“I think COVID has made everyone more narcissistic”. These words slapped me in the face, as I frantically tried to comprehend the meaning behind them, immediately replaying them over in my head. I was chatting to a colleague and friend (or perhaps more accurately, former colleague – still friends!), and as we reflected on our experiences and observed behaviours, it had become apparent that according to them, people had become so heavily focused on their own lives, their perceptions or care for the experiences of others had become, at best, impaired.

I’ve spent a long time reflecting on this conversation. Had the crisis we all found ourselves in created an environment in which we had such little regard for the well-being of others? Had I lost perspective and internalised my own struggles to a point where they were more important and more pressing than those around me? As I thought about this further, I started to see patterns emerging, both in the community and in the workplace. But surely narcissistic is a stretch?

As I wander the streets in the early evening (during my 1 hour of approved daily outside time), I notice that more and more people shuffle past me with masks around their chin (if on at all). Social distancing has long gone out the window, as runners bush past within inches of my shoulder, despite ample room on the path for a wide berth – and don’t get me started on middle-aged men on road bikes. At the supermarket, people push in front without a care in the world and those 1.5m lines, they’re long gone!

According to Dr. Sulamunn Coleman, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Vermont Centre on Behavior and Health, understanding narcissism can help us identify narcissistic people and avoid them. Dr. Coleman is currently leading a studying that investigates the linkages between narcissism and trauma-related outcomes during the coronavirus pandemic. Evidence suggests people higher in narcissism may be at greater risk for poor-trauma related outcomes and putting others at risk. Because narcissistic beahviours associated with risk-taking and deficits in judgement and decision-making, it’s reasonable to conclude that the COVID-19 restrictions are exacerbating risky, selfish behaviour.

But is this new, or has this always been the case? In my opinion, most people have always operated from a “me-first” mentality. Take the workplace for instance – those who get ahead have no issues throwing others under the bus, treating colleagues with disdain, and exhibiting otherwise selfish and arrogant traits. So if people have always preferenced their own comfort, why does it seem more obvious than before?

Preturbation: a deviation of a system, moving object, or process from its regular or normal state or path, caused by an outside influence.

Oxford Dictionary

In my experience, COVID-19 has accentuated the innate behaviours of people. Those of you familiar with the DiSC Profiles or the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument would know that people have default behaviours they lean to under stress. Those who already display narcissistic tendencies may increase their controlling, entitled, and inflated sense of self. While people who display some of those behaviours might be less concerned about the well-being of others in the midst of a crisis. And in that sense, I can understand where the notion of COVID narcissist could evolve.

Perhaps it’s not that COVID-19 has created more narcissistic people, but that the narcissists are more visible now than ever before. Because there’s less people outside, we see them more frequently walking the streets, in the supermarkets and leading businesses. It’s possible that a frequency illusion is at play, the cognitive bias your mind creates. Frequency illusion is the culmination of two different processes, selective attention and confirmation bias, working together to make an event seem more frequent. It’s perfectly reasonable to assume that we’ve created this illusion ourselves.

So, are we more narcissistic now than before the pandemic hit? It’s hard to say, but regardless of the actuality of the current climate, I’m confident change is coming. Changing the behaviours and cultures created across the pandemic, particularly those built on narcissistic foundations, isn’t going to happen with out hard work – but it is worth it to create environments where people want to be, and where meaningful work is produced.

I’m looking forward to the challenge.