imomus

I think Back's findings -- at least as reported on PsyBlog -- have a suspiciously teleological narrative structure. Having established the narcissist as a charming and impressive cad, this narrative (and Back maps it explicitly to the narrative in Reality TV shows, when the initially-interesting get voted out in the end) gives us normal folk a satisfying comeuppance in the form of "eventual shunning". It's the classic structure of Greek tragedy, in fact: hubris followed by nemesis.

Is life like that? I'm not so sure. To the hubris-nemesis structure I'd counter with a more realistic idea from The Bible: the wicked flourish like the green bay tree.