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You are here: Home / Fall 2021 / Fall 2021: Course/Section / Fall 2021: 413-01 / PSYC 413-01_Fall21_Group2

The Effect of Narcissism and Academic Dishonesty on the Feelings of Guilt and Shame

Kiara Toler, Leonie Steele, Shelby Russell, & Madeline Berning

a Research Seminar Project supervised by Dr. David Rettinger
(Fall 2021)

    Alex Mills
    1 Dec 2021
    10:27am

    This was a really interesting topic. I have never thought about narcissism and its relation to academic dishonesty. However, your findings do make sense. People with narcissistic traits engage in academic dishonesty more, compared to those who do not exhibit these traits.

    The presentation of your information was very organized and easy to follow.
    Nice Job!

    Reply
    Mindy Erchull
    2 Dec 2021
    12:04pm

    I found the linking of narcissism to existing literature on cheating and neutralizing attitudes interesting. I found it a bit hard to follow your results, however.

    In your initial regression analysis, did you find that neutralizing attitudes was a significant predictors but narcissisms and guilt/shame weren’t? If so, what led you to decide to control for neutralizing attitudes to look at whether narcissism predicted cheating above and beyond neutralizing attitudes?

    Also, at times in your talk, you discuss narcissism as a single construct. At other times you talk about subtypes of narcissism. Did your measure allow for separate scores on the different narcissism subtypes? If so, did looking at the data that way change anything?

    Reply
    Zoey Lutterbie
    3 Dec 2021
    9:34am

    Good job! This was a cool topic and I enjoyed hearing more about it. I think the idea of how the honor code plays into people’s responses on cheating is very interesting, I was thinking about that as a factor before it was mentioned in the presentation. I wonder what it would look like if you compared the results with similar results across different universities.

    Reply
    Mary McConnell
    3 Dec 2021
    3:21pm

    Great presentation! Really interesting topic; I had not thought of how narcissism would affect academic (dis)honesty. Your section of the presentation for further research was very in depth, nice job! I wonder how results would differ if data were gathered from universities that do not have an honor code?

    Reply
    Kree Pace
    4 Dec 2021
    6:22am

    Thank you so much for sharing. I really like how you split up the types of narcissism, since many people do not realize there’s more than one type even though they are vastly different. I had never thought about how narcissism might affect academic performance, but this study definitely does a great job at putting it into perspective. I like how you thought about different factors that might affect results such as the honor code, and even the difference between guilt and shame. Well done!

    Reply
    Stahlman
    4 Dec 2021
    8:58am

    I am still unsure about the overall picture, in terms of the nature of the “mechanisms,” causal relationships, and what it is truly being measured. What is a “neutralizing attitude,” and is it any different than the verbal behavior of reducing potential aversive consequences for one’s conduct? Are attitudes real, or are they explanatory fictions that are composites of behavior?

    And when you state that “neutralizing attitudes are the mechanisms by which narcissists cheat…” are you sure? That suggests a kind of relationship that I don’t know you’ve shown. Sure, there may be a predictive relationship, but who’s to say that particular features are controlling both the cheating behavior AND the behavior that constitutes a “neutralizing attitude?” In which case, the mechanism, such that it is, is to be found in the interaction of the person with their environment over time rather than in any connection between the factors you’ve identified here.

    Thoughts?

    Reply
    Renee Leger
    4 Dec 2021
    4:04pm

    I never considered that narcissism could affect academic dishonesty, but I can definitely how you made the connection now. I do wonder what would have happened had the participants been people who had actually been diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder and the control group people who had not. Over all, great presentation with a fascinating concept!

    Reply
    Kyle Cassidy
    4 Dec 2021
    5:00pm

    Great job on your presentation! I thought it was really well organized and easy to follow. I thought you guys did a great job explaining everything in a really clear way. Great job!

    Reply
    Celeste Lockwood
    4 Dec 2021
    11:02pm

    This topic was very interesting to listen to and I agree with the statement that it makes sense to link the idea of narcissism to cheating. However, I was also confused about your discussion of the predictions you made and your conclusions regarding them. Primarily, how were you able to validate the first prediction regarding increased narcissism being linked to lower guilt and shame as a cause for increased academic dishonesty when you state later that there is no correlation between narcissism and guilt or shame? My second point of confusion is how it seems prediction 2 is contradictory to the other predictions, are you considering vulnerable narcissism to be exclusive from the narcissism that factors into the data for the other predictions?

    Reply
    Angel Coto
    4 Dec 2021
    11:37pm

    This was a great topic and honestly well structured! The topic of narcissism has always interested me. But, I never thought about how narcissism plays a role in academic dishonesty. You guys did a great job using your findings to signify any correlations. Again, great topic and great job on the presentation with a very easy and organized flow to follow.

    Reply
    Destiny Corazzini
    5 Dec 2021
    12:15am

    I found this presentation to be very interesting and I think that you guys did a great job! I found it especially interesting how you guys went into detail about the disorder of narcissism being correlated to cheating. This is definitely not the fist thing I think about when I hear narcissism, but your presentation has opened me to a new topic. Great organization and visual aids. Great work!

    Reply
    Alex Wohlford
    5 Dec 2021
    1:18pm

    You guys did a great job with this! I found your topic super interesting–the connection between narcissism and academic dishonesty/cheating makes sense, but wasn’t really something I had thought about before. I liked that you guys talked about the subtypes of narcissism, as I feel like it’s pretty uncommon (but important) knowledge that there is more than one type of narcissism. You guys did a really good job presenting everything clearly, and all your information was organized. Nice job!

    Reply
    Faith StClair
    5 Dec 2021
    1:47pm

    I really enjoyed your topic and presentation! It was organized and presented really well. I found your results very interesting because I thought there would be correlation between guilt/shame and academic dishonesty and narcissism. I really enjoyed your section on what future studies should include. Great job!

    Reply
    Aria Janello
    5 Dec 2021
    6:27pm

    This is such an interesting topic! You all did a fantastic job at breaking it down in an engaging, clear way, while still having so much information. This is a topic that I had never thought of before, but hearing the data made it all make so much sense. Amazing job!

    Reply
    Emily Landry
    5 Dec 2021
    8:20pm

    I think the use of literature when linking results of narcissism and dishonesty was interesting. I found your topic to be fascinating. I think the correlation does make sense to me given the DSM-5 states that the individual has constant need for admiration and lacks empathy. Increase in academic dishonesty makes sense for this personality disorder since the person would be admired and looked up to for always getting good grades. I had never considered this correlation before. Overall, great job!

    Reply
    Eyerusalm Getachew
    5 Dec 2021
    8:56pm

    This was a really interesting topic! I have never associated narcissism with academic dishonesty before. One question I have is do you think people were honest when it come to the questioners? It was also interesting to hear about the different types of narcissism. Great Job!

    Reply
    Eliana Black
    5 Dec 2021
    9:39pm

    Hello! This was a great presentation, and super engaging topic! The thought of narcissism in connection with academic dishonesty makes a ton of sense, I had just never thought about that aspect. Based on what we’ve learned from narcissistic disorder, it lines up for the need to show others their superiority. Good job!

    Reply
    Trimby MaGarity
    5 Dec 2021
    11:01pm

    This is a very interesting topic that I would love to see researched further. I find the explanation of narcissists cheating as a result of neutralizing attitudes a little confusing, but I can see that there is an argument in there to be made. I think further studies could make the connections between these factors, but that this is an interesting dive into an important topic for treating narcissism and similar personality disorders.

    Reply
    Ethan Trumble
    6 Dec 2021
    12:37pm

    This was a really fascinating topic and I am glad that you all chose to look into it. This is obviously really hard to look into since it is hard to find a large sample size of people that have been diagnosed with narcissism. However I think the results make sense and would be consistent in those with narcissism. It seems to me that narcissists often dissociate with reality at least a little, so they would not need to find a reason to justify their behaviors. Great presentation, it was very easy to follow.

    Reply
    Lauryn Buchanan
    6 Dec 2021
    11:56pm

    Great presentation on a very interesting topic! I know very little about narcissism, and even less about narcissism as it relates to academic performance. However, it makes sense that those who have either been diagnosed with narcissism or scored high in narcissistic traits would be more likely to be dishonest in school, as they may not be able to assign meaning to any academic dishonesty.

    Reply
    Stephanie Martens
    8 Dec 2021
    10:46am

    This was a really interesting presentation! I had never thought about the role that narcissism might play in academic dishonesty, but it makes sense that the two were connected. I was surprised that guilt and shame were not connected to your other variables. I wonder if the participants in your study were completely honest about their own levels of narcissism or academic dishonesty.

    Reply

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