Study: New Yorkers Are Narcissists
Tuesday, 17 May 2011 | by Pat's Picks
You live in New York? You must be arrogant. It’s not quite an ergo situation, but the New York Post says, according to a recent study, Manhattan has a disproportionate number of narcissists: “Because New York is special, people who want to be special come here. Striving people come to centers of excellence and achievement.” Donald Trump, Bernie Madoff and Lady Gaga are all cited as examples. Those same experts say that in traditional “bedroom communities” there are fewer opportunities to practice self-aggrandizement: “In smaller towns or more homogeneous cultures, social rules and family ties would put constraints on a person’s self-serving behavior.”
So are you a narcissist? Luckily the Post reprints a checklist from the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV to help determine whether or not you have narcissistic personality disorder: Answer yes to five of the nine questions below, and you may as well coin your own hairstyle or run for president:
* Do you have a grandiose sense of self-importance?
* Are you preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty or ideal love?
* Do you believe that you are special and unique?
* Do you require excessive admiration?
* Do you have a sense of entitlement?
* Are you inter-personally exploitative?
* Do you lack empathy?
* Are you often envious of others?
* Do you exhibit arrogance and/or haughty behaviors or attitudes?
