A Narrative Perspective On The Development Of Narcissism And Anxiety Through Social Media Use

Running head: A NARRATIVE PERSPECTIVE

A Narrative Perspective On The Development Of Narcissism And Anxiety Through

Social Media Use

Michael Shawn Ellis

PSY 6030-Personality Theory and Research

December 1, 2015

A NARRATIVE PERSPECTIVE ON THE 2

AbstractPeople have been telling their stories for centuries and because of this need we have

seen many industrial developments that have aided in helping civilizations tell their

stories to world. Starting with drawings on cave walls, to chiseling on stone, to writing on

animal skins, to the development of paper and ink, the printing press, typewriters, the

printer, and now in the twenty-first century the digital copy and social networking sites.

The evolution of social networking sites, with the aiding of the internet, has allowed

everyone to become a storyteller plus giving anybody that has internet access the ability

to read anyone's story without the limitations of geographic location. Celebrities from all

over the world are using social networking sites to tell their story when they are not

being seen on the television screen giving their avid followers a chance to follow, make

comments, and hopefully be noticed (Greenwood, 2015). From a theoretical approach

based on the narrative perspective, are social networking sites aiding in the personality

development of narcissism and anxiety amongst its users? Results reveal that users

must develop healthier uses of social networking sites when presenting their narratives.

Keywords: narcissism, anxiety, narratives, social networking sites


IntroductionThere have been many different theories that have been developed to help

clinicians understand personality, regardless of culture, and to name a few:

Psychoanalysis, Big Five Trait, Attachment, Genetics, and Lifespan. Living in the

twenty-first century and the advances that have happened with technology, one theory

of personality that has seen its advancement in research, in practice, empirical

validation, and helping bridge the gap between clinician and client is the narrative

approach. What makes the narrative perspective different from the other personality

approaches (theories), is the client tells their story and in this process the clinician has

the ability to go on a intimate journey into the past and present, or just the past, and

discover from the client's eyes who they really are, as long as trust has been

established. An example of a brief narrative is as follows:

Before moving to the Northeast in 2008, I was born in Memphis, TN and lived there until

I was four years old and then moved to the Tupelo, MS area and lived there until I

moved back to Memphis, TN in 2008 for the job that brought me to the Northeast, where

I have been since. How this applies to culture affecting personality is that being from the

Southeast one of the major proponents to southern culture is the Bible and Christian

living, in which we strive to live our lives based on the Bible's teachings. I have been

going to church since I was born, I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal savior at age

8, and I just completed reading the whole Bible in a year at age 33; so how I live, how I

treat people, how I make decisions, and how I love my wife and kids is all centered

around the teachings in the Bible which therefore is major part of my personality that

stems from my culture. Now, having lived in the Northeast for over seven years, I can

say that certain aspects of the Northeast culture is changed some parts of my

personality: I expect order in every aspect of my life, I am very fast paced (but there are

times when I like to take things slow like in the Southeast), and I have adapted certain

rude tendencies versus constantly showing the warm “southern hospitality”, and

although I am not a liberal I have become a little more open-mind than what my mom

and dad would like for me to be (Ellis, 2015).


The information presented in this brief narrative reveals a couple things about this

person's personality: his faith has played a big role in the development of his

personality, his exposure to different cultures based on geographical location has played

a role in the development of his personality, and it can be theorized that his need for

order could be genetics or nature-versus-nurture that played a role in his personality

development.

It makes sense and natural for people to talk about their lives through personal

narratives and John, Robins, & Pervin (2008) explains it this way:

the stories we construct to make sense of our lives are fundamentally about our struggle to reconcile who we imagine we were, are, and might be in our heads and bodies with who we were, are, and might be in the social contexts of family, community, the workplace, ethnicity, religion, gender, social class, and culture writ large. The self comes to terms with society through narrative identity (p. 242-243).

These words begin my narrative approach for this paper because I have a story to tell

about how people in our culture have two different narratives they are creating for the

two different worlds that people in the twenty-first century live in. This dualistic existence

is also creating an atmosphere for people to where they have to portray a certain

personality in one world and another in the second world, creating a shadow that will

also be present in both worlds from a jungian perspective. In order for me to not ruin the

ending of my narrative, I must start from the beginning because every narrative involves

a history lesson that provides the groundwork for the rest of the tale. Without further

hesitation, at the conclusion of this narrative you will have understanding of what

narcissism, anxiety, and social media is and how social media has become a garden for

personality developments in narcissism and anxiety to gestate and grow within its users.

Literature ReviewNarcissism

I first came to the understanding of narcissism in high school when I began

reading the novels based on Hannibal Lecter, the serial killer and cannibal psychiatrist

who viewed himself as a god, with no remorse for life except his own. To read about this

intelligent man who thought he could take life when ever he wanted to, who thought he


was above everybody else was shocking to me but walking the halls of my high school I

began to see all kinds of narcissism, not in the extremes of Hannibal Lecter, but people

that played sports, cheerleaders, certain teachers, and even among the academic

successful kids. I would later come learn that this was a form of psychopathology in my

abnormal psychology class I took for a elective for my bachelor's degree, in which I was

drawn back to what I was taught as a kid at church, “pride comes before the fall.” I

would advance my understanding of narcissism with the completion of my masters in

counseling psychology, revealing that we all can exhibit narcissistic tendencies in

different aspects of our lives. Now that I am working on achieving my Ph.D., I have

come to learn where the word narcissism came from, which not only summarizes what it

means to be narcissistic but it's origin comes from a Greek myth about a man named

Narcissus. The man “spent all of his time gazing at his own reflection and ignored the

love of a beautiful nymph with whom he could have produced offspring (John, Robins, &

Pervin, 2008, p. 440)” and he later ends up dying from his excessive pride. In

conclusion, the DSM V presents us with the empirically validated definition of

narcissism: “has a grandiose sense of self-importance, is preoccupied with fantasies of

unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love, believes that he or she is

'special' and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other

special or high-status people (or institutions), requires excessive admiration, is often

envious of others or believes that others are envious of him or her, and shows arrogant,

haughty behaviors or attitudes” (APA, 2013, p. 669-670). Although this is the criteria for

Narcissistic Personality Disorder, you will discover that our culture here in the United

States has become more individualistic allowing narcissism to spawn in a way you

might not yet be aware of (Wirtz & Chiu, 2008; Barry, Doucette, Loflin, Rivera-Hudson,

& Herrington, 2015; Greenwood, 2013).

AnxietyGrowing up as a kid, my mom constantly worried about everything and although

our faith teaches us not to worry, because just like our Father in Heaven provides for the

birds He will provide for you, my mother to this day still has a hard time putting this into

practice. From a lifespan development perspective, excessive worrying was not in my


thought process until I became a teenager where obtaining friends, clothes, being good

at sports, and girls was your purpose in life. I was glad to see that I was not the only one

dealing with these concerns going through junior high and high school but I found that

these concerns amplified into my college years plus the added worries of obtaining job,

graduating college, and hopefully finding true love. I am now thirty-three years, having

been employed at many different employers, obtaining a bachelors and a masters

degree, finding the love of my life with us having two kids now; but the worries have not

stopped because I am now working on my Ph.D. plus being the only bread winner I

must also be successful at my job to be able to provide for my family. The worries have

changed from junior high, high school, and college years to a all new set of worries but

these worries should now be properly defined as what they are, anxieties.

Now that I am further along on my academic journey in psychology, I have come

to learn that anxiety affects almost everybody in some form of fashion and at different

times in peoples lives, presenting the fact that many pathologies can develop from

being a constant anxious person. Some of these pathologies are presented in the DSM

V but the most common of these disorders is Generalized Anxiety Disorder and its

essential feature is defined as “excessive anxiety and worry (apprehensive expectation)

about a number of events or activities. The intensity, duration, or frequency of the

anxiety and worry is out of proportion to the actual likelihood or impact of the anticipated

event” (APA, 2013, p. 222). I would not label my mother as having generalized anxiety

disorder or even me for that matter because the things that I can get anxious about

does not prevent me from enjoying and living life. I know that I am not alone with the

many anxiety moments that can be experienced but to add some foreshadowing to my

narrative, anxiety is becoming a part of culture due to this entertainment and narrative

application that has become a necessity for most people in the twenty-first century

(Greenwood, 2013; Vogel, Rose, Roberts & Eckles, 2014).

Social MediaI can remember being a junior in high school (1999) and I was introduced to chat

rooms due to a lot of my favorite bands at that time using this form of media to

communicate to their fans. These chat rooms also allowed you to communicate with


other fans allowing you to be on the internet talking to people you would never meet but

it was the cool thing to do besides playing video games and listening to music. After

graduating high school in 2001, I would be out of touch with the advancements in social

media until 2005 when I come to learn about Facebook and myspace through my

friends. I would create a myspace account because it was geared towards celebrities,

bands, and the ability to customize the way your page look with also the ability to

include five of your current favorite songs to play when you or your followers visit your

site. I would maintain my myspace account for about three years leading me to delete

the account and starting a Facebook account in May of 2008 because Facebook was

becoming more popular than myspace due to it being open to everybody except college

students. I would utilize my Facebook account to get in contact with the people I went to

high school with because my 10 year high school reunion was coming, plus the new

friends that I had met in college and at work. My family members and I became addicted

to farmville, a game where you grow your farm and decorate it with the object being to

beat your friends to having the largest farm. Once my wife and I recognize the addiction,

I stopped playing and cancelled my account (2010) because you can really spend a lot

of your time on Facebook, plus it was amazing to see how everybody was moving to

this non-personal form of communication and I no longer wanted to be a part of it.

I would begin my masters in September of 2011, and at the completion of my

degree in 2013, I wrote my master's thesis on why the need for social media sites based

on two psychological theories: attachment theory and self-determination theory. Based

on my research these were my conclusions:

Attachment Theory and FacebookTo conclude these statements and to validate the literature, the above mentioned study on attachment theory and Facebook results were presented in this way “with insecure attachment style positively associated with neuroticism and negatively associated with extraversion...individuals with more secure attachment will feel more comfortable and capable in interpersonal relationships and social behavior, and by implication online social behavior” (Jenkins-Guarnieri, Wright, & Johnson, 2013). Based on these results, the writer would like to inform to the reader that if one enjoys Facebook and is experiencing a positive social experience, chances are either one is from a secure


attachment validating it is in one's nature to engage in this behavior or one is seeking out some positive secure social experience because of the insecure attachment one comes from validating one is looking for people to either securely attach to or due to avoidance one might not get to close although one has the desire to get close. When it comes to Facebook use and the supported literature, attachment style will be at the heart of the user and how one uses Facebook validating the second and other main psychological theory integrated into social networking sites.Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and Facebook In concluding SDT and Facebook, people have a need to connect and relate in which these social networking sites help encourage plus providing an avenue for people to do this, especially with the advancement of technology and connected devices. This need for relatedness validates the psychological need described in SDT as well as the two (autonomous and competent) in which Facebook allows the users seek out this need, maintain, and develop but it also provides an avenue for the users to develop maladaptive and addictive symptoms to the point to where the users could neglect their responsibilities and real life experiences. Sheldon, Abad, & Hinsch (2011) revealed that “such activities offer an easy and painless route toward a social experience that people need, a route that indeed supplies positive feelings but that does not manage to replace concrete social relations” which should be a word of caution for all users. Facebook has its benefits and disadvantages but face-to-face relationships are more satisfying when it comes to the psychological needs of the SDT because this writer sees Facebook as being an easy and lazy way when it comes the psychological needs of SDT.

My research on social media lead me to conclude what I had initially thought, that

people were using this medium as another way to stay connected with friends and

family, in a non-personal way, and this allowed me to validate it based on current

research. Now that I am currently working on my Ph.D. two years later, I have decided

to continue on with my social media research but this time on how it is affecting

personality. After collecting my research just for this narrative, it has lead me to now

present that social media use has become a platform for its users to increase in

narcissism and anxiety.

Narcissism And Anxiety In Social Media Use I have presented what narcissism, anxiety, and social media is from a narrative


perspective validating it with empirical evidence and this is the part of my narrative

where I will inform how narcissism and anxiety are two of the major personality traits

that have evolved from social media users. As it was mentioned before that social

media use began as another medium to connect and stay in touch with people from all

over the world, but in its evolution bringing us to 2015, there are three major reasons

why people (not corporations and businesses) are using social media: 1.) self-promotion

though selfies, 2.) in search of fame, and 3.) social comparison. These three areas kept

coming up in my reading and collection of my research in which I will now narrate for

you revealing the evolution in narcissism and anxiety personality traits.

Self-promotion Through SelfiesA selfie is described as a picture or video that you have taken of yourself and it

has become a world phenomenon among social media users, and the equipment that is

being used to take selfies and post them to social media, is the use of smartphones

because they have front and back facing cameras. The reason for the rise of the selfie

phenomenon can be theorized on a statement made by Reavey and Prosser (2012), “In

contemporary culture more generally, visual images have become an important means

by which we express our feelings and how we communicate with one another using

emerging technologies (mobile phones, social networking sites, and virtual reality

Internet fora). It should then come as no surprise that psychologists have seized the

opportunity to study the impact of these developments on the way we experience our

worlds” (p. 185). One of the major impacts that selfies have had on how the average

social media user is through self-promotion whether the user views themselves as being

of someone of high self-esteem or low self-esteem. Barry, Doucette, Loflin, Rivera-

Hudson, & Herrington (2015) describe this reason behind this self-promotion this way, “ nonpathological narcissism is conceptualized as including many of the overt, observable

characteristics of narcissism such as vanity, efforts to highlight one’s superiority over

others, a sense of entitlement regarding positive appraisals from others, and a desire to

be the center of attention. This dimension of narcissism converges with high

selfesteem” (p. 3). This reveals that although selfies have help aid in the development of

narcissism, it is not in the form of pathology but has paved a way for the high selfie


users to development this non-pathological form of narcissism.

This form of narcissism walks hand-in-hand with anxiety because of the constant

need for self-presentation and the anxiety comes into play with having to maintain the

users posting quota. Another form of anxiety that comes from posting selfies is the need

to make the picture look perfect, and with the many different filter and editing

applications that can be used, narcissistic selfie posters will spend the extra time to

make their picture perfect instead of posting it in its raw form. A third and final anxiety

that has been associated with selfie posting is making enough money to buy the latest

smartphone that has the most updated photography technology. I currently work as a

retail sales consultant for AT&T and I have been there since 2012, and every six months

to a year a new phone comes out bringing in the crowds of people to replace their

phone they bought last year. I am not saying that every person walking through the door

cares about posting selfies but the ones that do will do what they can to get that latest

device for their social media purposes validating this anxiety on having the money to get

the device. It is clear that there are anxieties associated with this form of non-

pathological narcissism amongst the excessive selfie user creating the foundation that

the other two major areas for social media use are built upon, with the next one being in

search for fame.

In Search For FameBarry, Doucette, Loflin, Rivera-Hudson, & Herrington (2015) concluded their

study with this statement, which provides a great introduction into this section: “they

appear consistent with motives for self-presentation for individuals with narcissistic

tendencies. A strong desire for self-presentation versus belongingness directly aligns

with the association between narcissism and an emphasis on agentic qualities for

reaching social goals at the expense of communality” (p. 11). One of the major specific

goals these individuals are seeking through the use of social media is the hope at being

famous whether it be from a celebrity standpoint or amongst the whole social media

outlet. Have you ever noticed how many times the news, tv show hosts, and other

media outlets will post either pictures or videos from a person's Facebook, Twitter, or

Instagram page. Back when myspace (remember that), was popular a band named


PANIC! At The Disco was discovered through their myspace page by the band

Falloutboy and the rest has been history. Social media has become the bridge for

common people to self-promote themselves in hoping to also become the latest fame

success story. Greenwood (2013) presents it this way, “individuals may use social

media in the service of ostensibly gratifying specific psychological needs—the need to

feel seen and valued, and to feel meaningfully embedded in social networks. These

needs may also manifest in individuals’ attitudes about the appeal of fame, from being

literally seen and admired, to having elite access to resources, to having the power and

ability to help others” (p. 223). Notice the verbiage he used, this is almost the same

verbiage used in the DSM V defining narcissism and this validates why the increase

usage of social media, especially within the selfie users.

This strong desire in search of fame also brings anxiety because people are

losing sleep, neglecting their work, not going to school, not being present in their current

relationships, to achieve this so called American Dream. “Research suggests that both

may also be fueled by basic, even existential anxieties about the self. Prior analyses by

the author found that individuals with heightened inclusion anxiety (i.e., higher need to

belong) showed increased interest in diverse appeals of fame, in addition to increased

time spent engaged in fame fantasies (Greenwood, 2013, p. 223)” revealing another

area of anxiety that can also be present in the selfie area of social media use. Social

media has allowed a veil to be removed that was once there between the famous and

the common people and compared to the origins of social media being a outlet for

people to feel belongingness and attachment it has now become the outlet for people to

seek out fame. Greenwood (2013) concluded it this way, “The need to be seen and

valued is powerful and primitive; the extent to which social media actually enables

individuals to meet those needs may vary depending on motivation and use patterns.

Individuals who are overly preoccupied with visibility may risk becoming overly

dependent on social media use, and, more specifically, on others’ (including famous

others’) positive feedback or lack thereof (p. 234)” reaffirming developments in

narcissism and anxiety amongst social media users.


Social ComparisonAmerica's culture is very different from many of the other cultures because of our

individualistic approach versus a collectivistic approach which can be presented in this

manner, do what you can to get ahead and if the others do not follow oh well keep

going. Wirtz & Chiu (2008) presents it this way:

The "noisy," totalitarian ego is frequently observed in American society and is evident in many social psychological research findings, perhaps because it emerges from this cultural emphasis on individualism in which the self is a contained unit separate from others. Furthermore, because cognitive biases motivated by the American cultural ideal work against the elaboration of negative experiences that are relevant to the self, the ego may thus be characterized as having a ready social-cognitive defense against threats (p. 150).

These “social-cognitive defense against threats” can be seen in many of the social

media users because the American culture of not presenting anything negative but also

that my life is better than yours is what seems to be flooding everybody's pages. Vogel,

Rose, Roberts & Eckles (2014) validates this as well as supporting America's

individualistic approach with this statement, “In support of the general idea that profiles

on SNSs are projecting positive (rather than negative) images...frequent Facebook

users believe that other users are happier and more successful than themselves,

especially when they do not know the other users well offline. It appears, then, that

people might be comparing their realistic offline selves to the idealized online selves of

others, which may be detrimental for well-being and self-evaluations” (p. 207). Again

this reveals the rising in the development of narcissism for social media users because

of the drive to present themselves with their perfect life, revealing that users will do their

best to not present any imperfections plus the desire to out do their friends and family

members. This in itself brings the anxiety because when your social media use

increases, you have many opportunities to see what other users are doing, revealing

how they maybe doing something more attractive than your current post creating a

vicious cycle of social comparison. When looking at social comparison, you can see

how self-promotion through selfies and the search for fame can lead to this third major

reason among social media users as well as the amount of narcissism and anxiety


within the culture of social media.

Conclusion I am now at the end of my narrative in that I have presented what narcissism,

anxiety, and social media is and how social media has become a garden for personality

developments in narcissism and anxiety to gestate and grow within its users. Social

media has become so important to our twenty-first century society that not having a

social media account is almost like not having a cell phone. I did present a negative

narrative based on my social media observations but that does not mean that it does

not have a positive or happy ending because with this knowledge we now have the

ability to confront the shadow sides of our real self and virtual self so that one does not

take superiority over the other (Branthwaite, & Patterson (2011). The purpose of this

narrative can be summarized in this manner, “For me personally, successful ageing

means to believe that the journey one has taken has had meaning – to oneself and to

others – even though the meaning itself may have changed over time. One has lived

well if one is able to continue to care about what happens to people, to work towards

establishing a balance between personal needs and desires and to respond to the

callings of the world beyond oneself. It means that one is still emotionally invested in the

world, that one loves and is loved, and that when it is time to go...” (Andrews, 2009, p.

75). When I read this, this became one my mission statements on why I am wanting to

obtain my Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology because I want the ending of my narrative to be

that I did not give up on the world, regardless of the negative changes, and that I help

people become better even in their social media use.


References

American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (fifth edition). Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Publishing.

Andrews, M. (2009). The narrative complexity of successful ageing. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 29(1/2), 73-83. doi: 10.1108/01443330910934736

Barry, C. T., Doucette, H., Loflin, D. C., Rivera-Hudson, N., & Herrington, L. L. (2015). “Let me take a selfie”: Associations between self-photography, narcissism, and self-esteem. Psychology of Popular Media Culture. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000089

Branthwaite, A., & Patterson, S. (2011). The power of qualitative research in the era of social media. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 14(4), 430-444. doi: 10.1108/13522751111163245

Ellis, M., S. (2013). Facebook: Why the need and how to integrate it into therapy from a client's perspective. PSY 5201-Integrative Project for Master's Degree in Psychology: Capella University.

Greenwood, D., N. (2013). Fame, facebook, and twitter: How attitudes about fame predict frequency and nature of social media use. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 2(4), 222-236. doi: 10.1037/ppm0000013

John, O., P., Robins, R., W., & Pervin, L., A. (2008). Handbook of personality: Theory and research (third edition). New York, NY: The Guilford Press.

Reavey, P., & Prosser, J. (2012). Visual research in psychology. In H. Cooper, P. M. Camic, D. L. Long, A. T. Panter, D. Rindskopf, K. J. Sher, ... K. J. Sher (Eds.) , APA handbook of research methods in psychology, Vol 2: Research designs: Quantitative, qualitative, neuropsychological, and biological (pp. 185-207). Washington, DC, US: American Psychological Association. doi:10.1037/13620-012

Vogel, E., A., Rose, J., P., Roberts, L., R., & Eckles, K. (2014). Social comparison, social media, and self-esteem. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 3(4), p. 206-222. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000047

Wirtz, D., & Chiu, C. (2008). Perspectives on the self in the East and the West: Searching for the quiet ego. In H. A. Wayment, J. J. Bauer, H. A. Wayment, J. J. Bauer (Eds.) , Transcending self-interest: Psychological explorations of the quiet ego (pp. 149-158). Washington, DC, US: American Psychological Association.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000047

http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000089


doi: 10.1037/11771-014

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A Narrative Perspective On The Development Of Narcissism And Anxiety Through Social Media Use