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What Does Emp Mean Sexually

Narcissism and Sexual Aggression

Although numerous attitudinal, situational, and personality factors likely converge to predict sexual aggression (for reviews, see Chesire, 2004; Koss et al., 1994; Lalumière, Harris, Quinsey, & Rice, 2005; Lonsway & Fitzgerald, 1994; Marx, Van Wie, & Gross, 1996; Murnen, Wright, & Kaluzny, 2002), several theories of sexual aggression convincingly implicate narcissism as one particularly important dispositional risk factor (e.g., Baumeister, Catanese, & Wallace, 2002; Malamuth, 2003; Malamuth, Heavey, & Linz, 1993). Narcissism is a personality style characterized by tendencies toward exploiting others, a general lack of empathy for others, a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, and an excessive need for admiration (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Indeed, a connection between narcissism and sexual aggression makes sense for several reasons. First, narcissists respond more aggressively than non-narcissists to interpersonal rejections across a variety of domains (e.g., Baumeister, Bushman, & Campbell, 2000; Baumeister, Smart, & Boden, 1996; Bushman & Baumeister, 1998; Bushman, Bonacci, van Dijk, & Baumeister, 2003; Konrath, Bushman, & Campbell, 2006; Rhodewalt & Morf, 1998; Twenge & Campbell, 2003), a response that may generalize to any rejections they experience in the sexual domain. Second, possibly due to their especially high need for positive regard and admiration (Morf & Rhodewalt, 2001; Raskin, Novacek, & Hogan, 1991), narcissists appear particularly oriented toward sexual relationships (Hurlbert, Apt, Gasar, Wilson, & Murphy, 1994; Wryobeck & Wiederman, 1999), an orientation that provides greater opportunities to experience the types of rejections that could lead to sexual aggression. Third, narcissists demonstrate inflated, but often distorted, views of their abilities (Campbell, Bosson, Goheen, Lakey, & Kernis, 2007; Morf & Rhodewalt, 2001), views that may lead them to believe victims desire or even benefit from their sexual advances, despite those victim’s rejections or protests against such advances (cf. Baumeister et al., 2002). Finally, narcissists are characterized by low levels of empathy (e.g., Watson, Grisham, Trotter, & Biderman, 1984) and high levels of hostility and exploitativeness (e.g., Raskin et al., 1991), a combination of traits that may prompt them to forcefully take the sexual relations they desire even if they realize sexual aggression may harm their victims.

Despite such strong theoretical links, only a handful of empirical studies have directly examined whether men high in narcissism are more likely than men low in narcissism to perpetrate sexual aggression, and the results of such studies have been inconsistent. Providing support for the link between narcissism and sexual aggression, Bushman et al. (2003) demonstrated that men who were high in narcissism held more rape-supportive attitudes and behaved more aggressively toward a female confederate who refused to read aloud a sexually explicit passage than men who were low in narcissism. Further, Kosson, Kelly, and White (1997) found that men high in narcissism were more likely to use arguments, pressure, or positions of authority to force a woman into unwanted sexual activity than men low in narcissism. However, raising doubts about the link between narcissism and sexual aggression, Kosson et al. (1997) also reported that men high in narcissism were not more likely to commit other forms of sexual aggression, including verbal threats, exploitation of an intoxicated woman, and physical force. Likewise, two other studies (Chantry & Craig, 1994; Pospiszyl, 2002) found that global measures of narcissism did not clearly differentiate men incarcerated for sexual aggression from those incarcerated for non-sexual aggression.

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