Moving narcissus: can narcissists be empathic?
Moving narcissus: can narcissists be empathic?
Empathy plays a critical role in fostering and maintaining social relations. Narcissists lack empathy, and this may account for their interpersonal failures. But why do narcissists lack empathy? Are they incapable, or is change possible? Three studies addressed this question. Study 1 showed that the link between narcissism and low empathy generalizes to a specific target person presented in a vignette. The effect was driven by maladaptive narcissistic components (i.e., entitlement, exploitativeness, exhibitionism). Study 2 examined the effect of perspective-taking (vs. control) instructions on self-reported responses to a video. Study 3 examined the effect of the same manipulation on autonomic arousal (heart rate [HR]) during an audio-recording. Perspective-taking ameliorated negative links between maladaptive narcissism and both self-reported empathy and HR. That is, narcissists can be moved by another’s suffering, if they take that person’s perspective. The findings demonstrate that narcissists’ low empathy does not reflect inability, implying potential for intervention.
1079-1091
Hepper, Erica G.
fe969931-cea2-4781-a474-d41a89b213ae
Hart, Claire M.
e3db9c72-f493-439c-a358-b3b482d55103
Sedikides, Constantine
9d45e66d-75bb-44de-87d7-21fd553812c2
1 September 2014
Hepper, Erica G.
fe969931-cea2-4781-a474-d41a89b213ae
Hart, Claire M.
e3db9c72-f493-439c-a358-b3b482d55103
Sedikides, Constantine
9d45e66d-75bb-44de-87d7-21fd553812c2
Hepper, Erica G., Hart, Claire M. and Sedikides, Constantine
(2014)
Moving narcissus: can narcissists be empathic?
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 40, .
(doi:10.1177/0146167214535812).
Abstract
Empathy plays a critical role in fostering and maintaining social relations. Narcissists lack empathy, and this may account for their interpersonal failures. But why do narcissists lack empathy? Are they incapable, or is change possible? Three studies addressed this question. Study 1 showed that the link between narcissism and low empathy generalizes to a specific target person presented in a vignette. The effect was driven by maladaptive narcissistic components (i.e., entitlement, exploitativeness, exhibitionism). Study 2 examined the effect of perspective-taking (vs. control) instructions on self-reported responses to a video. Study 3 examined the effect of the same manipulation on autonomic arousal (heart rate [HR]) during an audio-recording. Perspective-taking ameliorated negative links between maladaptive narcissism and both self-reported empathy and HR. That is, narcissists can be moved by another’s suffering, if they take that person’s perspective. The findings demonstrate that narcissists’ low empathy does not reflect inability, implying potential for intervention.
Text
__filestore.soton.ac.uk_users_gg_mydocuments_constantine publications pdf's_2014_Hepper, Hart, & Sedikides, 2001, PSPB.docxeprints.docx
- Other
More information
e-pub ahead of print date: 30 May 2014
Published date: 1 September 2014
Organisations:
Human Wellbeing
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 369289
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/369289
ISSN: 0146-1672
PURE UUID: 878abe6c-b2b2-4462-8928-331dd1a3c076
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 30 Sep 2014 10:46
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:12
Export record
Altmetrics
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics
