(MintPress) – What was originally dubbed the “Me” generation – a slang term to describe self-involved qualities of a segment of the baby boomers – is eroding America by becoming a “Me” epidemic, psychologists say. The measurable effects of narcissism are a growing worry in today’s susceptible economy, as short-term thinking and a do-anything attitude for economic gain plague long-term solutions and a better future for later generations.
Jean Twenge, a research psychologist at San Diego State University (SDSU), says narcissism in today’s society has been a growing and persistent trend in the United States for the past few decades, but accelerated during the economic downturn when social upward mobility was stagnating. She says the U.S. culture of focusing on economic gain and consumerism is what put America in its current decline.
“Narcissism contributed to the economic crisis,” Twenge told U.S. News. “Many people had narcissistic overconfidence [when they said], ‘Yeah, I can afford that million-dollar house,’ and lenders said, ‘Sure, I know you’ll pay off that loan,’ and, well, fantasy collided with reality, and the consequences have been worse for the economy than anything since the Great Depression. Obviously, there were lots of causes for that, but I think an unrecognized cause is that narcissistic overconfidence.”
Civic foundation of individualism
Daniel Altman, economics professor at New York University, would agree with Twenge’s assessment. Altman says businesses obsession with short-term success, such as quarterly business reports that must meet a certain revenue goal, create a business atmosphere where nothing is looked at in a “big-picture” fashion.
Throughout the course of the year, short-term political patchwork has become common in policy making. Notably in budget debates involving unemployment benefits, brief extensions for no more than a few months at a time created a political culture where partisanship objectives dominated over long-term assessments. Altman says politics are a microcosm of narcissism’s infiltration in society as the length of personal campaigns toward office far outweigh the time spent in policy making.
“The money pumped into political campaigns has allowed them to lengthen considerably – up to 22 months in the case of the 2008 U.S. election – but legislative cycles have stayed much the same,” Altman wrote. “With only two years between Congresses in the United States, for example, there’s hardly time to focus on anything except re-election.”
From politics to the workplace, few places are immune to the influx of self-involved individuals. A study by a team of researchers from SDSU and the University of South Alabama have found measurable increases in narcissism over the past 15 years. Researchers devised a test called the narcissistic personality inventory (NPI) that surveyed participants and measured their response to statements, such as “I insist upon getting the respect that is due me.”
In 1994, when the standardized questionnaire was given, 14 percent of individuals met the threshold to be deemed “narcissistic.” When the test was last given in 2009, 34 percent of participants met the narcissistic criteria. Amy Brunell, an Ohio State researcher unaffiliated with the study, said attitudes in America are clearly shifting as individuals look out more for themselves.
“What this means is that we have generations of people entering the workforce that expect special treatment, are demanding of others and making risky decisions – ones that could be quite costly when you consider recent business fiascoes,” Brunell said.
Researchers say pop culture is one of the largest contributors to changing public attitudes. Nathan DeWall, a psychologist and assistant professor at the University of Kentucky, said that pop music from 1980 to 2007 reflected narcissism in society by glorifying body image, money, clothing and other consumables. But DeWall was quick to point out that narcissistic people are not always confident and do not receive constructive criticism well. This makes them potentially risky employees in the workforce because of their self-serving attitudes.
“What we think is that these popular song lyrics are really a mirror of cultural changes in personality, traits and motivations and emotions and things like that,” DeWall told National Public Radio. “It reinforces this idea in American culture that we really need to focus on how people feel about themselves. … We can’t give them accurate feedback about who they really are. People who are very narcissistic, they come off as very confident, but if you insult them or provoke them in any way, it sort of breaks their bubble, and they’re very fragile people.”
Passing on a risk
Nearly all researchers agree that individualistic attitudes are detrimental for the future. In one example, a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that far fewer millennials made efforts to practice sustainability, choosing convenience over saving energy. The study showed 51 percent of millennials made a conscious effort to conserve power, compared to 68 percent of baby boomers.
More disheartening, the study showed that millennials show a further disconnect in civic interest and political participation – resulting in less giving to charities or willingness to volunteer. And despite wages remaining stagnant over the past couple decades and cost of living on the rise, Altman says Americans are far more willing to borrow on credit cards to support their current lifestyles. He noted that aggressive borrowing means that more will pass away with high debts, leaving their children or other relatives to be responsible.
“Essentially, they are stealing from future generations to fund their lifestyles today,” Altman wrote. “In the long term, however, their actions could be disastrous: a rash of debt crises, perhaps, or tax rates high enough to stifle even the fastest-growing economies.”
During a recession rivaling that of the Great Depression, those trying to make a life for themselves in the U.S. have battled a consistently poor job market, ballooning student loan debt, the foreclosure crisis and income inequality. The frustration comes to a head when Americans are up against a flatlined social mobility. The Pew Research Center found that 22 percent of Americans born into the bottom 10th percentile of income stay at that level throughout their adult lives.
“If social mobility continues to erode, and narcissism increases, the nation will someday face tremendous economic and psychic costs,” Altman said. “Crushing debts left by the Me Generation will fall upon a country ill prepared for its economic future. At the same time, Americans will suffer a moment of epic disillusionment as their narcissistic balloons finally burst.”