcher on the study, Jean Twenge, has a defunct blog, a Q & A on her work, and a website promoting her new book. She also likes to make dire predictions:
“[These findings make] me very, very worried,” said Jean Twenge, the San Diego State associate professor who is lead author of the report. “I’m concerned we are heading to a society where people are going to treat each other badly, either on the street or in relationships.”
I’d be more nervous about researchers who publish studies as press releases, coincidentally just in time to help promote the launch of a new book. Reliably, news organizations ate the story up without much of a critical eye.
Are college students more narcissistic? My question would be, more narcissistic than whom? Not the general population, since the Narcissistic Personality Inventory was created in 1979, nearly 40 years ago, based upon DSM-III criteria for the disorder.
Article: Study finds students narcissistic
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3 Comments to
“Are Students More Narcissistic?”
Well, 1979 is nearly *30* years ago, but point taken.
As for news orgs eating it up, complain to your local journalism professors — not that many j-schools require training in statistics and research methods. In fact, I know of 2. It’s easy to be ignorant when you don’t have a base to start from and you’re on deadline with space to fill.
I think too many psychology tests confuse narcissism with good self-esteem. The language for both is very similar, I noticed when I was taking an inventory test in my college psych class. The fact is, if people really were more narcissistic and felt “too special” and this woman claims, I think the suicide rate would have gone down.
Well, for whatever it’s worth, the results of Twenge’s research are consistent with my personal experience and intuition.
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Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 30 Jun 2008
