According to an Ohio State’s School of Communication research review published May 24, those who have high levels of narcissism are more likely to act aggressively towards others when they are threatened. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor
Being self-centered can have consequences, and a new Ohio State research review suggests aggression may be one of them.
According to an Ohio State School of Communication research review published May 24, those who have high levels of narcissism are more likely to act aggressively towards others when they are threatened. Brad Bushman, co-author of the study and professor of communication, said narcissism is a personality trait with a core belief of superiority and entitlement.
“There is a link between narcissism and aggression, regardless of whether narcissism was pathological or not, which is important to know,” Bushman said.
The review analyzed 437 other studies that looked at the link between narcissism and aggression, Bushman said.
Bushman said when a narcissistic person is provoked or threatened, they act physically and verbally aggressive as a defense mechanism to protect their image of themself.
“If you provoke somebody who thinks they’re great and wonderful and superior, they don’t like that, and they will attack you,” Bushman said.
Sophie Kjaervik, co-author of the study and a second-year in the School of Communication’s doctorate program, said narcissists may still act aggressively without provocation because they lack empathy and view others as inferior — making it easier to use or harm people.
Kjaervik said there are three different levels of narcissism: grandiose, where a person has high levels of self-esteem and narcissism; entitlement, where a person has no inflated sense of self and a stable good feeling about oneself; and vulnerable, where the person feels bad about oneself but still thinks they are better than others. The type of narcissism does not impact the level of aggression, she said.
“We found that it doesn’t matter which type of narcissist you are,” Kjaervik said. “All of them are associated with high levels of aggression.”
Kjaervik said narcissists can act aggressively in impulsive, cold-blooded or calculated ways, and are verbally aggressive when spreading gossip or bullying others both online and offline.
Bushman said the study found the correlation between narcissism and aggression was strong for both men and women across all ages and in different regions.
Narcissism develops through genetics and environmental factors, Kjaervik said. Parents who over-praise their children and compare them to everyone else foster narcissistic tendencies.
Kjaervik said social media has the potential to increase narcissism in society as more teenagers become attached to the praise that comes with likes and comments, which may nurture narcissistic personality traits.
Bushman said the goal of the review was to falsify the misconception that violence and aggression occur because a person has low self-esteem. He said there is no current evidence that proves self-esteem and violence are related.
“If you try to identify aggressive and violent people through self-esteem, you will fail because they’re just like everybody else, but narcissism is a better predictor of aggressive and violent behavior,” Bushman said.
Bushman said he hopes this study helps make the world more peaceful by addressing the factors that increase aggression and showing that no one is better than another.
“We’re all human beings,” Bushman said. “No one human being is more or less valuable than any other human being. We’re all part of the human family.”
