Sunday, July 20, 2014

Conversational Narcissism

It's becoming more and more incorrect and misleading in my mind to view antisocial behavior or sociopathy as a psychological disorder. I mean, look around--it's everywhere. Maybe it's not a problem with the individual. Perhaps we live in a society where institutions and entities permit--nay, encourage--antisocial behaviors. Humans are a product of their environments. Maybe we're bred and imbued with these dispassionate characteristics from the get-go. Simply put, it seems likely to me that this outgrowth is predetermined. 

For just a few examples, people don't have a problem with cheating on tests or spouses, lying to their friends, or monopolizing the conversation and not listening at all. For more specificity, we can further examine infidelity: we have all seen circumstances in which people think nothing of cheating on their so-called loved ones, rationalizing and defending themselves to no end in support of their deplorable actions. "He made me do it, he hasn't been giving me enough attention", "she probably already cheated on me anyway", etc. Sometimes they outright deflect blame or try to turn it on the other person. We've all seen this.


I find one of those examples especially annoying and even more common: the domination of conversation. People love to talk about themselves and seem only interested in the conversation if it's about them. For the love of God, sometimes I feel lucky just to be asked how I'm doing. You can't even imagine how much I light up when I'm talking to someone and I realize they actually care. It's so rare that I cherish it. But you'll all be able to identify that one person, that conversational narcissist. Look for what are called 'shift responses'. You'll say something, and instead of providing further conversational material, the individual will say something that redirects the conversation towards themselves.