A few days ago, a local talk radio show interviewed Dr. Jean Twenge of San Diego State University about her new book.
In that book, she argues that the current crop of college students are more narcissistic than previous generations.
During the interview a college professor called in, and said (I'm paraphrasing here, but this is the gist) that she found her students to be very concerned about making a positive contribution to the world.
Dr. Twenge's responded that this was not a contradiction. She said there was a big difference between working to make the world a better place because "I want to" and doing the same thing because "it's the right thing to do".
The former she connected to narcissism, because it was "all about me".
I haven't investigated Dr. Twenge's research methods, and I don't think it would be fair to base any serious criticism of her or her book on a single quote, made under pressure during an interview, to an unanticipated question.
But I do find her response interesting—as an example of a deeply rooted assumption in our culture that goes back to the fundamental divide I've been writing about on this site.
That assumption is that somehow it is less admirable for someone to do something admirable because they want to, than to do it because it is admirable.
By this reasoning, if a good Samaritan stops to help a stranger because she has empathy for the stranger's plight, she is not being as "good" as someone who only stops because he subscribes to some moral view that tells him it's the "right thing to do".
A person who genuinely cares is narcissistic, while one who is merely following a rule is healthy.
I find myself on the opposite side of this issue. I would greatly prefer to be rescued by the Samaritan with empathy, I would greatly prefer to know the Samaritan with empathy, and I would absolutely prefer to live in a society populated by people with empathy.
Don't get me wrong, if you offer to do something really nice for me just "because it's the right thing to do" I'm not going to be overly critical of your motives.
But it would be a lot nicer to know that you really wanted to do it—and precisely because that would be about you.
At least, that's what I think today.
