People high in narcissism show less coordinated brain responses to others’ embarrassment
People low in narcissism show closely matched brain activity when watching someone else get harshly criticized. Among people high in grandiose narcissism, a new study finds, those responses are more out of sync.
People with high levels of narcissism, specifically grandiose narcissism, tend to exhibit less coordinated brain responses when observing others experience embarrassment or social embarrassment, according to a new neuroimaging study published in Cerebral Cortex. The findings suggest that individuals with high narcissism scores may show more variable and less synchronized neural processing in regions involved in understanding others' perspectives when faced with social threats directed at others.
The study, conducted as part of the Facing Narcissism project by researchers from Aalto University and the University of Helsinki, examined 28 participants with high grandiose narcissism and 30 with low grandiose narcissism. Participants were shown videos of individuals receiving negative feedback on their personal stories and their brain activity was measured using functional magnetic resonance imaging.
The researchers found that individuals with high grandiose narcissism displayed muted activity in emotion-related brain regions during moments of compassion, indicating a potential lack of motivation to empathize with others' distress.
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