Actor Ben Affleck has described narcissism as the one quality that unites everyone in the film industry, and research suggests he is correct. But that’s only half the story. A new study on grandiose narcissism has uncovered that actors tend to display one key dimension of the personality disorder — yet they are less likely to display another key dimension.
The research found that actors were more interested than the general population in acquiring the narcissistic admiration of others, but at the same time, the actors were less likely to disparage the abilities of their rivals. The study was published December 19 in the scientific journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.
“Large portions of narcissists’ cognitions and behaviors are directed toward the overarching goal of a grandiose self-view,” Michael Dufner of Leipzig University and his colleagues wrote in their study.
Or, in the words of Affleck: “You want people to look at you and love you and go, ‘Oh, you’re wonderful.'”
Narcissists tend to have fantasies of extraordinary success, heightened feelings of entitlement, and view themselves as immensely superior to others.
Research has discovered two primary strategies by which narcissists maintain their grandiose self-view, the authors of the study explained. They can seek situations in which are viewed by others as special, an interpersonal strategy called narcissistic admiration, or they can belittle the achievements of others to make themselves appear superior in comparison, an interpersonal strategy called narcissistic rivalry.
For their study, Dufner and his colleagues had 583 students complete an online survey designed to measure their level of narcissism. They found that acting students were higher in narcissistic admiration than students majoring in other subjects, but were lower in rivalry.
“We did not find any evidence to indicate that narcissism levels depended on the amount of time spent acting,” the researchers noted.
A second study compared 164 individuals who acted in improvisational theaters with 119 nonactors. The findings were the same as the first study. Actors themselves, as well as their close peers, described them as high in narcissistic admiration but low in rivalry, the researchers said.
These findings suggest that “narcissists may indeed use the stage as a platform for boosting their egos,” Dufner and his colleagues wrote. “This interpretation is corroborated by the finding from Study 2 that one important source of motivation to engage in acting for individuals high in the narcissistic need for admiration is the applause and appreciation that comes from the audience.”
Furthermore, the researchers believe that actors tend to score low on measures of narcissistic rivalry because “the intimate and cooperative social interactions involved in acting repel such individuals.”
