The focus this week on empathy was an interesting and gave some answers surrounding the role of empathy in evil. Baron-Cohen highlighted that there were different outcomes when a person has no empathy based on the type of empathy they’re lacking as well as the social and biological factors that lead to this lack of empathy. I always considered psychopathy as the only result of a lack of empathy, but never considered borderline personality disorder, Asperger syndrome, or narcissistic personality disorders as connected to empathy. Class discussion also touched on the question of how empathy relates to evil. Given the different disorders or traits that stem from a lack of empathy, it seems to be that a lack of empathy doesn’t guarantee that the person is evil or will commit evil acts, but it makes it easier for people to commit evil acts. It’s obvious that people with Asperger syndrome are not evil because of their difficulty with cognitive empathy but instead tend to be hyper-moral due to their high levels of systemizing. I did however question the relationship between borderline personality disorder and lack of empathy or evil. I don’t believe that Borderline personality means a person is evil or cruel, I think that they’re struggling with their own emotions to the point where they can’t focus on anything but themselves. When it comes to narcissism, I was surprised that Baron-Cohen related this to a lack of empathy, because I always saw this as a grandiose sense of self, so I looked into this relationship.
A study by Chukwuorji, Uzuegbu, Agbo, Ifeagwazi, and Ebulum (2018) examined the relationship between different forms of empathy, narcissism and gender. They examined four different types of empathy. Empathic concern is the ability to show emotional sympathy for others and is related to affective empathy. Fantasy is the ability to identify with fictional characters and understand their emotions, which is related to cognitive empathy. Personal distress is related to affective empathy, specifically in the level of distress that one feels when others are upset or distressed. Perspective taking is cognitive empathy, specifically their ability to see the world through another’s perspective. On average they found that men were higher in narcissism than women, but the effect size for this was small. They also found that gender moderated the relationship between empathic concern, fantasy, perspective taking, and narcissism. Women who were low in these types of empathy were more likely to be high in narcissism, but there was no significant relationship between narcissism and these forms of empathy in men. The researchers believed that this was due to social differences between men and women. Women are expected to have high empathy, so they could be more impacted by a lack of empathy than men. Men are also more likely to be in positions of power where narcissistic traits are acceptable and beneficial to their career, which can promote narcissistic traits in men. This study is interesting because it shows a different type of social influence on the outcome of low empathy, since gender plays a role in the way empathy and self-concept is shaped.
I also found a YouTube video where a psychotherapist discusses the difference between narcissistic traits and Narcissistic Personality Disorder. He highlights that lower or moderate levels narcissistic traits lead to higher self-esteem and a positive self-concept, which is healthy. However, high narcissistic traits often lead to people believing that they possess only positive traits, even when those around them show contradictory information. When one’s own self-concept is disconnected from their own reality in an overly positive manner this can cause them to become upset or angry when their self-concept is questioned. They also can lose the ability to see others as good in comparison.
Through the different studies and characterizations of narcissism and empathy it’s obvious that empathy is one of many reasons why this personality disorder occurs. Along with the biological roles and individual parental experiences mentioned by Baron-Cohen, societal roles such as gender constructs and expectations also contribute to the development of narcissism. This also falls in line with the idea of empathy as a spectrum rather than an all-or-none construct that Baron-Cohen highlights in his book.
Chukwuorji, J.K., Uzuegbu, C.N., Agbo, F., Ifeagwazi, C.M. & Ebulum, GC. (2018). Different slopes for different folks: Gender moderates the relationship between empathy and narcissism. Current Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-018-9881-z
Hailey's PSYC 4720 Blog 
Hey Hailey!
I think the study you found is really interesting! Particularly, I find it interesting that lower abilities to relate with fictional characters (fantasy) correlate with higher ratings of narcissism specifically in women, but not men. I would have never thought there would even be a connection there, but after thinking about it, it does make sense for there to be one, however, I’m still puzzled why it only relates to women and not men.
I love the video you found to emphasize the difference between narcissistic traits versus narcissistic personality disorder and I think this psychotherapist does a wonderful job explaining it in a way that would be understood by “grandma” to use Professor Navarra’s expression.
Also, I agree with you about Borderline Personality Disorder in the sense that I don’t believe they are ‘evil’, however, I do see how they are low on the empathy scale because of their general disregard for others emotions and narcissistic traits. Great post, Hailey!
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