How does my work on narcissism and mind, how does it fit into existing neurocognitive theories and models?
The state of affairs in neuroscience.
This is the topic of today's video, linking the narcissist's fantastic mind into the most recent suggestions and models as to how the human mind operates and demonstrating the substantial qualitative differences between the narcissist's consciousness and the consciousness of neurotypicals, normal, healthy people.
My name is Sam Vaknin. I'm a professor of cognitive psychology and the author of Malignant Self-Love: Narcissism Revisited, the first book ever about narcissistic abuse.
Before we begin, all of us refer to the environment and then refer to ourselves.
It is a kind of refer to model, kind of recursive model.
We go out into the environment, we retrieve data through our senses, and then we process these data inside our mind, our brain, in order to make sense of it.
And this in and out, internal, external, external, this interplay, this interchange, this exchange, this interaction is at the core of what we call consciousness.
The narcissist doesn't do that.
The narcissist's entire repertory of interactions, relationships, actions, choices, decisions, cognitions, emotions, the entire thing is encapsulated within a fantastic space.
The narcissist defense, a fantasy defense, writ large, and gone awry.
The narcissist's only object is himself or herself, half of all narcissists are women.
The narcissist's only object relation is with himself or herself.
The narcissist is not solipsistic in the sense that the narcissist does recognize reality, but then having recognized reality, he appropriates it. He annexes it. He renders it a figment of his own mind and imagination, an internal object, a fiction, a piece of fiction, a paracosm.
The narcissist inhabits always, invariably, an alternate reality, a virtual reality.
And this is the narcissist's fantasy defense.
This is very important to understand when we review the theories of neurocognition which have emerged recently in the past 10, 15 years.
Let's start with HOTS. HOTS, higher order theories.
This is a group, a family of theories that propose that thoughts become conscious only when basic perceptions become represented.
Let me translate this into English.
We absorb information or data from the environment. This we do through our senses. These are sensory inputs or sensa.
According to higher order theories or HOTS, these sensa, which are perceived as thoughts, these sensa become conscious. These basic exposure to the environment, these basic perceptions, become conscious only when a higher order creates a representation of them.
So it's as if the brain or the mind has two layers. The first layer, the lower order representations, essentially amounts to our absorption of cues and stimuli from the environment.
These are unprocessed. These are raw materials.
And then these raw materials are absorbed.
And there is something there, the second layer, the higher order layer, represents this incoming information at higher levels of the brain.
So there's raw material information, and then there is a representation of this information. There's lower level perceptions and higher level representations of these perceptions, probably in the prefrontal cortex.
This is very reminiscent of Freud's primary and secondary processes, although there are substantial differences between the two models.
Okay, did you get it until now? It's not too complicated.
These higher order theories explain the process of snapshotting or the process of introjection in the narcissist.
The narcissist interacts with an external object. There are sensory inputs. There are sensory inputs. There are sensory inputs. There is visuals. There are smells. There's auditory input.
And it's all very raw. It's all very unprocessed. It's all very lower order, kind of.
A lot of information, a lot of data emanate from an external object, the shape of the external object, its location, its speed, its externality, the fact that it is external, its separateness, the fact that it is separate from you, it smells the way it looks, etc.
A torrent, a torrent of information emanating from an external object, and these are lower order sensory inputs.
And what a normal, healthy person does, he feeds these inputs into a model in the brain, a theory in the brain.
And this theory represents or re-represents, actually, it's a second layer of representation, meta representation, re-represents the raw material, the basic information, as higher level representations in the brain.
That's what a healthy normal person does.
The narcissist does something else.
He creates a higher order, meta representation, re-representation, but it is erroneous. It is mistaken. It is not as affiliated or grounded in reality as a normal, healthy person's meta representation would be.
The narcissist's meta representation of the sensory inputs is an erroneous belief about the object's externality and another erroneous belief about the object's separateness.
In other words, whereas a healthy normal person confronted with an external object, another person, for example, would immediately recognize that the external object is external and separate.
The narcissist does not recognize this.
The narcissist perceives the external object as internal and not separate, but integrated into the narcissist's mind, a figment of the narcissist imagination, an element in the narcissistic paracosm, a character in the nonsis theater play or movie.
So the meta representation, the higher order, the higher level representation or the higher level re-representation of the basic sensory data, sensory input, sensa, this higher level representation is erroneous, defective, wrong, unrealistic.
In short, fantastic. It's a fantasy.
The narcissist sensory inputs, the information gathered by the narcissist via through his senses is mediated through an intercessor, mediated through a medium of the fantasy.
The fantasy filters out some information, and reinterprets and reframes other data in order to create a totally wrong model of reality, in order to impair reality testing, by attributing to the external object, internality, by internalizing and introjecting it, and by insisting that the external object is not separate from the narcissist, but is a part of the narcissist, an extension of the narcissist.
The meta representation, the higher level representation in the narcissist's mind is shot, is destroyed completely, is wrong and drives the narcissists further away from reality.
Let's consider another group of theories about neurocognition, metacognition, cognitive processes and so.
These theories are known as the global workspace theories or GWTs.
These theories say that perceptions, thoughts, emotions, etc., all internal psychological processes become conscious only when they gain access to some work space.
Another way to look at it is the spotlight metaphor.
There is a spotlight in the mind and this spotlight wanders, roams the mind, it moves and so on.
If a thought, a cognition, an emotion, a perception, is caught in the spotlight. If the spotlight happens to illuminate a specific thought, specific emotion, specific memory, specific concept, specific sensory input, if something is caught in the light of the spotlight, the light of this projector, then it comes to consciousness. It comes into, it blossoms into awareness.
As if the mind is a kind of theater and conscious processes, including thinking, emoting, conscious processes including thinking emoting conscious processes is only the activity in the spotlight on the stage at any given moment.
The metaphor is a bit misleading because according to global workspace theories, the entire brain is the stage. The workspace is not localized, at least according to early global workspace theories.
More recent iterations of global workspace theories, known as global neural workspace theories, actually disagree. And they say that they are localized work spaces in the brain.
But the foundational theories of global workspace claimed that the entire brain is the workspace. The actual workspace in the brain is not localized, but it's distributed across the brain.
And whenever something is caught in the spotlight, this metaphorical imaginary spotlight, whenever if you wish attention wonders and focuses on something, on some thought, on some emotion, on some memory, on some input from the environment, some stimulus, some cues, whenever there is a focus of attention on something, that's something, that element rises to consciousness and then it is distributed across the entire brain.
The philosopher Daniel Dennett called it the fame of the brain. It becomes famous throughout the brain.
This is the global workspace theory, the original one.
As I said, more modern iterations claim that some workspaces are localized in highly specific neural networks and areas in the brain.
When we apply this to my work in narcissism, spotlighting is a process that happens in the narcissist's brain, in the narcissist's mind.
What the narcissist does, he spotlights not internal processes, but he spotlights external objects.
Now this is a very crucial distinction and possibly the very critical element needed to understand narcissism from the inside to really grasp or glom the narcissists' inner experience.
Whereas in healthy normal people, the spotlight is directed inwards. The spotlight focuses on internal processes, your cognition, thoughts, your emotions, your memories.
The narcissist spotlight is directed outwardly to the outside, to the external environment.
Because as you recall, there is no insight, the narcissist has no internal, has no self. There's nothing to focus the spotlight on internally.
Everything in the narcissist, and to a large extent in the borderline, is triggered from the outside. There's external regulation in both narcissism and borderline.
The focus is on the outside. Critical internal processes such as emotions, such as moods, such as thoughts, such as a sense of self-worth. All of them are regulated from the outside.
So obviously, narcissists and to some extent borderlines would be focused outwardly, would be focused on the external, not on the internal.
And the narcissist spotlight, therefore, is outwardly directed and it captures objects.
This roving light, this roaming light captures objects, external objects.
But because spotlighting in global workspace theories, spotlighting is an internal process. And when you experience the spotlight, you experience it internally.
There's no way to experience your mental spotlight externally. It's not an external experience, it's not something you can observe, it's not something you can point at, it's not something out there.
Spotlighting happens 100% internally, is experienced a thousand percent internally.
And so when the narcissist redirects his or her spotlight outwardly, he still experiences the process of spotlight internally.
So when the narcissist spotlight captures an external object, sheds light on an external object, for example, another person, the narcissist experiences that external object as internal.
Because spotlighting is an internal process.
In the case of the narcissist, spotlighting is deviant. Spotlighting is idiosyncratic, is unusual, atypical.
What happens is the narcissist externalizes a totally internal process. He expands or extends his mental space, his mind to capture external objects and render them internal.
It's a form of reverse psychosis in effect, hyper-reflexivity in action.
So when the narcissist spotlight focuses on you, when you bask in the glow of the narcissist's gaze, he is spotlighting you.
And because he experiences the process of spotlighting as 100% internal, there's no other way to experience it. You are also experienced by him as internal. He experiences you also as internal.
In the global workspace of his fantasy, the totality of the narcissist's brain is immersed in fantasy, drowning in fantasy. It's like the fantasy is a kind of womb or amniotic sack or cocoon.
And the narcissist's brain is floating in this lurid, murky depth of the fantasy.
And the narcissist's brain is gazing outside using spotlighting and brings you, introduces you, inducts you into the fantasy.
Because spotlighting is internal, everything that spotlighting captures is also an internal object.
In healthy people, spotlighting captures emotions, they're internal. In healthy people, spotlighting captures cognitions, thoughts, they're internal.
In narcissists, spotlighting captures you an external object, but he perceives you consequently as internal.
Now, my work, my model of the human mind and human behavior is IPAM, Intrapsychic Activation Model, and I have a playlist on this channel dedicated to it. Those of you who want to learn more can visit the playlist and listen to it.
Suffice it to say that IPAM, my model of the mind, is a combination of the global workspace theory and an integrated information theory.
Okay, what is an integrated information theory?
According to this theory, it's a single theory, not a family, according to this theory, parts of the brain interact in a way that creates a unified experience.
But according to integrated information theory, consciousness is an innate extensive property. It's intrinsic.
Consciousness is not the outcome, not the outcome of interaction between various neurons and neural pathways and parts of the brain it's not an outcome of anything it's there all the time waiting to be triggered, waiting to be experienced.
Consciousness is intrinsic, the theory says, the integrated information theory IIT says that consciousness is related to how much information is integrated among the different parts of the brain.
So it's a derivative or it's related to information processing.
Now that's interesting because we have very many powerful mathematical tools which deal with information processing.
For example, in computing networks, in communication networks and so on.
And indeed, integrated information theory is a mathematical theory.
They attempt to measure information flows, information integration, integrative processes in the brain.
The more information is connected, the more information is integrated, the more a system is conscious.
The theory suggests that any complex system with the right level of interconnectedness and integration of information is conscious or could potentially exhibit consciousness.
Simple systems manifest an insignificant consciousness, a modicum of consciousness, much more complex systems like us, manifest very close to total consciousness.
And IIT, this theory deals not only with the quantity of consciousness, although the approach of IIT is that despite the fact that there is a gradient of consciousness, there's a kind of graph of consciousness, consciousness is always there. So it's kind of binary.
You know, complex systems are conscious, super simple systems where there's no information flow in theory, there are not such systems, but let's say dot-like systems, they wouldn't have consciousness.
Anyhow, the theory attempts to explain or measure not only the quantity, but also the quality of conscious experience.
The theory suggested the unique pattern of relationships between the elements of the system is what defines qualia or conscious experience.
Now, I've said at the beginning that the theory claims that it is not emergent, that consciousness is not an emergent property, that in other theories, if there were no interaction between parts, the parts of the brain, there would have been no consciousness.
In this theory IIT consciousness exists as a potential, it's like a potential field and the interaction just brings it alive, kind of triggers it if you wish.
So in this sense, it's not emergent, but it is definitely an epiphenomenal in my view, in this theory.
Anyhow, let's apply it to the narcissist.
The narcissist is dissociative, the borderline even more so.
Dissociation, memory gaps, inability to process memory in a continuous way, which of course obstructs the formation of a core identity which is cohesive.
So dissociation and other defenses undermine the integration of information among various parts or modules of the narcissist's brain.
If we were to apply IIT to the narcissists, the end resultthat the narcissist's brain is unable to process and integrate information efficaciously because of continuous gaps, memory gaps, dissociative gaps.
And therefore, the narcissist's consciousness is not fully formed or is low level, lower than in healthy and normal people. He is much less self-aware, much less conscious.
If we take it further, the narcissist's core identity and self are disrupted, they're confused, they're not cohesive, they are not coherent.
And so we can say that consciousness is the same as core identity, the same as self. Core identity and self are euphemisms. Euphemisms for introspective interoception, also known as consciousness.
The narcissist's dissociation and liberal deployment of infantile defenses render the narcissist, ironically, selfless. No functioning integrated, constellated self, no core identity.
Consequently, processing of information and integration of information across the brain are severely hampered and hindered, and the narcissist's consciousness is lower level.
In IIT, in this theory, there's a concept, phi. Phi measures the amount of integrated information in a system, any system.
To be much more specific, it's a maximum of irreducible intrinsic cause effect quotients or cause effect powers independent of the part symbol.
In other words, how capable is the system of producing irreducible intrinsic power?
This power is consciousness. If a system has a high value of phi, it is considered to be highly integrated and therefore has a high degree of consciousness. If phi is zero, a system is not conscious.
While the overwhelming vast majority of healthy normal people have a very high phi, very high consciousness, in narcissism, the narcissist has a lower phi. It's very difficult to quantify, which is one of a major criticism of IIT theory.
But qualitatively speaking, it's clear that dissociative people, people with severe dissociation, people with dissociative identity disorder, borderline personality disorder, narcissistic personality disorder, these kind of people would have a much lower level of consciousness, merely because they are unable to integrate, extrapolate and interpolate data.
Dissociation disrupts information processing.
And finally, there's another group of theories.
They are known as reentry and predictive processing theories. They're also known as the predictive brain or predictive coding theories.
The claim of these theories is that conscious mental states are associated with top-down signaling.
In other words, our mental states are determined from the inside.
There is a kind of higher-level executive, higher level board of directors, higher level model.
And of course, Freud has anticipated this as well, with his censor and other elements, but there's this higher level kind of layer.
And essentially, it is a theory or a group of theories about the world, about other people, theories of mind and so on. And these theories, these models inside the brain, they determine what mental states you become aware of, what mental states are conscious.
There is top down signaling from the top down.
Down means sensory inputs, sensa, information coming from the environment, raw material. Higher level is the processing of this raw material and fitting it into pre-existing theories, pre-existing models, pre-existing programs.
This theory has influenced my work on IPAM very considerably.
Top-down signaling is a process. Higher level brain regions send information.
Information about what? About expectations. About models. About theories. About context.
So the higher levels inform the lower levels, especially the senses, inform them not only how to absorb information, how to filter it, kind of membrane, but also which information to absorb.
In other words, they create confirmation bias. Confirmation bias is built into our brains on the most basic fundamental level. Expectations, theories, models, dare I say, prejudices and biases, context, they all mold and shape the information that we glean out of the environment, the information we take from the environment.
We don't absorb everything. We absorb less than 5%.
But it is the higher regions of our mind, higher regions, higher levels of our brains that determine which 5% would be absorbed.
My 5% is not the same as your 5%.
We both can look at the same event and come up with totally different eyewitness accounts. This is famous movie Rashomon about this.
So this communication between higher levels and lower levels helps to shape how the brain perceives and interprets information, raw material coming from the environment, sensa received via sense organs from the world around it.
So predictive processing theories are not theories of consciousness essentially, but they're general accounts of how the brain functions and which give rise to the properties of consciousness.
And again, this group of theories are a major influence on my intrapsychic activation model.
In the context of narcissism, the theory in the narcissist's brain, the upper level, the top region, the executive, the board of directors, the shareholders, this thing that dictates to the narcissists, what to observe and what to ignore, what to absorb and what to let go, which information to bring in and which to filter out.
This layer is what we call the fantasy.
The fantasy in the narcissist's brain is a top-down signal. It shapes and molds the information that the narcissist brings inward from the outside world via his senses.
And the core feature of the fantasy is the belief that all objects are internal within a paracosmic playground and that the narcissist mind is the only object.
That's why narcissists are auto-erotic. That's why they perceive themselves as the exclusive sex objects.
The narcissist mind keeps informing the narcissist. You are the only true objective object. All other objects around you are actually extensions of your mind, figments of your imagination, elements in your brain.
They may appear to be external and separate, but says the fantasy, it's a delusion, it's a fantasy, the externality and separateness of other people, that's the fantasy.
It's only you and it's all about you. You're in total control. You're God. Your God. You're a divinity. And everything around you is your creation.