The Cultured Narcissist: How Insecure Egos Curate Taste to Feel Real

Friday, October 31, 2025.

It’s the twenty-first-century performance of self: a latte selfie beneath a Rothko one day, a TikTok in front of a graffiti mural the next.

You might call it eclectic taste; therapists now call it defensive identity management.

In a recent study published in Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, researchers Hanna Shin and Nara Youn (2020) found that people who score high in narcissism yet low in psychological security are more likely to be “cultural omnivores.”

They devour both elite and popular culture to feed two competing hungers: the need to appear important and the need to feel authentic.

Highbrow culture signals superiority (“I understand Rothko’s emptiness”), while lowbrow culture signals sincerity (“I still love garage bands”).

Insecure narcissists, it seems, are fluent in both dialects.

The Mask and the Mirror

Narcissism is often mistaken for confidence. But as Cain, Pincus, and Ansell (2008) demonstrated, it’s more often an elaborate defense against self-doubt. The mask of self-admiration conceals an anxious mirror—one that constantly checks for cracks.

Shin and Youn discovered that this inner split drives cultural curation. Highbrow consumption functions as social camouflage; lowbrow consumption offers a kind of soul CPR. Together they form a rhythm of performance and repair—status by day, authenticity by night.

Sociologist Pierre Bourdieu (1984) famously argued that taste is a class weapon. In the age of social media performance, it’s also a coping mechanism. The museum visit and the meme share now belong to the same psychological economy: the one where we barter identity for validation.

The Studies, Briefly

In Study 1, 178 university students completed personality measures and rated their interest in cultural activities. Those high in narcissism but low in self-esteem showed equal enthusiasm for both highbrow and lowbrow events.

“Distinction seeking,” as the authors call it, predicted omnivorous taste even after controlling for openness and perceived social status.

In Study 2, 144 participants read about a fictional “highbrow” or “lowbrow” artist. Insecure narcissists favored the museum artist when they felt a need for status and the street artist when craving authenticity. Art, in short, was less about enjoyment than emotional calibration.

Recent research extends this pattern online: narcissists use social media to perform “authentic imperfection”—the artfully messy post that signals both confidence and humility (Christie & Dill-Shackleford, 2023; Ozimek et al., 2021). It’s the same cultural omnivory, now algorithmically optimized.

The Age of Performed Authenticity

Sociologist Erving Goffman (1959) called life a stage; social media made it a matinee that never ends.

Research on “state authenticity” shows that feeling real is tied to psychological well-being. But for narcissistically vulnerable individuals, that feeling fades quickly, replaced by a need to re-perform it.

Psychologist Kernis (2003) warned that unstable self-esteem creates a “fragile authenticity” that depends on constant self-monitoring.

Shin and Youn’s work gives this theory a cultural wardrobe: insecurity wears Prada, then vintage denim, hoping both fit the same self.

When This Walks into Therapy

In marriage and family therapy, this duality often plays out as what I’ve elsewhere called the exhibitionist-introvert loop—the constant switch between “admire me” and “understand me.”

Insecure narcissists curate partners as they curate playlists—seeking applause for their sophistication one moment, reassurance of their realness the next. Their partners often feel like props in someone else’s gallery opening.

As Pincus and Lukowitsky (2010) note, narcissistic vulnerability isn’t arrogance—it’s self-protection through performance. Therapy helps clients dismantle that performance gently, replacing cultural signals with genuine self-knowledge.

As one might put it in session: the art on your walls isn’t the problem; it’s the identity collage underneath.

For clinicians, this research underscores the importance of exploring how clients consume experiences to stabilize identity. The insecure narcissist doesn’t just want admiration; they want relief from the hollowness that admiration fails to fill.

FAQ

What does “cultural omnivore” mean in psychology?
It refers to folks who enjoy both high- and low-status culture. In psychology, it describes how people—particularly insecure narcissists—use taste to manage identity and social perception.

Are all narcissists insecure?
Not all, but many show traits of “vulnerable narcissism,” where grandiosity masks feelings of inadequacy or self-alienation.

How can therapy help?
Therapy addresses the underlying shame and instability of self-esteem, helping clients replace external validation with internal coherence.

Does this relate to social media behavior?
Yes. Studies show narcissists perform both highbrow (curated expertise) and lowbrow (authentic vulnerability) personas online to sustain approval across audiences.

Final Thoughts

In an era where authenticity has become its own brand, Shin and Youn’s study captures the modern tension between status and sincerity.

The insecure narcissist is less a tastemaker than a taste mirror—reflecting the culture’s split personality: prestige on one side, performative “realness” on the other.

They don’t know what they truly like; they like whatever might save them from disappearing.

Be Well. Stay Kind, and Godspeed.

REFERENCES:

Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Cain, N. M., Pincus, A. L., & Ansell, E. B. (2008). Narcissism and the interpersonal self. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94(4), 891–904. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.94.4.891

Campbell, W. K., & Foster, C. A. (2007). The narcissistic self: Background, an extended agency model, and ongoing controversies. In C. Sedikides & S. Spencer (Eds.), The Self (pp. 115–138). New York, NY: Psychology Press.

Christie, C., & Dill-Shackleford, K. E. (2023). Performing authenticity: Narcissism and curated imperfection on social media. Social Media + Society, 9(2), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051231166979

Goffman, E. (1959). The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Garden City, NY: Doubleday Anchor.

Kernis, M. H. (2003). Toward a conceptualization of optimal self-esteem. Psychological Inquiry, 14(1), 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327965PLI1401_01

Lenton, A. P., Bruder, M., Slabu, L., & Sedikides, C. (2013). How does “being real” feel? The experience of state authenticity. Self and Identity, 12(5), 412–426. https://doi.org/10.1080/15298868.2013.779379

Ozimek, P., Baum, A., & Schlack, R. (2021). Narcissism and social media self-promotion: The role of audience feedback and self-esteem. Social Media + Society, 7(3), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051211033873

Pincus, A. L., & Lukowitsky, M. R. (2010). Pathological narcissism and narcissistic personality disorder. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 6, 421–446. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.121208.131215

Shin, H., & Youn, N. (2020). How insecure narcissists become cultural omnivores: Consuming highbrow culture for status seeking and lowbrow culture for integrity signaling. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 19(3), 363–376. https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000303