Watching the trump* family has me wondering: Narcissism - the result of nature or nurture?

[Siwsan]

I'm thinking nurture. The three oldest seem well trained in the art of narcissism. I know we don't hear much from or about Tiffany, but she doesn't seem to be particularly vile. It is a bit too early to tell about the youngest, but given his limited exposure to his father, maybe there is hope that, at worse, he is being nurtured into vain shallowness.

[malaise]

1. There's a good read in the NYT about the Con's philosophy

Clan over country.. He projects this 'under siege' mentality when he doesn't get his own way and apparently his greedy offspring share that view. I suspect they get a regular dose of 'if you don't support me you're out of my will'.

They are scum in every sense of the word.

[tanyev]

2. Maybe both are necessary for an extreme level of malignant narcissism?

I read the book Confessions of a Sociopath and it was fascinating. The author professes to be a law-abiding sociopath. She claims to not have conscience or empathy, but since she wants the comfort and amenities of a law-abiding life, she generally follows the rules. She believes that the difference between a sociopath who chooses to function in society and one who doesn't was whether they had a happy, supportive childhood.

[marylandblue]

3. The family don't seem like Narcissists

More likw the enablers and flying monkeys that the narcissist tends to gather around him.

[Siwsan]

4. trump* is a classic narcissist, IMHO

If it is possible, I think he is even more vile than his father. And that's quite an "accomplishment".

[janterry]

5. Many psychiatrists and researchers say nature

but most practitioners in the field (MSW, PsyD - and therapists of all stripes) would say nurture.

FWIW, I think all personality disorders are adjectives, not nouns. When I dx. someone with a personality disorder, I tell them it's a style of interacting in the world that has been adaptive (pluses and minuses). Narcissism is not (again, my reading) a 'thing.' We can see/observe people behaving in a narcissistic way - but there's not a real objective 'test' for a personality disorder. Instead, we use psychometric tests - that are descriptive and usually self-reports (not that clinician bias would fix those self-reports..........). Of course, researchers keep saying there is a genetic component that they will prove, someday..........but they have said that about many things. I'll wait until I see it . Even the most complex and likely rooted in biology disorders (say, schizophrenia) probably has several genes interacting (not just one gene) - despite the 'research thumbnails' that are all over the internet. Also, there are ways of triggering schizophrenia in otherwise 'normal' (if you will) people (stick someone in solitary confinement for a few months - and they might experience psychosis. For some people in solitary, the symptoms become intractable).

Personality 'styles' are much harder to understand.

Anyway, this is all to say: mostly nurture. Nature plays a role, but it's mostly nurture.