This article summarizes the finding of a study done using a large extended twin design. Narcissism, a personality trait associated with one's obsession with themselves, or being extremely selfish, is often assumed to be linked to environmental and social upbringing. This study found that narcissism developed in twins regardless of environment or social status, implying a genetic cause for being a narcissist. The study used data from the German Twinlife project, which is a large, published, twin family study with extensive genetic AND environmental informational available. Narcissism was found to be inheritable, and common between twins, as if one twin was considered to be narcissistic, so was the other
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It's crazy to think that personality traits we usually blame on parenting, like narcissism, might actually be hardwired into our DNA from the jump. I always thought it was mainly an environmental influence, but the TwinLife project shows that environment may just be a co-factor.
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