Grandiosity combined with fragile self-esteem drives defensive violence when threatened
Evidence
Narcissists’ unrealistically high feelings of grandiosity and low levels of self-esteem make them prone to violence and aggression when their self-views are threatened. Lacking the resources for fending off such attacks that a realistic sense of their value would provide, they lash out at others to restore their damaged sense of pride. Studies have shown that people high in narcissism but not in self-esteem are especially likely to act aggressively toward a person who they feel insults them. Other research shows that narcissistic self-esteem is associated with bullying and perhaps other forms of antisocial behavior. — Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski, The Worm at the Core, 266
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to Milgrom’s work on how institutional trust substitutes for reputation - here the inverse: self-esteem substitutes for the confidence honest trade systems depend on. — connects to: Cornered destructiveness stops distinguishing self-destruction from outward violence — Theodor W. Adorno, Minima Moralia: Reflections from…, 118; Cultural violence arises from superiority beliefs fused with underlying group vulnerability — Leonard S. Newman and Ralph Erber (eds.), Understanding Genocide: The Social…, 96