According to a study published in this month’s issue of the Psychological Bulletin, supported by a review of 30 years of survey data with about 500,000 participants has proved that men are more probable to demonstrate narcissistic behavior in comparison to women irrespective of age or generation.
The need for inflating the egos of men are accompanied by what can only be called the least attractive characteristics amongst men or people in general to be more precise. Researchers pin-pointed the characteristics as tendencies of manipulations, self-absorption, aggression and arrogance among them and observed how individuals reacted to statement such as If I ruled the world, it would be a much better place” and “I know that I am good because everyone keeps telling me so.”
Researchers then qualified ‘narcissism’ as per three categories: entitlement, leadership/authority and grandiose/exhibitionism. Men had a visibly higher score in the first two groups compared to women and had a higher probability of agreeing with phrases such as “I like having authority over people” and “I insist upon getting the respect that is due to me.” It is believed that men are more probable in exploiting people and also think they have entitlement to special privileges. Nonetheless, there was barely any deviation between these two genders in the category of grandiose/exhibitionism consisting of traits of vanity and self-absorption.
Study suggests that higher levels of narcissism have been a useful adaptation for men in helping with boost in their self-esteem and emotional stability making them more prone to take on roles of leadership. This of course, has its disadvantages.
Lead author Emily Grijalva, a professor at the University of Buffalo states “Narcissism is associated with various interpersonal dysfunctions, including an inability to maintain healthy long-term relationships, unethical behavior and aggression.”
This research does not reflect something that was unknown to us but it is the first methodical analysis to support the significance of gender stereotyping with real data as Grijalva states.