When browsing the internet, I often come across sites where both vegans and nonvegans comment. On more than one occasion, I have read comments by nonvegans that state that vegans think they are better than everyone else. Is this true? Do vegans truly think they are better than everyone else because their views on animal consumption differ from others. Do we have a sense of entitlement.

Narcissism is defined as a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and lack of empathy that beings by early adulthood and is present in a variety of contexts (American Psychiatrist Association, 2000). This person is more than confident and frequently brags about his or her accomplishes. They have an overinflated sense of self-importance and believe that they deserve special treatment. They also believe that they are “special” in that they can only be understood by other special or high status people. This does not really sound like many vegans I know The vegans I know are compassionate very empathic people.

I know many of us struggle with “believe that they deserve special treatment” part. But from what I read on the posts, most of you all out there are the exact opposite, you are so concerned with putting other people out that you don’t even want to ask for equal treatment. Another aspect of the core symptomatology of narcissism is feeling that you are special and can only be understood by other people who are special. Most of us probably feel that we can relate better to other vegans (very common for people with similar values to be able to relate to each), but we also relate to others. I know for myself, that when talking to mom’s with young children (vegan or not) I can relate to them. When I talk to my colleagues at school, I relate to them on school related issues. The point I am trying to make is that it is “normal” to be comfortable around others who have similar beliefs). I am sure that there are some vegans who are narcissists, since we are part of the larger human population, but vegan is not synonamous with narcissism. Most of us do not sit around waiting for an oppornity to judge nonvegan actions, nor do we sit around waiting for that perfect opportunity to announce our specialness of being vegan.

Will definitely post my pictures later this evening. Just had a few thoughts that came to mind and wanted to write about them.

References:

American Psychological Association. (2000). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed-text revised).

[tags] vegan vegetarian psychology narcissism blog blogs [/tags]