XPost: can.politics, talk.politics.misc   
   From: katt@gmail.com   
      
   On Wed, 18 Feb 2026 10:35:44 -0800,  Alan says...   
      
   > You get the irony of that, right?   
      
   Sure do... Sheldon.   
      
   https://i.imgur.com/JVyNqU5.mp4   
      
   =====   
      
   Rich, Entitled, And Narcissistic   
      
   Socioeconomic Status Is A Contributing Factor To Narcissism   
      
   Narcissists are self-centered people who take the view that they are far more   
   important than the people around them. They promote themselves to the exclusion   
   of others and take other people's successes as competition to their own. They   
   also tend to suck the life out of groups, because they steal the limelight and   
   push their own agenda at the expense of others.   
      
   Because of these negative influences of narcissism on relationships and in the   
   workplace, it is valuable to understand where this collection of traits comes   
   from. An interesting paper in the January,2014 issue of Personality and Social   
   Psychology Bulletin by Paul Piff explores the relationship between narcissism   
   and wealth.   
      
   He argues that great wealth and higher levels of social class can lead people   
   to have a greater sense of entitlement and that sense can lead to narcissism.   
      
   In one study, adults ranging in age from 18-72 filled out a series of surveys   
   including two of importance for this project. One showed participants a ladder   
   with ten rungs on it that represent people of increasing levels of income,   
   education, and prestige and asked them to select the run they belong to. This   
   is a   
   measure of perceived socioeconomic status (SES). The second measure was a   
   questionnaire measuring people's sense of entitlement with items like "I   
   honestly   
   feel that I am more deserving than others." This study found a small positive   
   correlation between the measure of SES and the measure of sense of entitlement.   
      
   A second study used college students. As a measure of SES, students reported   
   their parents" income. As a measure of entitlement, the author used a scale   
   that   
   asked people to rate the relative importance of themselves compared to others.   
   This measure had a circle representing other people and circles of different   
   sizes that could represent the self. They had to select a size of a circle   
   representing the self that corresponded to their feelings about their own   
   importance   
   compared to other people. Previous studies suggest that this measure relates   
   to people's sense of entitlement. Finally, participants filled out an inventory   
   that assesses narcissism.   
      
   In this study, there was a small correlation between SES (as measured by   
   parental income) and narcissism. There was also a small correlation between   
   SES and   
   the measure of entitlement. Statistical tests suggested that the sense of   
   entitlement explained the differences in narcissism between low- and high-SES   
   participants.   
      
   A third study gathered measures of SES from college students in the lab. Other   
   measures were collected including a measure of how much participants care about   
   their appearance. Toward the end of the study, participants were asked if they   
   would allow the experimenter to take their picture for a future study on face   
   recognition. Participants were given the opportunity to look in the mirror to   
   fix their appearance before the picture. The experimenter left the room to get   
   a   
   camera, and another RA measured whether the participant looked in the mirror.   
   Overall, women tended to look in the mirror more often than men. That reflects   
   a   
   general difference between men and women in how much they care about their   
   appearance. Beyond that, high-SES individuals looked in the mirror more often   
   than   
   low-SES individuals. This difference was not explained by differences in how   
   much these individuals care about their appearance.   
      
   Finally, one study did an experimental manipulation to break the relationship   
   between SES and narcissism. Participants drawn from a sample on Amazon's   
   Mechanical Turk filled out a measure of SES. Then, participants either listed   
   three benefits of treating others as equals (which primes the concept of   
   equality) or listed three activities they do in a normal day (a control   
   condition). Finally, participants filled out a narcissism scale.   
      
   For the participants in the control condition, there was a small positive   
   relationship between SES and narcissism. That relationship disappeared for the   
   group   
   that wrote about equality.   
      
   Putting this together, then, there is a weak relationship between SES and   
   narcissism. When people grow up and live in a privileged environment, it can   
   increase   
   their tendency to feel entitled. That sense of entitlement leads to greater   
   narcissism.   
      
   As interesting as these results are, it is important to recognize that the   
   effects overall are small. There are plenty of people high in socioeconomic   
   status   
   who have neither a sense of entitlement nor a tendency toward narcissism.   
   Similarly, there are many people from a low-SES background who do have a sense   
   of   
   entitlement and narcissistic traits. But, it is valuable to know that there   
   are elements of a person's social situation that can make them more   
   susceptible to   
   being a narcissist.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)