ResearchDebunksCommonlyHeldBel

　　ResearchDebunksCommonlyHeldBeliefAboutNarcissism
　　Contrarytopopularbelief，excessiveuseoffirstpersonsingularpronounssuchas“I”and“me”doesnotnecessarilyindicateanarcissistictendency，accordingtoresearchpublishedbytheAmericanPsychologicalAssociation。
　　“Thereisawidelyassumedassociationbetweenuseoffirstpersonsingularpronouns，whatwecallItalk，andnarcissism，amonglaypeopleandscientistsdespitethefactthattheempiricalsupportforthisrelationissurprisinglysparseandgenerallyinconsistent，”saidAngelaCarey，MA，athirdyeardoctoralcandidateinpsychologyattheUniversityofArizonaandleadauthorofthestudy。IJournalofPersonalityandSocialPsychology。
　　Narcissistshaveanunrealisticsenseofsuperiorityandselfimportanceandanoverabundanceofselffocus，saidMatthiasMehl，PhD，apsychologyprofessorattheUniversityofArizonaandacoauthorofthestudy。ItwouldthereforebereasonabletoassumethatnarcissistswouldbemorepronetoItalk，hesaid。
　　EarlytestingofthishypothesiswasconductedattheUniversityofCalifornia，Berkeley，in1988andconfirmedtheassociation，butconsistedofmerely48participants。Sincethen，scientificstudieshavebeenunabletoconsistentlyreplicatethefinding。Becauseitappearstobesuchapervasivebeliefinmodernsociety，theresearchersfeltitwasimportanttogivethehypothesisarigorousscientificvetting。
　　CareyandMehlteamedwithresearchersfromfourotheruniversitiesintheUnitedStatesandtwoinGermanytorecruitover4，800peopleforthestudy（67percentfemale，mostlyundergraduatestudents）。Participantswereaskedtoengageinoneofsixcommunicationstasksinwhichtheywroteortalkedaboutthemselvesoranunrelatedtopic。Researchersalsoscoredtheparticipantsfornarcissismusingfivedifferentnarcissismmeasures，includingthecommon40itemNarcissisticPersonalityInventory。Theirnarcissismscoreswerethencomparedwiththeiruseoffirstpersonsingularpronounsinthecommunicationtasks。
　　Theresearcherscouldfindnoassociationbetweenpronounuseandnarcissism。Whentheyanalyzeddatabygender，theyfoundmenhadaslightlyhighercorrelationthanwomenbutneitherwasstatisticallysignificantnorpracticallymeaningful。
　　“Themostinterestingfindingisthattheresultsdidnotvarymuchacrosstwodifferentcountries，multiplelabs，fivedifferentnarcissismmeasuresand12differentsamples，”saidMehl。“Weweresurprisedbyhowconsistentofanearnullfindingitwas。”
　　Identifyingnarcissistsisimportantbecauseovertimetheirgrandiosity，selffocusandselfimportancecanbecomesociallytoxicandcanhavenegativeconsequencesonrelationships，saidCarey。
　　“Thenextquestion，ofcourse，ishowelse，ifnotthroughItalk，narcissismisrevealedthroughlanguage，”sheadded。“Weareworkingonthisquestioninafollowupstudyusingthesamedata。”
　　Readtheoriginalarticle：http：www。apa。orgnewspressreleases201504narcissism。aspx