Narcissistic people watch more pornography, study finds

A research shows a correlation between narcissism and tendency to watch adult movies.

Although the term "narcissist" is used by all kinds of people to refer to some personal characteristics of the people they come across in their daily lives, the truth is that this concept is also a category used by scientific psychology. That is, it has been statistically linked to certain personal characteristics, other personality traits and certain behavioral tendencies.

And, for some years now, one of the tendencies that could characterize narcissistic people is the propensity to consume more pornography than average.. This is, at least, what can be deduced from research published in the Journal of sex & marital therapy.

The sexuality of the narcissist

Why does it make sense that pornography consumption is significantly higher in narcissistic people? According to the team of researchers who conducted the study, this is due to the way in which the classic narcissist focuses on himself or herself when seeking pleasure.

Unlike other people, who seek reciprocity in pleasurable experiences, narcissists are more likely to use others as a simple means to obtain what they seek. According to this interpretation, the consumption of pornography is perfectly adapted to this type of demand.In most situations, the performances and even the way it is filmed accentuate the instrumental role of the actors appearing in the scene, making them look like artificial beings who move only to satisfy the viewer.

That is, this would be a characteristic by which two traits already known about narcissistic persons are expressed: the lack of empathic connections and a more intense sexual motivation than is normal in other population groups..

How was the study conducted?

For this research, a sample of over 250 people (63% of whom were women) between the ages of 18 and 61 was used as a sample.

Each of these people filled out a series of standardized personality tests, which made it possible to assess the extent to which they were more or less narcissistic. In addition, they answered some questions about their pornography consumption habits, or they could indicate that they did not consume pornography.

Interesting results

About 80% of the people who participated said they had voluntarily watched pornography online at some point, and 44% of them said this was part of their current habits. On average, they consumed about 85 minutes of pornography per week.

But the main finding was that they found a significant relationship between the narcissism score obtained in the personality tests and the amount of pornography viewed..

This means, among other things, that the group of participants who had viewed pornography online on occasion included a significantly higher number of narcissists than the group of those who had never viewed it.

But, in addition, the correlation between the degree of narcissism also corresponded to the amount of pornography viewed, i.e. the way in which this activity was incorporated into the daily lives of these people. The greater the frequency of viewing these scenes, the greater the likelihood of belonging to the group of people with a higher narcissism score, and those who were still viewing pornography at the time were more narcissistic than those who no longer did.

Does pornography make us narcissistic?

Apparently, these results could lead us to think that it is the consumption of pornography that makes us score higher on this personality trait. However, it should be remembered that correlation does not equal causation.. From this study we have seen the description of what is there, but we do not know what produces what, in which direction the causality goes.

In other words, it could be that watching this type of product makes us more narcissistic, but it could also be, simply, that narcissistic people initially consume more of this type of content on the Internet. To get an idea of what is really going on, we will have to wait for further research on the subject.

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