Trend Watch: Capitalizing on Narcissism
How societal narcissism drives industry trends
This article is broken up into four sections, composed of two insights, a case study, before concluding section about my projections for the future:
- Insight #1: America is fast evolving into a highly narcissistic society.
- Insight #2: Unmet needs give rise to narcissistic behavior [Maslow’s hierarchy of needs].
- Case Study: How LinkedIn and Instagram profits from societal narcissism.
- Trend Watch: my projections of business models that will thrive in a narcissistic society.
Now, the way this article is structured, if my projections are going to carry any weight, I must first make a convincing case for insights #1 and #2.
So, let’s dive in.
Insight #1: America Is Fast Evolving into A Highly Narcissistic Society
To be narcissistic, according to the Webster dictionary, is to be extremely self-centered with an exaggerated sense of self-importance. It then goes further to define it as excessive admiration of or infatuation with oneself.
The subject of narcissism in people can become highly complex as many studies continue to dig deeper into the psychology of narcissism. For example, people can exhibit various forms of narcissism, such as grandiose vs vulnerable and overt vs covert. Narcissism is also on a spectrum, meaning not all who exhibit narcissistic tendencies are diagnosable as having narcissistic personality disorder.
For this article, my insights draw on the general trend of our culture shifting towards narcissistic tendencies (as defined above), with individuals and communities displaying elements of narcissistic behavior.
There are two important angles of narcissism that I’d like to bring to attention with regards to modern society:
Individual Narcissism
A self-centered personality style characterized as having an excessive interest in one’s physical appearance or image and an excessive preoccupation with one’s own needs, often at the expense of others.
Collective Narcissism
Extends this concept to similar excessively high opinions of a person’s social group.
According to The Atlantic, collective narcissists
may differ in their narrative about why they are superior — they might believe that they’re the most moral, the most culturally sophisticated, the most talented, the most powerful, or the most protective of democratic values.
While America has always celebrated individualism, it has over time festered into a form of narcissism, with social media being a main vehicles to exacerbate and escalate this phenomenon. An excerpt from the Real Science blog articulates it best:
Owing to the elevated prevalence of social media services over the past decade, it’s highly likely that the rise in narcissism has only accelerated of late. We see it on Twitter, where users flock to share their ‘brilliant’ opinions. We see it on Instagram and TikTok, where people carefully curate their online personas. We also see it in traditional media sources, where elite-educated journalists often make themselves the story and focus on tending their Twitter profiles. Narcissism also reigns on television news. Gone are the days of humble correspondents and “just the facts” anchors, replaced by talking heads and opinionated hosts more interested in their ratings than the truth.
In my opinion several factors have combined to varying degrees to create this upsurge in societal narcissism, but my theory is that the general root cause lies in society’s response to an individual and/or community’s unmet needs. Studies have shown that when a person and/or group’s needs are unmet, it inevitably triggers a feeling of dissatisfaction, unearth deep insecurities, and consequently result in narcissistic behavior.
Unmet Needs — -> Insecurity — -> Narcissistic Behavior
To explain in detail, I’ll discuss Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
Insight #2: Unmet needs breeds narcissistic behavior
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a psychological theory created by Abraham Maslow in his 1943 paper “A Theory of Human Motivation” published in the Journal of Psychological Review. The theory is depicted in a tiered pyramid model of human needs, where the lower levels (basic and psychological needs) need to be catered for to make room for the higher up (self-fulfillment needs).
According to Maslow’s theory, basic and psychological needs are considered deficiency needs, while the need for self-fulfillment is known as growth needs. Deficiency needs are needs that arise when a person is being deprived of it. Growth needs are a direct result of our inherent desire for self-actualization and fulfillment.
Society is experiencing a lack of deficiency needs
Today, our basic and psychological needs (deficiency needs) are going increasingly unmet in some of the following ways:
Unmet basic needs: Over the last couple of years, America has experienced several social upheavals including a global pandemic, a recession, a shaky political system, natural disasters, racial unrest and mass shootings.
On the economic front, rising inflation has caused many people to lose their homes and default on their debt. The huge market shift caused many — especially those who participated in the crypto frenzy — to lose their life savings.
The never-ending gun debates and the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade have also caused an uproar and a re-evaluation of the meaning of human rights in America. As a result, a lot more people are feeling unsafe and insecure about their future, especially their ability to live, sustain, and provide for others.
Unmet psychological needs: Psychological needs can be unmet for individuals (such as a lack of a support system) as well as for collective groups (including discrimination, marginalization and scapegoating of targeted demographics).
With the ubiquitous presence of social media, people are ostensibly more connected than at any point in human history. Although ironically, we are also lonelier than ever, as people fail to build meaningful relationships from the connection. What was intended to bring people closer together has not exactly gone according to plan.
Numerous studies on social media usage show an adverse effect on the mental health of a significant number of users as more people suffer from self-esteem issues, feel unaccepted, depressed, and unloved.
How is This Connected to Narcissism?
As with everything in life, balance is important. When deficiency needs are severely depleted, people (consciously or subconsciously) can attempt to compensate by over-indexing on growth needs. An exaggerated focus on one’s growth needs to compensate for the absence of deficiency needs can give rise to narcissism.
In other words, narcissistic behavior can arise from catering too much to the growth needs (aesthetics, cognitive, self-actualization and transcendence) as a way to compensate for the absence of a deficiency needs (physiological & safety needs, love & belonging, esteem). The unconscious intention here is that by over-activating growth needs, one can eventually fulfill their deficiency needs.
Let’s explore this further by using a case study of LinkedIn and Instagram.
Case Study: How LinkedIn and Instagram Profit from Societal Narcissism
LinkedIn is a professional networking platform that allows employers and job seekers to find each other. However, a quick Google search on the phrase “LinkedIn is…” yields some interesting results:
And here is a similar search on YouTube:
A lot of people hate LinkedIn. But a lot of people also use it. I wondered how this is. But then as I dug deeper into the underlying sentiment behind the terms “toxic” “cringe” and “pretentious”, I began to uncover the public’s growing disgust toward the platform. While LinkedIn was originally designed to encourage professional networking and career development, in reality it has become a hub for narcissistic self-branding and self-promotion. Why is this the case?
The amount of narcissistic content today on LinkedIn may be a reflection of the current society’s unmet deficiency need (specifically basic needs). Job insecurity, hiring freezes and rising inflation rates all speak of the government or society’s inability to provide these needs. This, in turn, causes the public to rely on boasting about the attainment of their growth needs (such as certifications, speaking engagements, etc.) with the hope of securing basic needs (via a new job or a promotion). Put differently, trumpeting your accomplishments on LinkedIn can help you appear desirable in the eyes of a prospective employer, which in turn may translate into job security (a basic need).
As a result, LinkedIn, although many people hate it, can continue to build its revenue model on this societal unmet basic need, via offering premium features for those who want to “stand out” from the competition.
In summary: LinkedIn is a business that thrives because it appeals to its target customer’s unmet deficiency needs at the basic level. The platform’s revenue model caters to the individual and collective narcissism in society by offering better opportunity and access to job prospects at higher payment tiers. The platform, in essence, rewards narcissistic behavior.
Instagram:
Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking app. Like LinkedIn, the general sentiment towards Instagram is not positive.
Instagram is particularly notorious for the mind-boggling showcase of conspicuous consumption. Many of its users try to outdo one another by posting photos that flaunt a carefully curated lifestyle that is often not their reality.
While a substantial number of users leverage Instagram to promote their business, it is arguable that a disproportionate number use the app mainly to seek validation from others.
It then appears that the core difference between both platforms lies in the fact that Instagram is most effective at targeting those who experience unmet deficiency need at the psychological level. This then means that Instagram’s most reliable customer base are those lacking in esteem, validation, and a sense of worth.
This is supported by the fact that a sizable number of IG users are literally going into debt in a desperate bid to portray a glitzy image “for likes and follows.”
In 2019 LendingTree published an article to track user behavior on the platform.
LendingTree conducted a survey of over 1,200 American Instagram users and found that more than 20% of them have gone into debt for Instagram, a figure that jumps to almost 30% amongst millennials.
As a result, Instagram, although widely despised, can continue to build its revenue model on this societal unmet psychological need, primarily via targeted advertising.
In summary: Instagram is a business that thrives because it appeals to its customer’s unmet deficiency needs at the psychological level. The platform’s revenue model caters mostly to individual narcissism with targeted advertising, with the built-in “likes” and “follows” features further heightening a person’s sense of validation. The platform, in essence, rewards narcissistic behavior.
Trend Watch: my projections of business models that will thrive in a narcissistic society
I believe that as long as deficiency needs go unfulfilled, narcissistic behavior will continue to be exhibited (and unfortunately exploited) in the business world. Here are my projections on business models that will emerge and thrive (for better or for worse) in a highly narcissistic society:
FinTech
Attempts to leverage the principle of decentralized finance (a sentiment which gained great popularity in the middle of the pandemic) will continue to propagate as new startups emerge in the sector (with or without the involvement of today’s cryptocurrency). Gamification revenue models that reward individual and collective narcissism will win big. Social investing platforms will become mainstream, with influencers as vehicles for adoption.
Marketing will be heavily indexed on terms such as “community”, “freedom,” and “ownership.” New terms will emerge to disassociate from cryptocurrency.
Target customer for a successful business in this sector: those experiencing unmet deficiency needs in the basic pillar.
HealthTech & BeautyTech:
Applications and businesses focused on precision nutrition, personalized health analysis and stem cell technology will become big winners in this sector. Preventative healthcare will be a dominant theme across all sub sectors in this category. For example, within healthtech, technology that identifies early signs of stress (via elevated cortisol hormone levels, for example) and within beautytech, skincare technology that prevents (or even reverses) signs of aging will be a hit.
Target customer for a successful business in this sector: those struggling with deficiency needs in the psychological pillar will gravitate towards the beauty and skincare innovation market; those experiencing unmet deficiency needs in the basic pillar will dominate the food technology market that may offer convenient and cost-effective access to nutrition.
Edtech:
The concept of “education” will see a shift from the educator-student business model, to individuals teaching each other about their specialities. Platforms that allow anyone to become a ‘guru’ or ‘thought leader’ will gain popularity, even if most will be difficult to scale long term.
Bootcamps and career advancement platforms will continue to saturate this sector because it allows users to maximize on their growth needs (self-actualization). However, only those that can fill the user’s deficiency needs (basic and/or psychological) will ultimately thrive.
Target customer for a successful business in this sector: those experiencing unmet deficiency needs in the basic pillar will gather together in platforms with a heavy monetization strategy, while those experiencing unmet deficiency needs in the psychological pillar will gravitate towards platforms with a high self-branding ability (for example, built-in SEO optimization).
Social Networks/Media:
Summits & conventions, exclusive community groups and private memberships will dominate business models in this sector. People are no longer interested in participating in social network platforms unless it attends to their deficiency needs at a basic and/or psychological level.
This means that creative communities will often fail except when there is a monetization strategy for creators to make money on the platform (basic need) or a recognition system that rewards users with social capital via participation points, media exposure, etc. (psychological need).
When it comes to seeking more intimate connections like dating, love, sex, etc. there are two business models we can expect to thrive. For users whom their narcissism is rooted in psychological needs, businesses that index on attention and validation will succeed. For those whom their narcissism is borne out of basic needs, the business models that promote dating based on status, pedigree and lifestyle compatibility will have the advantage. So basically, Tinder and the like will unfortunately remain for the former reason, while traditional matchmakers stay in business for the latter reason.
Target customer for a successful business in this sector: those experiencing unmet deficiency needs in the basic pillar will flock to platforms with a heavy monetization strategy, while those experiencing unmet deficiency needs in the psychological pillar will be drawn to platforms with a high self-branding ability.
Conclusion:
Personal or collective narcissism is often a symptom or manifestation of larger issues like unmet needs and insecurities. As our society contends with a rising wave of narcissism, the business models that can expect to succeed are those built around catering to the demographic struggling with meeting their basic and psychological needs.
Nevertheless, it goes without saying that despite the considerable potential for business the rise in narcissism offers, we should all work towards creating a healthy society in which one is not deprived of his/her basic and psychological needs. Perhaps paying more attention to issues of mental wellness and investing in therapy are the game changers that can help fix what is clearly an unhealthy cycle.
Thank you for reading! Feel free to visit my website at https://www.ayaspencer.com to learn more about my work.
