Narcissism and Politics
According to a post by Melissa Burkley, Ph.D with Psychology Today narcissism is prevalent across political party lines. Who do you think is more likely to be a narcissist: Republicans or Democrats? The answer, like most political differences, is tricky. A new study suggests that one party does not necessarily house more narcissists than the other, but they do house different types of narcissists.
First, a quick recap. Most people know that narcissism refers to people who are self-centered, vain, and have an inflated sense of their qualities and achievements. But what most don’t realize is that narcissism is a multi-faceted trait. It takes on many forms, and some of these forms are harder to detect than others.
One maladaptive facet of narcissism is called entitlement. People high in entitlement believe they are more valuable and more inherently deserving of benefits and special treatments. They insist on getting the respect they think they are due and are shocked and frustrated when others don’t give them what they think they deserve.
A second maladaptive facet is called exhibitionism. People high in exhibitionism love being the center of attention. They want people to notice them and crave public recognition for their views, opinions, and values.
Now it is important to note that these facets of entitlement and exhibitionism can be expressed at the collective level as well as the individual level. This means that people high in entitlement not only believe they personally deserve more positive outcomes, but also that their group deserves such outcomes. And those high in exhibitionism want their group’s opinions and values to be publicly recognized, as well as their personal ones.
Okay, now back to politics. To see how these narcissistic facets may differ across party lines, a team of researchers examined the personality profiles of 750 American citizens just a few days before the 2016 presidential election. The results were intriguing. First, despite what some political pundits like to believe, liberals and conservatives showed equal levels of narcissism. So one party does not hold a monopoly on self-centered views. But what these researchers did find was that how such views were expressed did differ across the two parties.