Uncertainty enhances the preference for narcissistic leaders

Narcissistic leaders present us with an interesting paradox, because they have positive as well as negative characteristics. As such, we argue that the nature of the context determines how suitable narcissists are perceived to be as leaders. Here we propose that a specific contextual factor, that is, uncertainty, increases the preference for narcissists as leaders. As an initial test of this prediction, the first study showed that narcissistic characteristics were evaluated as more desirable in a leader in an uncertain context rather than a certain context. In Studies 2 and 3, we further hypothesized and found that high narcissists are chosen as leaders more often than low narcissists, especially in uncertain (rather than certain) contexts. In all of the studies, individuals were shown to be aware of the negative features of narcissistic leaders, such as arrogance and exploitativeness, but chose them as leaders in times of uncertainty, regardless. Thus, a narcissistic leader is perceived as someone who can help reduce individual uncertainty. These results reveal the importance of contextual uncertainty in understanding the allure of narcissistic leaders. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Leader Ship Is Sinking: A Temporal Investigation of Narcissistic Leadership

Individuals higher in narcissism have leader emergent tendencies. The characteristics of their personality suggest, however, that their leadership qualities will decrease over time as a function of group acquaintance. We present data from two studies that provide the first empirical support for this theoretical position within a transformational leadership framework. In Study 1 (N = 112), we tested narcissistic leadership qualities in groups of unacquainted individuals over a 12‐week period. In Study 2 (N = 152), we adopted the same protocol with groups of acquainted individuals. In Study 1, narcissism was positively associated with peer‐rated leadership during initial group formation but not later. In Study 2, narcissism was not significantly associated with peer‐rated leadership during initial group formation and was negatively associated with peer‐rated leadership later. In Study 1, transformational leadership mediated the relationship between narcissism and leadership initially but not later on. In Study 2, transformational leadership failed to mediate the relationship between narcissism and leadership throughout the study. Despite enjoying a honeymoon period of leadership, the appeal and attractiveness of the narcissistic leader rapidly wane. This decline is explained in part by their changing transformational leadership qualities.     

Analyse de la détresse psychologique de leaders narcissiques organisationnels : une étude de cas comparative

The present article is a comparative case study that explores the manifestations of psychological distress of two types of narcissistic organizational leaders. More specifically, the aim of this case study is to check for possible differences between a grandiose narcissistic leader and a vulnerable narcissistic leader in relation to three main variables associated with the manifestation of psychological distress. These variables are: trigger factors, the modulation of negative emotional reactions, the presence of early maladaptive schemas and the use of dysfunctional coping strategies. The results obtained indicate that the manifestation of psychological distress by the grandiose narcissistic leader varies in certain respects from that of the vulnerable narcissistic leader. Indeed, the psychological distress manifested by the grandiose narcissistic leader is mainly characterized by anxiety and cognitive problems. Moreover, his psychological distress appears to be accompanied by a fear of public achievement failure and the partial use of two types of dysfunctional coping strategies – self-aggrandizement with reference to ostentation and self-softening underpinned by social withdrawal. With regard to the psychological distress of the vulnerable narcissistic leader, it is essentially characterized by a profound sense of depression and irritability. Moreover, it is associated with a fear of public interpersonal rejection; the internalization of negative emotions (feelings of guilt, self-criticism and feelings of worthlessness); and the partial use of two types of dysfunctional coping strategies – self-softening underpinned by social withdrawal and self-aggrandizement with reference to ostentation.     

LOCKE AND THE OBJECTS OF PERCEPTION

Abstract: It is common to assume that if Locke is to be regarded as a consistant epistemologist he must be read as holding that either ideas are the objects of perception or that [physical] objects are. He must either be a direct realist or a representationalist. But perhaps, paradoxical as it at first sounds, there is no reason to suppose that he could not hold both to be true. We see physical objects and when we do so we have ideas. We see or hear birds and bells but we also have visual and auditory ideas of birds and bells. This suggestion is explored through examination of what Locke says about perception in his Elements of Natural Philosophy and the accounts offered both by Locke in the Essay Concerning Human Understanding and by some of Locke's successors.     

Is employee narcissism always toxic? – The role of narcissistic admiration,rivalry and leaders’ implicit followership theories for employee voice

Organizational researchers are increasingly interested in investigating the influence of narcissism on the workplace. Drawing on self-determination theory and recent research that distinguishes two dimensions of narcissism and their different underlying motivational dynamics, we hypothesized that employee empowerment and, in turn, voice are differentially influenced by the two narcissism facets admiration and rivalry. In particular, we expected that employees’ narcissistic admiration is positively related to voice via empowerment, whereas rivalry is negatively related to voice via empowerment. Moreover, we investigated leaders’ implicit followership theories (IFTs) as moderator of the relationships between narcissistic rivalry and narcissistic admiration with empowerment. We argue that a leader’s positive IFTs buffer the negative effect of narcissistic rivalry and foster the positive effect of narcissistic admiration on empowerment, and in turn voice (i.e., first-stage moderated mediations). We found support for most of our predictions in a multi-wave field study using data from 268 leader–employee dyads. Theoretical and practical implications are explored.     

Love,Desire, Jouissance: Two out of Three Ain't Bad

The author demonstrates in this paper the different dynamics of love, desire, and jouissance. This impossible affair of loving whom one does not desire and desiring whom one does not love is analyzed through the writings of Jacques Lacan and Stephen Mitchell. The author illustrates Lacan's use of the “objeta” as the fragment in the Other that gives the desiring individual the illusion of completeness whereas the desired Other has no notion for whom or what she or he is desired. Desire is unmasked as this hide-and-seek game of narcissistic illusions where one is wanted for what one does not have and one desires what one cannot have. Both Lacan and Mitchell suggest that love is a far more risky encounter because all narcissistic illusions risk to be jettisoned. Although Mitchell suggests that it is only through the Other that one can discover the otherness in oneself, Lacan states that to love is to give nothing of oneself and to accept the emptinessin the Other. Texts from popular culture are used to illustrate the dynamics of live and desire and the limits of jouissance.     

Being student leaders or ‘ordinary’ students: Children's emotional experiences of relationships with others in a Chinese school

The student leader system is commonly used in Chinese schools. Student leaders are children who are elected by classmates, then assigned by teachers, to be responsible for monitoring classmates' behaviour. Based on the data collected through an intensive ethnographic study in a rural primary boarding school in China in 2016, this article discusses emotional experiences in peer relationships reported by both student leaders and other ‘ordinary’ students, who were not student leaders. The article argues that China's student leader system is likely to create hierarchical relationships between student leaders and ‘ordinary’ students, and exposes ‘ordinary’ students to the potential risk of being exploited by student leaders. The article also argues that because of this student leader system and relevant student evaluation values, student leaders and ‘ordinary’ students all feel stressed when they are building up and maintaining peer relationships, such as friendships, with each other.     

Helplessness and the exercise of power in the analytic session

This paper describes a clinical situation in which the analyst may be provoked to become overactive if he feels that his attempts to reach his patient are frustrated. Lack of tolerance for feelings of helplessness may leave him unable to sustain a receptive stance, and he may be drawn into enactments which lead to a power struggle with his patient.
I will try to describe situations where such enactments were compelling. I will also consider what enabled me to extricate myself from the activity, at least intermittently, to re‐establish an analytic attitude in which understanding and containment were priorities.
From time to time I was able to recognize and accept my helplessness and relinquish my attempts to reach the patient. These moments of recognition led to a shift of atmosphere in which a feeling of sadness replaced the more familiar confrontational mood. In these sadder moods the patient felt I was more available, and he too seemed more able to contemplate loss.
Theoretical ideas that enabled me to recognize some of the mechanisms at play included an understanding of narcissistic mechanisms, a recognition of previous ideas of power and dominance such as Freud’s Bemächtigungstrieb, and the role of dominance in the resolution of the Oedipus complex. My previous work on the dread of humiliation allowed me to be sensitive to the way helplessness can come to be associated with being looked down on and humiliated.     

A Code of Ethics for Health Care Ethics Consultants: Journey to the Present and Implications for the Field

For decades a debate has played out in the literature about who bioethicists are, what they do, whether they can be considered professionals qua bioethicists, and, if so, what professional responsibilities they are called to uphold. Health care ethics consultants are bioethicists who work in health care settings. They have been seeking guidance documents that speak to their special relationships/duties toward those they serve. By approving a Code of Ethics and Professional Responsibilities for Health Care Ethics Consultants, the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities (ASBH) has moved the professionalization debate forward in a significant way. This first code of ethics focuses on individuals who provide health care ethics consultation (HCEC) in clinical settings. The evolution of the code's development, implications for the field of HCEC and bioethics, and considerations for future directions are presented here.     

The psychology of the persian gulf war — Part I. Gulf-Nam and Saddam Hussein's Nebuchadnezzar Imperial Complex: A political psychological analysis

Since Vietnam America lost its domestic and international face and has needed to regain collective self- respect, a sense of purpose, direction, and to reconstruct a set of values which will guide the nation's contemporary and future political and economic agenda at home and abroad. Saddam's invasion of Kuwait was a perfect opportunity for America to accomplish this — to raise America's image from the ashes of despair, self- doubt, and low credibility in the world. After the invasion, President Saddam Hussein was ejected out of obscurity into the light of world curiosity and intrigue. Seen as the leader who dared to steal an entire country in daylight, who took hostages and created human shields, and then arrogantly brushed aside the world's outrage, the entire world seemed to want to understand not Saddam's politics, but his mind. As the world threatened Hussein with ejection from Kuwait, he not only grandiosely retorted with threats of burning the entire planet, but became increasingly brazen, emboldened, dangerous, and resolute. Saddam's self organization fuels the Nebuchadnezzar Imperial Complex, which operate within the malignant narcissistic paranoid personality. The Iraqi leader's dynamics dovetailed with Gulf- Nam — the American post- Vietnam failure syndrome. This study focuses on Saddam's personality dynamics as a violent leader in the Arab world.     

The pretense of psychology as science: The myth of mental illness in Statu Nascendi

If I was profoundly shocked by the Varieties [of Religious Experience, by William James], that was not because some of the facts described in it were such as I would rather not hear about. They were, on the whole, amusing. Nor was it because I thought James was doing his work clumsily. I thought he did it very well. It was because the whole thing was a fraud.... Psychology... regarded as the science of the mind, is not a science. It is what “phrenology” was in the early nineteenth century, and astrology and alchemy in the Middle Ages and the sixteenth century: the fashionable scientific fraud of the age.... There were, I held, no merely moral actions, no merely political actions, and no merely economic actions. Every action was moral, political, and economic.     

The pretense of psychology as science: The myth of mental illness in Statu Nascendi

If I was profoundly shocked by the Varieties [of Religious Experience, by William James], that was not because some of the facts described in it were such as I would rather not hear about. They were, on the whole, amusing. Nor was it because I thought James was doing his work clumsily. I thought he did it very well. It was because the whole thing was a fraud.... Psychology... regarded as the science of the mind, is not a science. It is what “phrenology” was in the early nineteenth century, and astrology and alchemy in the Middle Ages and the sixteenth century: the fashionable scientific fraud of the age.... There were, I held, no merely moral actions, no merely political actions, and no merely economic actions. Every action was moral, political, and economic.     

Envy divides the two faces of narcissism

In this article, we test psychodynamic assumptions about envy and narcissism by examining malicious envy in the context of narcissistic grandiosity and vulnerability. In Study 1, students (N = 192) and community adults (N = 161) completed trait measures of narcissism, envy, and schadenfreude. In Study 2 (N = 121), participants relived an episode of envy, and cognitive‐affective components of envy were examined in the context of both self‐ and informant reports of their envy and narcissism. In Study 3 (N = 69), narcissism was linked to reports of envy covertly induced in the laboratory. Vulnerable narcissism was strongly and consistently related to dispositional envy and schadenfreude (Studies 1–2), as well as to all cognitive‐affective components of envy (Study 2). Furthermore, it facilitated envy and schadenfreude toward a high‐status peer (Study 3). Grandiose narcissism was slightly negatively related to dispositional envy (Studies 1–2), and it did not predict informant reports of envy or cognitive‐affective components of the emotion (Study 2). Finally, it did not exacerbate envy, hostility, or resentment toward a high‐status peer (Study 3). The results suggest envy is a central emotion in the lives of those with narcissistic vulnerability and imply that envy should be reconsidered as a symptom accompanying grandiose features in the diagnosis of narcissistic personality disorder.     

The condition of affects and aspirations in adult depression

A commentary by a noted television anchorman in the book ON THE EDGE OF DARKNESS about this depression contains familiar themes. These will be cited, followed by a consideration of traditional psychoanalytic theories of depression. Broadening the contemporary theoretical domain, self-psychology provides useful understandings of how narcissistic aspirations along with failed childhood affect attunement become central features of depression. Treatment implications are considered along with an application of theory to a pastoral counseling case. Such a case demonstrates the role and interplay of religious ideation, emergent narcissistic aspirations and affects as they relate to a client's depression.The author dedicates this article to Terry Lyon, Diplomate, A.A.P.C., who was a sustaining presence during a crucial phase of my self-searching and awakening. The author also wishes to express appreciation for the counsel of Wes Brun and colleagues at the Samaritan Counseling Center.     

The Place of Rawls in Political and Ethical Theory

The work of John Rawls is central to contemporary political philosophy. A Theory of Justice provides a model for the justification of substantive principles of justice, and it defends principles that reject utilitarianism. Ultimately, justification is a matter of what the participants in a relationship or an institution can justify to one another. Unlike utilitarianism, which assumes that there is one good that it is the job of morality to maximize, Rawls holds that there are multiple conceptions of the good associated with different individuals. Furthermore, he holds that there are multiple principles of morality associated with different relationships and institutions. His principles of justice are designed for one of these—the basic structure of society. They establish a moral minimum that all members of a society owe to one another, but additional principles are required to govern other special relationships.     

VI. Akrasia and conflict

As Elster suggests in his chapter ‘Contradictions of the Mind’, in Logic and Society, akrasia and self‐deception represent the most common psychological functions for a person in conflict and contradiction. This article develops the theme of akrasia and conflict. Section I says what akrasia is not. Section II describes the character of the akrates, analyzing the sorts of conflicts to which he is subject and describing the sources of his debilities. A brief account is then given of the attractions of the akratic alternative: its power to focus or dominate the agent's attention; its being strongly habitual; its having the pull of social streaming: following the charismatic leader, the mechanisms of sympathetic or antipathetic infection, the models of role casting. Following these strategies is by no means pathological: these are relatively automatic (though still voluntary) psychological functions. That is precisely their power and attraction: they provide the conflicted akrates with an action solution, though not one that accords with his preferred judgment.     

“I love you as both and I love you as neither”: Romantic partners’ affirmations of nonbinary trans individuals

Abstract

Background: Transgender microaffirmations are subtle endorsements of a person’s gender identity through both verbal acknowledgements and behavioral gestures. Microaffirmations positively impact individuals who identify as transgender by acknowledging their gender identity and by communicating a sense of support and validation.

Aims: This study focuses on microaffirmations specifically directed toward nonbinary transgender individuals within romantic relationships.

Methods: Participants included 161 adults who identified as nonbinary: 85 who identified as gender nonconforming and 76 who identified as agender. These participants were either currently in a romantic relationship or had been in a romantic relationship within the past 5 years. Participants completed an online survey and provided examples of the microaffirmations they experienced from their romantic partners.

Results: Responses were analyzed via thematic analysis, resulting in four overarching themes: (1) Identity Validations, acknowledgement and acceptance of nonbinary identity; (2) Identity Endorsements, active endorsements of nonbinary through language or behavior; (3) Active Learning, self-education about nonbinary identities; and (4) Active Defense, interruptions of others’ negative actions directed at nonbinary partners.

Discussion: Discussion of the results focuses on understanding how microaffirmations operate to complicate binary notions of gender/sex and positively influence nonbinary transgender individuals in interpersonal relationships.