Books aside, if you asked a college freshman
today who the Greatest Generation is, they might respond by pointing in a
mirror.
Young people's unprecedented level of
self-infatuation was revealed in a new analysis of the American Freshman
Survey, which has been asking students to rate themselves compared to their
peers since 1966. Roughly 9 million young people have taken the survey
over the last 47 years
Psychologist Jean Twenge and her colleagues
compiled the data and found that over the last four decades there's been a dramatic
rise in the number of students who describe themselves as being 'above average'
in the areas of academic ability, drive to achieve, mathematical ability, and
self-confidence.
But in appraising the traits that are
considered less invidualistic - co-operativeness, understanding others, and
spirituality - the numbers either stayed at slightly decreased over the same
period. Researchers also found a disconnect between the student's opinions of
themselves and actual ability.
While students are much more likely to call
themselves gifted in writing abilities, objective test scores actually show
that their writing abilities are far less than those of their 1960s
counterparts. Also on the decline is the amount of time spent studying, with
little more than a third of students saying they study for six or more hours a
week compared to almost half of all students claiming the same in the late
1980s. Though they may work less, the number that said they had a drive to
succeed rose sharply.
These young egotists can grow up to be
depressed adults. A 2006 study found that students suffer from 'ambition
inflation' as their increased ambitions accompany increasingly unrealistic
expectations.
"Since the 1960s and 1970s, when those
expectations started to grow, there's been an increase in anxiety and
depression," Twenge said. "There's going to be a lot more people who
don't reach their goals."
Twenge is the author of a separate study
showing a 30 per cent increase towards narcissism in students since 1979. "Our culture used to encourage modesty
and humility and not bragging about yourself," Twenge told BBC News.
"It was considered a bad thing to be seen as conceited or full of
yourself."
Just because someone has high self-esteem
doesn't mean they're a narcissist. Positive self-assessments can not only be
harmless but completely true. However, one in four recent students responded to
a questionnaire called the Narcissistic Personality Inventory with results
pointing towards narcissistic self-assessments. Narcissism is defined as
excessive self-love or vanity; self-admiration, or being self-centered.
Twenge said that's a trait that is often
negative and destructive, and blames its boom on several trends - including
parenting styles, celebrity culture, social media, and easy credit - for
allowing people to seem more successful than they really are.
"What's really become prevalent over the
last two decades is the idea that being highly self-confident - loving
yourself, believing in yourself - is the key to success," Twenge said. "Now
the interesting thing about that belief is it's widely held, it's very deeply
held, and it's also untrue."
Despite a library's worth of self-help books
promoting the idea we can achieve anything if we believe we can, there's very
little evidence that raising self-esteem produces positive, real-world
outcomes. "If there is any effect at all, it is quite small," said
Roy Baumeister of Florida State University, who authored a 2003 paper on
self-esteem studies.
Baumeister found that while successful people
did have high-self esteem in many cases, it was unclear what actual caused
their success if the first place. Both self-esteem and success were often
influenced by another factor.
"Coming from a good family might lead to
both high self-esteem and personal success." Baumeister said. "Self-control
is much more powerful and well-supported as a cause of personal success. Despite
my years invested in research on self-esteem, I reluctantly advise people to
forget about it."
Twenge compared it to a swimmer trying to
learn a turn who needs to believe that learning the skill is possible but who
won't actually be aided in acquiring that skill by their belief.
"You need to believe that you can go out
and do something but that's not the same as thinking that you're great,"
Twenge said. Studies suggest weaker students actually perform worse if given
encouragement at boosting their self-esteem.
"An intervention that encourages
[students] to feel good about themselves, regardless of work, may remove the
reason to work hard," Baumeister found. But if you found yourself bothered
by a person always talking about how wonderful they are, remember that their
future may not be bright.
"In the long-term, what tends to happen
is that narcissistic people mess up their relationships, at home and at work,"
Twenge said. Though narcissists may be charming at first, their selfish actions
eventually damage relationships. It's not until middle-age they may realize
their lives have had a number of failed relationships. And even if they
recognize something is wrong they may have a hard time changing.
"It's a personality trait," says
Twenge. "It's by definition very difficult to change. It's rooted in
genetics and early environment and culture and things that aren't all that
malleable."
It's hard to blame today's generation for
such an attitude when the parents raised them in an environment where we don't
keep score in games so that "everyone is a winner" and "no one
feels badly because they lost". Where some schools, including colleges,
have quit giving good students high grades and poor students low grades and
have simply went to a pass/fail system
so that no one self esteem is injured.
This generation has been coddled and told
they are special from the cradle, not that its bad to express your love for
your child but you have denied them the drive you get from loosing and having
to try harder, or getting a bad grade and having to push hard to get that grade
back up.
They come into the real world unprepared for
failure at any level and frankly they are unequipped to deal with real life.
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