From Deception to Authenticity: The Rise of Narcissism and the Death of Etiquette

Abstract

There is a clash between the idea of authenticity and the idea of deception. Here the author relates this clash to the rise in self-focus. Proposed is a model suggesting that the change in parenting as unreserved love, rather than rules and standards like etiquette, causes this increase in self-focus. In turn, self-focus leads to increases in shame, narcissism and perfectionism. It is this increase which promotes a self-interest focus and the idea of authenticity which takes precedence over the needs of others through shared rules of behavior, suggesting that deception has an important need in social life.

Notes

¹ The terms deception and lying will be used interchangeably. It is to be noted that the term lying has a stronger pejorative meaning than deception, itself an interesting phenomenon.