Narcissism and academic dishonesty: The exhibitionism dimension and the lack of guilt - Essay Example

Questions on Narcissism and academic dishonesty Narcissism is a type of personality trait. It can affect some people very seriously even to the extent that they need professional help. It can also be just a mild form of egotism within range of what is considered a normal personality. It can make relationships difficult because narcissistic people think they are special and this means that they do not consider the needs and wishes of other people very much because they are so focused on themselves.

One challenge is that narcissists want to be perceived as the best at everything and this can be difficult when there are clear tests and examinations which grade people according to a standard measure. 2 Rationalized cheating is what happens when a person does not deliberately set out to cheat but nevertheless engages in activities which are not ethical and then finds an explanation for these actions which makes them sound like something other than cheating.3 Morality is seen as deterring academic dishonesty because people often feel a sense of shame when they cheat, and the anticipation of this feeling prevents people from actually cheating.

4 The three dimensions are a) desiring power; b) showing off whenever they get the chance; and c) believing they are special.5 Exhibitionism and Self-Esteem were independent variables6 The Narcissistic Personality Inventory forces respondents to make a choice between each one of a set of 40 pairs of statements. The result shows whether a person tends towards a narcissistic or non-narcissistic personality. 7 The self v Other conceptualization is a way of analyzing how well a participant can visualize things from the point of view of another person – the hypothesis seems to be that Narcissistic people cannot do this very well and this explains their dishonesty.

8 Participants generally think that others have a higher level of dishonesty than themselves.9 Traits such as exhibitionism and a desire for power were correlated with academic dishonesty but the biggest predictor is a lower experience of guilt.10 I think that the selfishness that comes with Narcissism hampers a person’s moral development so that they weigh their own needs and wishes as more important than the needs and wishes for others. Narcissists feel less guilt because they can explain away their actions in terms of being special people, for whom the normal rules do not apply.

The do understand what is right and wrong, but they apply a different standard to themselves than to other people.11 The results partly mirror what the researchers expected to find. Based on previous research it was expected that people would report themselves as more honest than other people. This is because there is an instinct to present oneself in a good light. The link between not experiencing guilt and higher cheating levels is hard to explain. More research is needed in order to discover why this is so.