Sarah Francis Smith

The Double-Edged Sword of Grandiose Narcissism Implications for Successful and Unsuccessful Leadership Among U.S. Presidents

Recent research and theorizing suggest that narcissism may predict both positive and negative leadership behaviors. We tested this hypothesis with data on the 42 U.S. presidents up to and including George W. Bush, using (a) expert-derived narcissism estimates, (b) independent historical surveys of presidential performance, and (c) largely or entirely objective indicators of presidential performance. Grandiose, but not vulnerable, narcissism was associated with superior overall greatness in an aggregate poll; it was also positively associated with public persuasiveness, crisis management, agenda setting, and allied behaviors, and with several objective indicators of performance, such as winning the popular vote and initiating legislation. Nevertheless, grandiose narcissism was also associated with several negative outcomes, including congressional impeachment resolutions and unethical behaviors. We found that presidents exhibit elevated levels of grandiose narcissism compared with the general population, and that presidents’ grandiose narcissism has been rising over time. Our findings suggest that grandiose narcissism may be a double-edged sword in the leadership domain.

Correlates of Psychopathic Personality Traits in Everyday Life:Results from a Large Community Survey

Although the traits of psychopathic personality (psychopathy) have received extensive attention from researchers in forensic psychology, psychopathology, and personality psychology, the relations of these traits to aspects of everyday functioning are poorly understood. Using a large internet survey of members of the general population (N = 3388), we examined the association between psychopathic traits, as measured by a brief but well-validated self-report measure, and occupational choice, political orientation, religious affiliation, and geographical residence. Psychopathic traits, especially those linked to fearless dominance, were positively and moderately associated with holding leadership and management positions, as well as high-risk occupations. In addition, psychopathic traits were positively associated with political conservatism, lack of belief in God, and living in Europe as opposed to the United States, although the magnitudes of these statistical effects were generally small in magnitude. Our findings offer preliminary evidence that psychopathic personality traits display meaningful response penetration into daily functioning, and raise provocative questions for future research.

Successful Psychopathy A Scientific Status Report

Long the stuff of clinical lore, successful psychopathy has recently become the focus of research. Although numerous authors have conjectured that psychopathic traits are sometimes associated with occupational or interpersonal success, rigorous evidence for this assertion has thus far been minimal. We provide a status report on successful-psychopathy research, address controversies surrounding successful psychopathy, examine evidence for competing models of this construct, and offer desiderata for future research.

Histrionic Personality Disorder

Histrionic personality disorder (HPD) is a personality disorder marked by excessive displays of emotionality and need for attention. HPD owes its historical origins to the early descriptions of ‘hysteria,’ although it gradually evolved into a more circumscribed diagnosis characterized by theatrical displays and interpersonal dysfunction. HPD overlaps markedly with a number of other conditions, including somatization disorder, antisocial personality disorder, and borderline personality disorder, although it is separable from them. A variety of psychotherapeutic approaches have been developed for HPD, although research on the treatment of HPD is still in its infancy.

The response modulation hypothesis of psychopathy: A meta-analytic and narrative analysis.

The causes of psychopathy, a condition characterized by interpersonal (e.g., superficial charm), affective (e.g., lack of empathy), and behavioral (e.g., impulsive actions) features, remain contested. The present review examines 1 of the most influential etiological models of psychopathy, the response modulation hypothesis (RMH), which proposes that psychopathic individuals exhibit difficulties in adjusting their behavior in the presence of a dominant response set. We conduct a meta-analysis and narrative literature review to examine the RMH quantitatively and qualitatively, estimate the statistical effects of response modulation (RM) deficits in psychopathic individuals, and ascertain the boundary conditions of the RMH. Ninety-four samples from published and unpublished studies involving 7,340 participants were identified for inclusion. Overall results provided some support for the RMH, revealing a small to medium relationship between psychopathy and RM deficits (r = .20, p < .001, d = .41) that extended to both psychopathy dimensions. Moreover, as predicted by the RMH, RM deficits were observed for both affectively neutral and affectively laden tasks. A number of moderators, such as anxiety, laboratory task, dependent measure, psychopathy measure, and race, contributed to significant variability in effect sizes; we also found evidence for potential publication bias using 2 methods, raising questions concerning the robustness of RM findings. An ancillary narrative review revealed that the RMH is inconsistent with a number of replicated findings in the psychopathy literature, suggesting that the RMH, at least in its present form, is unlikely to provide a comprehensive etiological account of psychopathy. Nevertheless, more recent attentional versions of the RMH may hold promise with respect to intervention. Further fruitful directions for research on the RMH, including the use of multiple dependent measures of RM and latent variable approaches, are delineated.

Identifying Personality Subtypes Based on the Five-Factor Model Dimensions in Male Prisoners: Implications for Psychopathy and Criminal Offending

The current study was designed to identify personality subtypes on the basis of the five-factor model dimensions in male prisoners. Participants included 110 Flemish male prisoners assessed by means of the Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness Five Factor Inventory and different symptom, personality, and coping measures. We found two clusters: an emotionally stable/resilient cluster and an aggressive/undercontrolled cluster. Prisoners within the aggressive/undercontrolled cluster scored significantly higher on almost all Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory–2 basic scales, (in)direct aggression measures, and depressive coping scales compared with resilients. They also scored higher on drug abuse and committed more sexual offenses than resilient prisoners. These two personality subtypes bear theoretically and practically important implications for psychopathy subtypes and different pathways to criminal offenses.

Does the Press Ganey Survey Correlate to Online Health Grades for a Major Academic Otolaryngology Department

Objectives Analyze the correlation between online-based review websites and the Press Ganey Patient Satisfaction Survey (PGPSS) in an academic otolaryngology department. Study Design Retrospective cross sectional. Setting Tertiary academic institution. Methods All available data were collected for Vitals.com and Healthgrades.com, along with PGPSS data for 16 otolaryngology attending physicians from 2012 to 2014. A mean rating was calculated for each topic category for online websites and compared with 7 PGPSS content questions using zero-order correlations. A paired t test was used to analyze the difference between the PGPSS and online scores. Results There were no statistically significant correlations between time spent with the patient (r = 0.391, P = .208) and overall provider scores (r = 0.193, P = .508) when compared between Vitals.com and the PGPSS. The correlations were not statistically significant when Healthgrades.com was compared with the PGPSS in the items “probability of recommending the provider” (r = −0.122, P = .666) and “trust in provider” (r = −0.025, P = .929). The most important factors in a patient recommending the provider were as follows, per resource: time spent with the patient for Vitals.com (r = 0.685, P = .014), listening for Healthgrades.com (r = 0.981, P ≤ .001), and trust in the provider for the PGPSS (r = 0.971, P ≤ .001). Conclusion This study suggests that online-based reviews do not have statistically significant correlations with the widely used PGPSS and may not be an accurate source of information for patients. Patients should have access to the most reliable and least biased surveys available to the public to allow for better-informed decisions regarding their health care.

THE DSM REVISION AS A SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCESS: A COMMENTARY ON BLASHFIELD AND REYNOLDS

We trust that we do not need to persuade readers of this journal that the DSM revision process is unavoidably political (Kirk & Kutchins, 1992; Widiger & Clark, 2000). As Blashfield and Reynolds (2012) observe in their useful and important article in this issue, this is not entirely a bad thing. The “invisible colleges” to which Blashfield and Reynolds refer can assist in achieving group consensus and facilitating rapid research progress. Nevertheless, these shadow committees may sometimes impede long-term scientific knowledge by being closed to alternative viewpoints. One might be tempted to argue that because the DSM revision process involves human beings, who are by their very nature fallible, this enterprise cannot be improved. We respectfully disagree. Although the DSM is inevitably a political document, there may be ways of minimizing the extent to which political considerations override scientific evidence in the process of diagnostic revision. Our thesis is straightforward and perhaps self-evident, but insufficiently emphasized: The DSM revision is not merely a political process, but a social psychological one as well. The diagnostic revision process necessitates an expert grasp of descriptive psychopathology, research methodology, and clinical utility, to be certain, but it would also benefit from a thoughtful consideration of evidence-based perspectives derived from research on group decision making.

The nature and correlates of the dark triad: The answers depend on the questions.

The past several decades have witnessed a proliferation of research on the dark triad (DT), a set of traits comprising Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy. The bulk of DT research has been marked by several core assumptions, most notably that each DT construct is a monolithic entity that is clearly separable from its counterpart DT constructs. To examine the tenability of these assumptions, we pooled data from 2 samples of North American community members (ns = 312 and 351) to explore (a) the external validity and profile similarities of DT indicators and (b) the factor structure of the DT. Using general personality dimensions as external criteria, we demonstrated that each DT measure is multidimensional and that subdimensions within DT measures often display sharply different and at times even opposing relations with personality domains; these opposing relations were largely obscured at the total score level adopted in most of the DT literature. In both samples, confirmatory factor analyses and exploratory structural equation models provided no clear support for the traditional tripartite DT structure delineated in the literature. Instead, various aspects of the DT constructs fractionated across a number of factors that represented more basic personality elements (e.g., emotional stability, grandiosity). Taken together, our findings raise serious questions regarding the standard model of DT research and suggest that the questions posed regarding the correlates of DT constructs hinge crucially on the specific DT measure and subdimension examined.

Hervey Cleckley (1903–1984): Contributions to the study of psychopathy.

Hervey Cleckley (1903-1984) was probably among the most influential psychiatrists of the 20th century, but the history of his intellectual contributions to psychopathy is not especially well known. Not all of Cleckleys writings have stood the test of time, but others seem prescient, arguably anticipating current debates regarding such contentious issues as successful psychopathy and the treatability of psychopathy. Although Cleckleys seminal writings on psychopathy are familiar to many contemporary scholars, Cleckleys role as an expert witness and his writings on other topics, such as dissociative identity disorder, may be less familiar to many readers. Cleckleys rich and diverse body of work is worth revisiting for its keen insights regarding psychopathy and personality pathology more broadly. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).