Epilogue: Specialness, Grandiosity, Omnipotence, Entitlement, and Indulgence: Changing Theories of Narcissism, Attitudes, and Culture

We assume that you, the reader, have now read and enjoyed the scholarly, thought-provoking articles in this issue addressing our featured topic of “Changing Theories of Narcissism, Attitudes, and Culture” with a focus on the concepts of “Specialness, Grandiosity, Omnipotence, Entitlement, and Indulgence.” We now highlight what we consider to be each author’s major points, followed by our concluding remarks and ideas. As our space is limited, we will be succinct and relatively brief and will address the authors under each heading.

AN INTERDISCIPLINARY PERSPECTIVE ON THE DIALECTIC BETWEEN SELF INTEREST AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Gerald Stechler addresses the issue of narcissism drawing on evolutionary biology, social psychology, systems theory, and psychoanalysis. He introduces his subject through juxtaposing Lasch’s (1979)† thesis that American social traumas created pessimism and an upsurge in individual manifestations of narcissism with Twenge and Campbell’s (2010) perspective, over thirty years later, that the increasing material success in America has led to an increase in narcissism. Although these authors assess an increased narcissism that threatens our society, they, Stechler notes, offer diametrically opposed explanations as to “the social context and causes of these increases” (p. 385).

Stechler argues that one needs to turn to more dynamic models found in psychoanalysis in which “overregulation and underregulation of a developmental function can both lead to pathological aberrations. If a young child is either overly gratified or overly deprived with respect to normal validation of his/her self-centered wishes, developmental fixations can result. One of the consequences of such fixations is that the normal balance between self-love and object love will fail to develop” (p. 385).