Connecting the obesity and the narcissism epidemics

Abstract

Obesity and metabolic syndromes are major threats to health in both developed and developing countries.  Traditional approaches against the obesity epidemic focus on calorie restriction and increased exercise. Nevertheless, there is a general consensus among experts that obesity is not only a personal problem, characterized by inadequate exercise and overeating but rather the consequence of a mismatch between basic human biology and modern society. Integrating studies from personality and evolutionary psychology, this talk will provide a holistic attempt to understand the obesity epidemic, by connecting it to the widespread narcissism in society. The narcissism epidemic refers to an increased prevalence of status-striving individualism and a decreased sense of community, observed in Westerns populations and spreading worldwide. Based on social personality and evolutionary psychology approaches, I speculate that this rise of narcissism underlies a steep social hierarchy resulting in increase of social stress. This social stress markedly affects individuals who are sensitive to social hierarchy dominance due to their personality, yet are relegated at a lower social position. I speculate that over-eating is one major mechanism for coping with this stress, and discuss the possibility that visceral fat may constitute an adaptive behavior to the lower social hierarchy position, which is perceived as unjust. Connecting the prevalence of obesity to the narcissism epidemic allows for a more thorough examination of factors, which contribute to obesity, which includes early difficult childhood experience, lower rank, and the overall competitive framework of the society. Measures to combat the raise of narcissism as a counter response against obesity are briefly discussed.

In this talk, I will summarize emerging knowledge on the narcissistic personality from both a social personality and an evolutionary biology perspective. The (disputed) notion of a rise of narcissism in our society will be introduced. Then, the model connecting the obesity pandemic to the narcissism epidemic will be presented together with other models.