NARCISSISM IN MUSIC PERFORMANCE: SINGERS VERSUS INSTRUMENTALISTS

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NARCISSISM IN MUSIC PERFORMANCE SINGERS VERSUS
INSTRUMENTALISTS
Sarah Kettner1 Richard Parncutt21University of
Music and Performing Arts Graz Austria2University
of Graz Austria
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History of Narcissism

• Greek mythology to modern
• psychology
• Competitive markets emphasise
• self-confidence, self-assurance,
• self-worth
• Narcissism defined in this research
• Subject libidinal investment or self-love

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Leading Theories
Sigmund Freud On Narcissism An Introduction
(1914) Ego Theory
Heinz Kohut The Analysis of Self (1971)
introduced the unified self idealized mirror
Otto Kernberg Early Ego Integration and Object
Relations (1972) Borderline Conditions and
Pathological Narcissism (1975)
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The Performing Psyche

• Are performing musicians predisposed
• to narcissism?
• Is performance motivation
• affected by narcissistic
• gratification?
• Does a singers libidinal
• Identification with their instrument
• affect their overall narcissism?

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Goals

• Explore differences between singers and
  instrumentalists behaviour in relation to
  narcissism
• Compare narcissistic levels with performance
  motivation

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Method

• Quantitative
• Standardised Narcissistic Personality Inventory
  (NPI)Schröder/Schütz (2005)
• Subscale dimensions Leadership, physical
  vanity, entitlement, arrogance, ambition and
  competence belief
• Qualitative
• Performance motivation questionnaire - Kettner
  (2007) non standardised
• Recognition, self-expression, creativity,
  payment, fame, self-affirmation and exhibitionism

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Participants

• Experimental Group
• Music universities N156
• Control Group
• Technical universities (diverse disciplines) N36
• Department of Psychology (U Graz) N165
• Choristers N67
• Sampling criteria
• Age 18-35
• No self-selection

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Participant Sample

• Total sample consist of 424 persons, (273 women
  and 151 men).
• Their mean age was 26.6

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Who is the most egoistic musician?Response to
prejudice question
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Singers are not significantly more narcissistic
than instrumentalists

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Physical vanity of singers versus
instrumentalists and controls
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Singers have sig. higher competence belief than
instrumentalists and controls
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Correlations between performance motivation and
narcissistic measures
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Performance majors are sig. more ambitious than
pedagogy majors
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Results and Discussion

• Complexity of narcissism compounded by associated
  characteristics such as exhibitionism
• Overt and covert aspects of narcissim were not
  distinguished in this research

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Singers versus instrumentalists

• Singers, unlike instrumentalists
• embody their instrument
• Singers not more narcissistic despite
• prevailing prejudice
• Higher scores on sub-scales
• physical vanity and competence belief

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Pedagogy versus performance majors
Between Subjects Eff. df df error F-value Sig
Leadership 1 155 0,602 0,439
Vanity 1 155 0,060 0,807
Entitelment 1 155 0,042 0,839
Superiority 1 155 0,813 0,369
Ambition 1 155 9,576 0,002
Comp. Bel. 1 155 0,384 0,536

• Higher scores of ambition in performance majors
  could be due to differences in employment
  opportunities
• Degree courses in music education cover a wider
  range of topics not only performance

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Narcissism Malignant or benign?

• Narcissism is positively related to psychological
  health (Sedikeset al., 2004)
• Performing artists motivational ideals are
  consciously or unconsciously influenced by
  narcissistic and exhibitionistic compulsions. The
  drive to be loved, admired and to exhibit
  something of themselves on the stage provides a
  compelling source of gratification for stage
  artists (Hamilton, 1997)

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Pedagogic Implications

• Increased awareness of their own narcissisistic
  compulsions and those of their students help
  teachers avoid exploiting their admiration
• Striving for self-fulfillment and
  self-gratification are intrinsically linked with
  the will to survive and related to the
  motivational drive
• Musicians who develop and sustain a consistent
  sense of identity can contend with the punishing
  polarity of public adulation or criticism

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Literature Selection

• Baumeister, R. F., Bushman, B. J., Campell,
  W.K. (2000) Self-esteem, narcissism and
  aggression Does violence result from low
  self-esteem or from threatened egotism? Current
  Directions in Psychological Science, 9, 26-29.
• Freud, S., Ed. J. Sandler et al. (1999). On
  narcissism An introduction New Haven Yale
  University Press.
• Hamilton, L. H. (1989). In pursuit of the ideal
  Narcissism and the performing artist. Doctoral
  dissertation. Adelphi University.
• Hamilton, L. H. (1998). The person behind the
  mask. Greenwich Ablex Publishing Corporation.
• Jacoby, M. (1999). Individuation and narcissism,
  the psychology of Self in Jung and Kohut. New
  York Brunner-Routledge.
• Kohut, H. (1971). The analysis of the Self. New
  York International Universities Press.
• Maccoby, M. (2003). Die Musik als Geliebte.
  Hessen Psychosozial-Verlag.
• Neumann, E. (1966). Narcissism, Normal
  Self-formation and the Primary Relation to the
  Mother. New York Analytical Psychology Club.
• Sedikides, C.,Gregg, A., Rudich, E., Kumashiro,
  M. (2004). Are normal narcissists psychologically
  healthy? Journal of Personality and Social
  Psychology, 87, 400-416. Washington APA.
• Wigfield, A., Eccles, J. S., Schiefele, U.,
  Roeses, R. W., Davis-Kean, P. (2006).
  Development of achievement motivation. In N.
  Eisenberg, W. Damon R. M. Lerner (Eds.),
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  Wiley.
• Winnicott, D. W. (1971). Playing and Reality,
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