Narcissist and Attention: It’s Complicated

WATCH Why Narcissist Never Listens to YOU? (HintBecause he CAN’TAttentional Narrowing)

There are three types of attention: 1. Synoptic: making connections between events and facts so as to create an emergent logical and explanatory narrative (connecting the dots); 2. Targeted: maintaining a laser focus on a few data to the exclusion of all else; 3. Inclusive: paying equal attention to people, happenings, and information without committing to a single theory or filter (no confirmation bias).

The narcissist is an obsessive-compulsive junkie: he is addicted to narcissistic supply and seeks it out relentlessly. He, therefore, manifests the second type of attention-giving. Only when he can leverage the other two variants to secure supply, does he express them, too.

Even when the narcissist is hyper-analytical and extremely intelligent, he is blinded by his urge to garner attention. He often remains oblivious to most amazing, bothersome, or shocking occurrences and information around him even when it is relevant to his safety or wellbeing. Like the autistic patient, the narcissist fails to read even the most blatant cues: sexual, social, body language, or communicative.

The narcissist is utterly uninterested in other people, in memories, places, nature, emotions, or in daily life. He instantly dissociates (appears to be bored or distracted) when confronted with these: he goes through a "synoptic failure".

His perception is impressionistic and linear (random lists with no organizing principle or the connective tissue of a storyline) - not analytic (what the data possibly mean).

This environmental obliviousness is reinforced by his need to buttress his grandiosity via reframing or ignoring hurtful info (a cognitive deficit which leads to an impaired reality test).

The narcissist also refrains from actions whose outcomes are uncertain and may expose his weaknesses, vulnerabilities, nescience, or impotence. So, he ignores all info that may necessitate such reactions.

Of course, a constitutional failure to appreciate other people's actions and intentions renders the narcissist gullible, even naive: he is always shocked by what transpires around him and by the fact that his deeds and words have untoward consequences.

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