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Collective narcissism (or group narcissism) is a type of narcissism where an individual has an inflated self-love of his or her own ingroup, where an "ingroup" is a group in which an individual is personally involved. While the classic definition of narcissism focuses on the individual, collective narcissism asserts that one can have a similar excessively high opinion of a group, and that a group can function as a narcissistic entity. Collective narcissism is related to ethnocentrism; however, ethnocentrism primarily focuses on self-centeredness at an ethnic or cultural level, while collective narcissism is extended to any type of ingroup, beyond just cultures and ethnicities. Some theorists believe group-level narcissism to be an extension of individual narcissism, though others believe the two to be independent of each other.

Development of the concept

In Sigmund Freud's 1922 study Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego, he noted how "every little canton looks down upon the others with contempt", as an instance of what would later to be termed "Freud's theory of collective narcissism". Thereafter, Wilhelm Reich and Isaiah Berlin explored what the latter called "the rise of modern national narcissism: the self-adoration of peoples". "Group narcissism" is described in a 1973 book entitled The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness by psychologist Erich Fromm.

In the 1990s, Pierre Bourdieu wrote of "a sort of collective narcissism affecting intellectual groups...inclining them to turn a complacent gaze on themselves". The term "collective narcissism" was highlighted anew by researchers Agnieszka Golec de Zavala, Aleksandra Cichocka, Roy Eidelson, and Nuwan Jayawickreme in 2009 in their study "Collective Narcissism and its Social Consequences".

Noting how "people's desire to see their own groups as better than other groups can lead to intergroup bias", Henri Tajfel approached the same phenomena in the seventies and eighties, so as to create "social identity theory, which argues that people's motivation to obtain positive self-esteem from their group memberships is one driving-force behind in-group bias".

Characteristics

Collective narcissism is characterized by the members of a group holding an inflated view of their ingroup. It is important to note that collective narcissism can be exhibited by an individual on behalf of a group or by a group as a whole. Fundamentally, however, collective narcissism always has some tie to the individuals who make up a narcissistic group. Collectively narcissistic groups require external validation, just as individual narcissists do. Organizations and groups who exhibit this behavior typically try to protect their identities through rewarding group-building behavior (this is positive reinforcement). According to Golec de Zavala and colleagues, collective is an alternative form of narcissism, not altogether connected to individual, where most characteristics of individual narcissism apply, but are manipulated to include the word "group" where "self" might be found. Golec de Zavala et al. state some parallels between individual and collective narcissism:

Collective Group Narcissistic Personality Disorder and Collective Individual Narcissistic Personality Disorder as different from Narcissistic Personality Disorder

"There are several connections, and intricate relationships between collective group and collective individual narcissism; or between collective individual narcissism stemming from group identities or activities. No single relationship between groups and individuals; however, is conclusive or universally applicable."

"In some cases, collective individual and group narcissism, a collective individual narcissist psychologically idealizes and devalues the 'sic' 'in-group' to which the individual belongs." Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). Some have even described Hitler's speeches as "hypnotic"—even to non-German speakers—and his rallies as "watching hypnosis on large scale". Hitler's charisma convinced the German people to believe that they were not weak, and that by destroying the perceived weakness from among them (the Jews), they would be enhancing their own strength—satisfying their ideal-hungry desire for strength, and pleasing their mirror-hungry charismatic leader.

Intergroup aggression

Collective narcissism has been shown to be a factor in intergroup aggression and bias. Primary components of collectively narcissistic intergroup relations involve aggression against, and perceived threat from, outgroups with which the narcissistic ingroup has frequent interaction. Collective narcissism helps to explain unreasonable manifestations of retaliation between groups. A narcissistic group is more sensitive to perceived criticism exhibited by outgroups, and is therefore more likely to retaliate. Collective narcissism is also related to negativity between groups who share a history of distressing experiences. This intergroup callousness is the result of an unforgiving narcissistic party. For example, one might consider gang-violence and inter-gang aggression highly collectively narcissistic. Gangs are typically ultra-sensitive to perceived outward negativism.

It is common for narcissistic ingroups to have an unstable high group self-esteem. Because of this instability, narcissistic groups are especially prone to perceived negativity towards themselves. The members of a narcissistic ingroup are likely to assume threats or negativity towards their ingroup where threats or negativity were not necessarily implied or exhibited. It is thought that this heightened sensitivity to negative feelings towards the ingroup is a result of underlying doubts about the greatness of the ingroup held by its members. These perceived threats result in a damaged collective self-esteem, which is associated with increased intergroup aggression.

Similar to other elements of collective narcissism, intergroup aggression related to collective narcissism draws parallels with its individually narcissistic counterparts. An individual narcissist might react aggressively in the presence of humiliation, irritation, or anything threatening to his self-image. Likewise, a collective narcissist, or a collectively narcissistic group might react aggressively when the image of the group is in jeopardy, or when the group is collectively humiliated. On this point, Golec de Zavala et al. argue that collective narcissism—and not individual narcissism—is really responsible for intergroup aggression. This is to say that while the narcissism of an individual may govern the link between narcissism and interpersonal aggression on the individual level, that analogously, collective narcissism solely governs the link between collective narcissism and intergroup aggression at the group-level.

A study conducted among 6-9 year-olds by Judith Griffiths indicated that ingroups and outgroups among these children functioned relatively identical to other known collectively narcissistic groups in terms of intergroup aggression. The study noted that children generally had a significantly higher opinion of their ingroup than of surrounding outgroups, and that such ingroups indirectly or directly exhibited aggression on surrounding outgroups.

Ethnocentrism

Collective narcissism and ethnocentrism are closely related; they can be positively correlated and often shown to be coexistent, but they are independent in that either can exist without the presence of the other. In a study conducted by PhD Boris Bizumic, some ethnocentrism was shown to be an expression of group-level narcissism. It was noted, however, that not all manifestations of ethnocentrism are narcissistically based, and conversely, not all cases of group-level narcissism are by any means ethnocentric.

It is suggested that ethnocentrism, when pertaining to discrimination or aggression based on the self-love of one's group, or in other words, based on exclusion from one's self-perceived superior group is an expression of collective narcissism. In this sense, it might be said the collective and group narcissism overlap with ethnocentrism depending on given definitions, and the breadth of their acceptance.

In the world

In general, collective narcissism is most strongly manifested in groups that are "self-relevant", like religions, nationality, or ethnicity. As discussed earlier, phenomena such as national identity (nationality), and Nazi Germany (ethnicity and nationality), are manifestations of collective narcissism among groups that critically define the people who belong to them.

Another example of Collective Individual Narcissistic Personality Disorder and Collective Group Narcissistic Personality Disorder, is the organization described by some "conspiracy" theorists as the Illuminati.

This organization is said to have permeated the whole world culture. Their main goal is said to be in control of a one world order, using a totalitarian system that has evolved over many years, dating back to before the Roman Empire.

In addition to this, collective narcissism that may already exist among a group is likely to be exacerbated during conflict and aggression. And in terms of cultural effects, cultures that place an emphasis on the individual are apparently more likely to see manifestations of perceived individual greatness projected onto social ingroups existing within that culture. Also, and finally, narcissistic groups are not restricted to any one homogenous composition of collective or individually collective or individual narcissists. A quote from Hitler almost ideally sums the actual nature of collective narcissism as it is realistically manifested, and might be found reminiscent of almost every idea presented here: "My group is better and more important than other groups, but still is not worthy of me".

See also

References

1. ^ Golec de Zavala, A,Cichocka, A., Eidelson, R., & Jayawickreme, N. "Collective narcissism and its social consequences" Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 97.6 (2009): 1074-1096. Psyc articles. EBSCO. Web. 26 Mar. 2011.
2. ^ Bizumic, Boris, and John Duckitt. "'My Group Is Not Worthy of Me': Narcissism and Ethnocentrism". Political Psychology 29.3 (2008): 437-453. Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection. EBSCO. Web. 9 Apr. 2011.
3. Sigmund Freud, Civilization, Society and Religion (PFL 12) p. 131
4. P. U. Hohendahl, Prismatic Thought (1997) p. 56
5. E. B. Weaver, National Narcissism 2006, ISBN 978-0-8204-7989-7. p. 62
6. Fromm, Erich. The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness, 1973. ISBN 978-0-03-007596-4
7. Pierre Bourdieu, The Rules of Art: Genesis and Structure of the Literary Field (1996), ISBN 978-0-8047-2568-2 p. 385
8. E. R. Smith/D.M.Mackie, Social Psychology (2007) p. 205 and p. 491
9. ^ Duchon, Dennis. "Organizational Narcissism and Virtuous Behavior". Journal of Business Ethics 85.3 (2009): 301. Web. 9 Apr 2011.
10. ^ Cite error: The named reference Jerrold was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
11. Bushman, B. J., & Baumeister, R. (1998). "Threatened egotism, narcissism, self-esteem, and direct and displaced aggression: Does self-love or self-hate lead to violence?" Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 219–229.
12. Aberson, C. L., Healy, M., & Romero, V. (2000). "In-group bias and self-esteem: A meta-analysis". Personality and Social Psychology Review, 4, 157–173.
13. Baumeister, Roy F., Brad J. Bushman, and W. Keith Campbell. "Self-Esteem, Narcissism, and Aggression: Does Violence Result From Low Self-Esteem or From Threatened Egotism?" Current Directions in Psychological Science (Wiley-Blackwell) 9.1 (2000): 26-29. Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection. EBSCO. Web. 9 Apr. 2011.
14. Judith A. Griffiths, et al. "Group membership, group norms, empathy, and young children's intentions to aggress". Aggressive Behavior 35.3 (2009): 244-258. Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection. EBSCO. Web. 9 Apr. 2011.
15. Cite error: The named reference Gramzow was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
16. "illuminati pyramid structure - Google Search". www.google.com. Retrieved 2016-03-12.

v t e Narcissism
Similar personality concepts	Egomania Egotism God complex Healthy narcissism Hubris Machiavellianism Messiah complex Narcissus (mythology) Superiority complex
In society	Collective narcissism Don Juanism In the workplace Leadership Me generation Parents
Pathological narcissism	Narcissistic personality disorder history Dark triad Malignant narcissism Manipulation (psychology) Narcissistic injury neurosis elation mortification supply withdrawal Narcissistic Personality Inventory
Related psychology concepts	Compensation Empathy Entitlement Grandiosity
Category

• Narcissism
• Group processes