1) I think you mean .08 percent on the legal blood alcohol level, not 0.8 percent. (Although I would not be surprised to learn that Paris Hilton has alcohol making up almost 1 percent of her bloodstream.)

2) Did we really need an academic study to tell us that celebrities are narcissistic?

3) Did Dr . Drew fill out the survey? He's a celebrity too....

thanks Mike, yeah .8 would be near flammably high! Sometimes studies show us exactly what we already know, and good question about Dr. Drew - I could see it either way.

You mean somebody had to actually do a study to tell us that? Pinsky & Young must think the rest of us are as stupid as they and the celebrities they studied, if they think they needed a study to tell us this self-obvious fact.

they claim there was only "anecdotal" evidence before

When asked if she really was "Narcissistic", Paris Hilton proudly proclaimed she had never had sex with a dead person in her life.

If the study was on who was Vapid and who was Not, would Paris qualify?

vapid and narcissistic: that's Paris

nice one Brad! Either sex with animals or that sleeping disease

Usually, scientific research will provide supporting evidence for conclusions that seem "obvious," especially after the fact. But sometimes, such research will offer evidence that is counterintuitive.

And that is why this kind of research is done...because before the research is conducted, we don't really know, and "common sense" is occasionally dead wrong...

That being said...I coulda told you that Paris Hilton is a soulless wretch for free.. ;-)

good points RJ - you never really know until you do the research

Narcissism requires the presence of at least one human mind. In all the photos and film clips of Paris Hilton that have crossed my field of view, I have looked into the eyes of the image, but never once seen anyone looking back out of those eyes.

Interesting that the article about Marshall Mathers being narcisstic met with resistance, but the article about Paris Hilton meets with agreement, when it seems clear that both celebrities display high narcissism, at least pubicly. (MM makes an even clearer case for himself than PH does, almost as if his goal is to remove all doubt).

I am not conjecturing right now as to why this might be, but it seems to say something about how celebrities are viewed by the public. What reasons could there be for this inconsistant public reaction? Where are the "Paris keeps it real, yo! You just a hater!" fans?

Maybe Paris doesn't have any fans, only onlookers.

There's a "standard Narcissism Personality Inventory profile"? Damn, I was sick that day in school! So did I miss my calling? I never had the chance to fully develop my nascent senses of exhibitionism, superiority, entitlement, exploitativeness, and vanity. I coulda been a contender, but I'll have to settle with being vapid as hell, I guess.

I believe the difference between the perception of Eminem and Paris would be that 1) Eminem is perceived as having a fair amount of talent, and 2) he wasn't bred for entitlement, he "earned" it the hard way via "merit." I am not saying this is my opinion necessarily, just trying to explain the perception

I had to google "Marshall Mathers".

hahaha.

"A Psych Grad Student" brings up an interesting point. Eric answered well. There is something in us that enjoys peoples' narcissistic traits because we find them either adorable, admirable, warranted, just, funny, etc.

I think there can be a transformation from Narcissistic to Heroic depending on the attitude of the person. It is very rare nowadays, because naturally confident people arent' forced to develop their gifts (if they have any) with real, hard work. So, "celebrities" have less credibility because they care less about craft and more about themselves. But when we witness someone who clearly works on originality and craft meanwhile satisfying their natural impulse to be in the limelight, then we forgive it. We almost welcome it.

very interesting point nugget - we like to build up, tear down, and sometimes build up again

I'm wondering how much narcissistic tendencies are responsible for so much economic success in the world? High flying CEOs, politicians, athletes, serial killers and other malcontents all seem to benefit from this narcissist thing.

I guess labeling people you don't like with some random psychological disorder is part of making ourselves feel good by making others feel bad.

Maybe there is psychological condition that describes people who label people with psychological conditions?

Just a thought.

I have to agree Mohjho. I've watched Paris going through her paces just like everyone else and am astounded at the need to rip her at every turn, quite frankly. Why? Because she's really pretty? Seemingly dumb and not able to perform brain surgery any time soon? Oh my gawd! Where did this freak come from? She's like...why, she's like millions of other girls in this country who don't have a camera turned on them 24/7.

She likes the attention. And any other young girl, or guy for that matter, given those circumstances would do exactly what she's doing and that's playing to the camera. I say she should just be shot.

Y'know guys, I expect women to be all "haughty and disgusted" at the attention she gets, but coming from guys it's pretty damn hypocritical if the truth be told.

I have to tell you of an experiment I did in my home.

Since my husband and I have had this conversation many times I was setting out to prove my point. We were having a gathering of about 35 people; 16 couple and 3 single guys. I placed magazines strategically around the living room and family room. I put out what I thought covered most peoples interests; Extreme Sports, Sports Illustrated, Entertainment Weekly, Popular Mechanics, Car & Driver and AutoWeek, Maximum PC, Forbes, a few womens lifestyle mags and some fashion ones.

And two with Paris Hilton on the cover...one in each room.

Need I tell you the magazines that were picked up the most? And by whom? Mostly the men but eventually everyone. If one guy had a magazine he would even have another guy looking over his shoulder saying "I don't know what the fuss is all about; she doesn't do a thing for me."
Sure!

And the woman were doing nearly the same thing. Pompously pointing out miniscule flaws to one another -'well, her ears are a really funny shape.' or 'I just can't stand the way her hair line grows.'

There is a solution to all of this; stop looking. Then you won't be bothered by ears or hairlines or the fuss that others are making.

We do enjoy these things but we have an embarrassment about it so we immediately look for ways of redeeming ourselves. Yet if we stopped saying how awful the whole thing was, there would be no need for redemption....right?

as stated in the story, narcissism isn't all bad - I'm sure I have plenty of the traits. There are also all kinds of levels of it and no one has said Paris is pathological. But the timing of the study was pretty hard to ignore. I think Paris is famous and alluring specifically BECAUSE of her narcissism, so as far as her career is concerned, she should be thankful for such a large quantity of it

Mohjiho and angeni,

Labeling Paris Hilton a narcissist is not without merit, and I don't think it's just "to make ourselves feel better". Unfortunately, NPD is a dangerous condition that is estimated to effect 1% of the popoulation. If someone can look at Paris and say "Hey, my mother acted just like that. Maybe she has NPD as well." If the person is then able to seperate themselves from the narcissist and get help for all the emotional abuse they have suffered, then the label has has served its purpose well.

Angeni, what you don't seem to understand is that to many of us, Paris Hilton is not a role model or someone to be admired, but simply a spectacle. A train wreck that is bound to get attention from every angle. To a mentally healthy person, this type of negative publicity would be shameful and embarrasing. To a narcissist, there is no bad attention. To be loved or hated are equally desireable. The thirst for this attention is much like an alcoholic's thirst for booze. But you are on the right track to say that we should just stop looking. If we truly want to punish the narcissist and protect ourselves, we should just ignore and avoid them. For a narcissist, to be forgotten is a fate worse than death.