Good Example Of Narcissism Research Paper

The word ‘narcissism’ originated from a Roman Poet Ovid, who wrote in the Metamorphoses a story of Narcissus and Echo. In the myth, Narcissus, who was a very handsome man, had to spurn advances from many lovers. One of the many lovers was nymph Echo who was cursed and condemned to only reflecting the sounds made by others. Since then the word has evolved into a specialized psychoanalytic term (“A brief history of Narcissism,” n.d).
In psychology and psychiatry, narcissistic personality disorder is among the personality maladaptation that causes people to behave in socially distressing ways that limit the ability of the person(s) to function well in relationships. However, every person has some narcissistic tendencies. However, the mild occurrences of such tendencies, as one shall realize later do not necessarily lead to narcissistic personality disorder. Narcissism and the narcissistic personality disorder do not refer to the same thing. However, the two are directly related since narcissism is a mild form of the narcissistic personality disorder. The difference is quite narrow to make a definite boundary between narcissism and the narcissistic personality disorder.
Narcissistic persons have the following characteristics. However, the characteristics do not need to appear all in one person. A combination of several can describe the person fully and help in the diagnosis of narcissism or narcissistic personality disorder. A narcissistic person has an exaggerated feeling of self-importance. The person does not seem to acknowledge the abilities of others and tends to presume to be more important than any other. Therefore, the person often ignores the rest of the people around him or her. They contradict themselves and misquote others intentionally to force them to agree with their opinion(s).
Moreover, narcissists do not have a mature conscience. Such is depicted by expecting recognition for statuses that they do not have. In other words, the narcissistic person behaves as having a superior status that is more of a fancy than reality. To make this seem real, the individuals tend to exaggeration their talents as well as achievements. For example, someone may lie to have a degree yet they only a junior certificate. One may also boast to others about how they have conquered various battles or contests yet they did not even participate in them.
Since those with narcissistic personality disorder have a very high self-esteem, they often work hard to do things that would elevate them. However, in so doing, they tend to step on others by taking unfair advantage of them. For example, they may use Machiavellian principles of fixing fellow workers to scandals to get rid of them so as to get promotions at work. Due to lack of empathy, they feel entitled to unquestioning compliances. Anyone crossing their paths on compliance receives arrogance comments and statements discrediting them. It is evident, therefore, that narcissistic people have dictatorial characters in the work environment.
The driving force is envy towards others and often tends to assume that others covet their positions at work. When one is envious of other, they do all what is within their powers to alienate them since they perceive them as enemies. Therefore, they would have some strange work habits. They tend to work for goals that differ from that of the others. For example, normal people would seek to get a salary, and want free time to pursue personal goals. On the other hand, a narcissistic person would work for power, recognition, and adulation.
In addition, the narcissistic person would claim to wild imagined brilliance and even tend to have an over expectation of mate(s) i.e. seeks the perfect mate(s). These exaggerations impede the person from developing to achieve the actual levels of power or status. On top of that, they also have challenges in keeping relationships with fellow workers and sexual partners without due cause of strain in the relationships.
In most instances, narcissistic people are the successful people with a history of alienating co-workers, employees, clients, and business partners. It is easy to confuse confidence and narcissism, but the two are not similar. Narcissistic persons have an extreme self-confidence to the point of ignoring the value of others, as well as treating them badly, and show no empathy (Mayo Clinic, 2014). Examples of people with narcissistic personality disorder include Jim Jones, William Shatner, Ike Turner, Oprah, and Pablo Picasso, among others (Alexander Burgemeester, 2013).

Works cited

Burgemeester A. Famous People with Narcissism. 2013. Retrieved from http://thenarcissisticlife.com/famous-people-with-narcissism/
Mayo Clinic. Narcissistic personality disorder. 2014. Retrieved from http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/narcissistic-personality- disorder/basics/symptoms/con-20025568>
A brief history of Narcissism. Retrieved from http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/57606/skonrath_2.pdf&embedd ed=true?sequence=2