Is Narcissism Inherited? New Research Says Family Patterns May Be More Genetic Than Learned (opens in new tab)

There is a peculiar modern hunger to turn every difficult personality into a childhood parable. If someone is controlling, there must have been emotional neglect. If someone is grandiose, there must have been overpraise. If someone behaves like a peacock in loafers at a dinner party, we assume mother did something regrettable in 1983. It is a touching faith. And possibly a slightly superstitious one. A striking new twin-family study led by Mitja Back and colleagues has landed like a small gre...