Narcissists capable of Empathy?

[AnnaG]

"Psychology research breakthrough suggests narcissists are capable of empathy

Narcissists tend to lack empathy, which can cause problems for themselves, the people around them and society in general. But promising new research from the University of Surrey suggests narcissists do in fact possess the physical capacity to empathise with someone else's distress." - Psychology research breakthrough suggests narcissists are capable of empathy | University of Surrey - GuildfordNew psychology research suggests narcissists can be empathic

I wonder if they've met Boomer yet.

 

[captain morgan]

They are more than capable of a form of insincere empathy as long as it draws the focus back onto themselves

 

[AnnaG]

If it is insincere, it isn't empathy. From my link: "The third study tested whether the previous results could be replicated with 'autonomic', physiological signals instead of self-reported empathy levels. Research has shown that increases in heart rate are a reliable indicator of empathic responses to other people's distress"

 

[captain morgan]

Who's to really judge?

 

[AnnaG]

Judy?

 

[captain morgan]

Joe Brown, but I'd lean more towards Wapner

 

[AnnaG]

lol Or all of the above?

 

[SLM]

Is this a breakthrough? I would think it completely normal for a narcissist to be capable of empathy. Sympathy of course would be an entirely different matter, lol. One can be quite capable of understanding how another person feels about something....but that doesn't mean they care.

 

[AnnaG]

I used to think it was impossible for a narcissist to feel anything unless they were personally involved. So, yes. For me it is a breakthrough.

 

[Danbones]

Sure, show a narcissist someone who is experiencing anything threatening to a narcissist
they'll feel it

heart rates go up for happy too
not just for empathetic pain
"we came... we saw... he died... cackle, cackle, cackle."
- Hitlary Clinton on the video of Mu mar Gadhaffi's murder

 

[eh1eh]

Who cares. You're a bunch of losers.

"Psychology research breakthrough suggests narcissists are capable of empathy"

Yep, so I guess not.

 

[SLM]

I used to think it was impossible for a narcissist to feel anything unless they were personally involved. So, yes. For me it is a breakthrough.

Yeah but feeling something that someone else is feeling and understanding that someone else feels something to me are two different things. One implies caring the other does not. A behavioural profiler has the ability to put themselves into the shoes of the criminals they hunt, an interrogator has the capacity to understand how the person under interrogation is feeling.....but that doesn't necessarily mean they care about them, care about how they feel. In fact, if they did care, they probably couldn't do their job.

Narcissists are the very epitome of self-involved, you're right about that, but in order to make the rest of their world accept them as the center of it (to their warped perception I guess) they need to be able to manipulate that world and the people in it. To effectively manipulate someone, you have to be able to understand them....what they feel, so that they can twist it to make it about them. So I think they're very capable of understanding how someone would or could feel about something, it just doesn't rank high on their priority list of things to care very much about....except how it serves them.

 

[Cliffy]

Are you interchanging sociopath or psychopath with narcissist?

 

[AnnaG]

Merriam-Webster says, "Full Definition of EMPATHY

1
: the imaginative projection of a subjective state into an object so that the object appears to be infused with it
2
: the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner; also : the capacity for this"

Sympathy:
"noun sym·pa·thy \ˈsim-pə-thē\
: the feeling that you care about and are sorry about someone else's trouble, grief, misfortune, etc. : a sympathetic feeling

: a feeling of support for something

: a state in which different people share the same interests, opinions, goals, etc."

 

[JLM]

Sure, show a narcissist someone who is experiencing anything threatening to a narcissist
they'll feel it

heart rates go up for happy too
not just for empathetic pain
"we came... we saw... he died... cackle, cackle, cackle."
- Hitlary Clinton on the video of Mu mar Gadhaffi's murder

I'm not too fussy about her, but I didn't think she is that bad!