Although this is not scholarly, it is very interesting and well-informed.
Unlike psychopaths, narcissists are made, not born.
Families and even societies can be predisposed towards forming a greater percentage of narcissists because of the priorities they reinforce and the behaviours that they uphold and reward.
Among these are superficiality, personal entitlement, competitive pride that defines the person, a perverse sense of individualism, and above all a lack of empathy.
They can be professionally very successful, socially attractive and charismatic, bigger than life. But personally they are often inept and unfortunate, unable to sustain intimate relationships, morally ambivalent. They tend to react with coldness and rage when their desires and plans are thwarted.
They rarely accept responsibility or admit to errors. They project their failure onto others. They are empty inside, and seek to build externalities to make up for it. They try to fill their emptiness with things and money and credentials and other people. Their behaviour is a reflex in response to their emptiness.
Everyone has a need for recognition and validation. The difference is that in a narcissist the personal needs are so dominant that one becomes addicted to validation and a grandiose amount of recognition.
The malignant narcissist can easily become a white collar style of criminal, stealing from victims with little or no remorse, almost approaching the empathetic vacuity of a psychopath.
Losing all hope and empathy is their freedom. And in this way they fashion their own emptiness, and can become the lord and master of their own personal hell.
