Unempathetic parents are individuals who are basically ambivalent to the emotional needs of the child (Ramano). Kohut emphasized the importance of empathy responses in an individual's development of self, and asserted that empathy is an essential constituent of every psychological observation (Ramano). Empathy may be defined as "a process arising from the interaction between two individuals over time.the ability to understand the experience of another.attempting to understand how others see and experience themselves and their worlds" (Ramano). Kohut defined empathy as "vicarious introspection" (Ramano). .

             According to Kohut, narcissistic behaviors are consequences of early developmental failures (Ramano). These individuals have "difficulty in forming and maintaining relationships, have little empathy for others' needs and feelings, and show overt grandiosity, exaggerated self-regard, demands for attentions and inappropriate idealization of certain others" (Ramano). Moreover, when these individuals perceive an injury to self-esteem, they may react by "displaying an increase in grandiosity and aloofness" (Ramano). However, profound anger is another characteristic of narcissistic personality, and is "characterized by a failure of early repetitive self-object mirroring, resulting in a fragmented self" (Ramano). Kohut describes this rage as belonging to the range of aggression, "which includes anger, destructiveness, and self-destructiveness," and encompasses a desire for revenge by whatever means (Ramano). .

             Kohut focused on disturbances in early social parental relationships as the genesis of adult narcissistic personality disorder (Rhodewalt). A child's self develops and gains maturity through interactions with others, especially parents, and this provides the child with "opportunities to be mirrored (gain approval and enhancement) and to idealize (identify with perfect and omnipotent others)" (Rhodewalt).