Generation Y – people born between 1980 and 1994 – consider themselves the most narcissistic. Older generations agree with this statement, but the level of millennial narcissism turned out to be even higher than they themselves could imagine.
This is the conclusion that researchers from Case Western Reserve University (USA), led by Joshua Grabbs, came to: “Everyone agrees that the millennial generation is the most narcissistic. Differences begin when we talk about the level of narcissism. Today, this generation is portrayed in the media and various media as the most self-centered.” And this is the first generation in which the image of daffodils is so clearly represented. Cause? The Internet, says Joshua Grubbs, has begun to explore the phenomenon of narcissism so far on ludicrous arguments like people’s self-centered behavior on social networks or the huge number of selfies on the Internet. In addition, two important studies were carried out.
In one experiment, participants were asked to choose an emoticon that expressed the emotions they would experience if they were called narcissists. Most of the participants chose sad emoticons, happy emoticons were preferred by those who were predisposed to narcissism (judging by the questionnaires).
In another study, participants were given fake personality tests that said they were narcissists, and the researchers watched their reactions. “Except when the person is actually a narcissist, participants associated the term ‘narcissism’ with arrogance and conceit and perceived it more as rudeness. This suggests that Generation Y is sensitive to labeling, and labeling ‘narcissist’ is no exception.”
“Of course, our findings do not suggest that every millennial is a narcissist,” concludes Joshua Grubbs. “They just show a trend that, in general, the generation of people born before the 1990s is much more narcissistic than the previous one.”
See more at PsychCentral publications.