What Causes Narcissism?

Dealing with narcissists is no easy task. They are by definition arrogant, entitled, exploitative, self-absorbed, and forceful. At the same time, they are also charming, persuasive, and attractive — making it difficult to navigate past their treacherous webs.

But how do narcissists get that way in the first place?

In trying to explain the development of this rather uncharitable trait, current thinking tends to emphasize the roles that environment and experience play. This includes indulgent or neglectful parenting, an individualistic culture, the exponential growth of social media, and media exposure to celebrities behaving badly. While these external factors have strong influence development of narcissism, they overlook another crucial contributor: Biology.

In a recent paper, psychologists Nicholas Holtzman and M. Brent Donnellan propose three novel explanations for the development of narcissism, which draw on both biology and the environment:

1. It's a physical thing. While the search for a “narcissism gene" hasn't as yet been successful, the authors aver that it is a trait with a physical basis. Specifically, they maintain that an individual may become narcissistic because of what they look like — that is, the actual physical attributes they possess. Technically, this concept is known as reactive inheritance, which holds that a person's physical appearance shapes their personality. For example, larger individuals may be more outwardly aggressive than those who are smaller because it's more effective for them. In the case of narcissism, Holzman and Donnellan point out that this trait is associated with certain physical features. Indeed, studies show that this personality trait is linked to attractiveness, strength, and smooth movement, perhaps reflecting athletic prowess. They note that anecdotally, narcissism has been linked to sharper facial features in women, and a larger head, thinner lips, a sturdy jaw, and thicker eyebrows in men.

2. It's a nature-nurture thing. Narcissism may also result from the complex interactions between genes and the environment. The thinking goes that people vary in their genetic make up, and have a greater or lesser potential to become narcissistic. However — and this is key — environmental factors exert influence on whether narcissistic tendencies are expressed. From this perspective, people who are genetically predisposed to narcissism will develop it if, for example, they are raised in environments in which caregivers lack sensitivity, like being inappropriately demanding or unresponsive. For instance, those who naturally lean towards confidence or exuberance will become narcissistic if their parents are misattuned to their needs.

3. It's an evolutionary thing. Narcissism may be the result of evolutionary selection because it offers survival and reproductive advantages. Holzman and Donnellan propose three explanations as to why:

•Narcissism may advance short-term mating — and in so doing, evolutionary fitness (i.e., passing down genes to succeeding generations). The idea here is that over evolutionary history, the qualities associated with narcissism, including being attractive and sexually coercive, would have made it easier for them to mate and achieve reproductive success.

• Narcissism may advance survival through its relationship with dominance. According to this argument, dominance was selected because it is one way to achieve high social status, and at the same time the emotional systems that allow for the display of hubristic pride were also selected. The thinking here goes that the expression of hubristic pride makes narcissists appear dominant, which paves the way to high social status. In turn, high social status translates into the ability to attain resources like food, material goods, and shelter that would have promoted survival. In other words, dominant narcissists got that way because it helped them survive over the course of evolutionary history.

• Short-term mating and dominance were selected together over evolutionary time — and shaped narcissism. Here, are the argument goes that on the one hand, the narcissist's proficiency for short-term mating would have allowed him to pass on his genes to succeeding generations, and achieve evolutionary fitness. On the other hand, the narcissist's dominance would have permitted the attainment of high social status, and in so doing advance the ability to acquire resources, increasing the probability of survival. Thus, this dual selection would have given narcissists both survival and reproductive advantages.

Again, interactions and relationships with narcissists can be difficult to manage. But perhaps these fresh ideas on how they got that way can, at the very least, shed some light on why they are the way they are.

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Vinita Mehta, Ph.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist in Washington, D.C., and an expert on relationships, managing anxiety and stress, and building health and resilience. She provides speaking engagements for your organization and psychotherapy for adults. She has successfully worked with individuals struggling with depression, anxiety, and life transitions, with a growing specialization in recovery from trauma and abuse. She is also the author of the forthcoming book, Paleo Love: How Our Stone Age Bodies Complicate Modern Relationships.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/head-games/201606/what-causes-narcissism