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.