Deconstructing Perceptions of Narcissism | South-Russian Journal of Social Sciences
Deconstructing Perceptions of Narcissism
Vol. 24 (2023) No. 3, Social Psychology
Vol. 24 (2023) No. 3
Social Psychology

Deconstructing Perceptions of Narcissism

Pishchik V.I.
Don State Technical University
ORCID ID 0000-0002-3909-3895
Shabukaeva M.R.
Dagestan State University
ORCID ID 0000-0003-4792-6268
PDF (Russian)
https://doi.org/10.31429/26190567-24-3-135-150
https://doi.org/10.31429/26190567-24-3-135-150

How to Cite Array

Pishchik V.I., Shabukaeva M.R. (2023) Deconstructing Perceptions of Narcissism. South-Russian Journal of Social Sciences, 24 (3), pp. 135-150. DOI: 10.31429/26190567-24-3-135-150 (In Russian)
Submission Date 2023-07-15
Accepted Date 2023-08-10
Published Date 2023-09-29

Copyright (c) 2024 Влада Игоревна Пищик, Муслимат Руслановна Шабукаева

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

The article aims to deconstruct perceptions of narcissism and provide a small empirical illustration of its prevalence among two nationalities, Armenian and Russian. The increasing prevalence of non-pathological narcissism among young people is reflected in modern domestic and foreign studies. Narcissistic tendencies are observed in online community participants. The theoretical foundation for understanding narcissistic ideas, including knowing its primary and secondary forms, was Freudian concept. The article examines models of the narcissistic personality, including its grandiose and vulnerable forms. It also explores narcissistic antagonism, agentic extraversion, and narcissistic neuroticism. The study suggests that the widespread prevalence of narcissism may be linked with increased anxiety and insecurity in the population. The concept of ‘collective narcissism’ (A.G. de Zavala) has emerged in modern discourse, but it has not been fully developed. Individual narcissism is linked to collective narcissism. Narcissism, both individual and collective, can serve as a defense mechanism against crises in society. A comparative analysis of the levels of narcissism and anxiety in Russian and Armenian students was carried out. The sample consisted of 340 (190 girls) representatives of Russian and 200 (120 girls) people of Armenian nationality, aged 19 to 25 years, all of them university students in Rostov-on-­Don. The methods used in this study included the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) for identifying narcissistic traits, a methodology for identifying personality and situational anxiety, and the Big Five methodology for assessing personality traits. The study findings indicate that Russians exhibit a higher degree of narcissistic traits. Meanwhile, many personality traits were found to correlate with narcissism. Anxiety is expressed equally in both groups. Previously, we observed a similar tendency when comparing the expression of narcissism among Russian and Azerbaijani students.

Keywords

narcissism, deconstruction, collective narcissism, youth, anxiety

Acknowledgements

The study was financially supported by RNF within the framework of research project No. 22-28-00520 “Transformation of conspirativist mentality of young people of generation Y and Z”.

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