Narcissism 

The Oxford dictionary defines Narcissism as a person who has an excessive interest in or admiration of themselves. 'narcissists who think the world revolves around them' 'narcissists preening themselves in front of the mirror'.  Bursten (1973) claims four gradations of Narcissism, craving, paranoid, manipulative & phallic and Ronningstam (2005), a leading researcher in narcissistic disturbances identifies healthy, extraordinary, arrogant, shy and psychopathic. 
 

High levels of narcissim are characterised by low empathy, impairment of intimacy, attention seeking, being manipulative.  Extreme levels lead to Narcissistic Personality Disorder.  People low on the narcissism trait tend to be empathetic, sensitive to others and have low self-importance. 

 

High levels of narcissism have been beneficial in situations that require self promotion, such as job interviews.  Byrne et al. (2013) identified narcissists as excelling in decision making tasks.  However, Larsen et al. (2015) has linked narcissism to aggression. 

 

Narcissism measures are as follows: 

 

Older scale: 

Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale (1938) 

I can become entirely absorbed in thinking about my personal affairs, my health, my cares or my relations to others. 

 

More recent scale: 

16-item pair measure of narcissism (2006) 

Example of measurement: 

I know that I am good because everybody keeps tell me so 

  

 

2. People how high on this trait tend to have lower personal well-being or greater financial debt, and also less concerned about the environmental issues. 
 If they low on this trait, they may people low in materialism felt able to overcome danger and typically moved toward greater intimacy.
 
 3. Richins and Dawson's (1992) widely used 18‐item MVS (e.g., ‘I admire people who own expensive homes, cars, and clothes’).
 
 

 

Measured by:
A 24-item scale measures both independent and interdependent self-construal. For example, a statement such as “speaking up in class is not a problem for me” was a part of the scale and the person answering the scale would either write they strongly disagree (1) or strongly agree (7) (Singelis, 1994).

Lowest: one hurts others because when they get upset they cannot control their behavior.

When measuring empathy there are several methods that have been used in both research & patient interventions 

- Self report measures to assess both cognitive and emotional empathy (both as isolated constructs and in combination) are one of the most common methods of assessing empathy and some of the most widely used include the interpersonal reactivity index.

- Within clinical settings observational techniques have also been used to avoid self reporting bias, for instance Therapist Observation was used in intervention research by Hart 2008 ; Further to this the therapist behavior rating scale TBRS-3 also serves as a standardized observer report measure (Moran & diamond, 2008)

-The Jefferson Scale of Physician empathy is a self report scale designed to predict the clinical behavior of Doctors and other Health Care Practitioners. High scores predict "emotionally responsive" communicational behaviors in medical students, but are negatively associated with question asking and biomedical counseling focus (M, D, Lanoue.; D, L Rotes.  Patient Education and Counseling, Volume 101, issue 6, June 2018, pages 1143-1146.

-EMPATHY impact
positive: 1. interpersonal relationship
2. achieve social responsibility 
3. empathy comments reduce pain
4. relating to others emotion
negative: 1. conflict
2. unpleasure 3. interior detachment 4.  intersubjective awareness 5. a judgement of ugliness

- Advantages
A- Leadership
The trait of aggression is a strong indicator of leadership.
B- Open mindness & critical thinking
Aggressive people tend to think through things examining them from all sides and do not easily jump to conclusions
C- Bravery
Aggressive personalities are able to take on risk without shrinking from challenges or threats
D- Speaking-up for what is right even in the mindst of opposition
E- According to a study by Cromach and Elbert (2014), aggression reduces the vulnerability for developing Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in insecure and violent environment.

Disadvantages
A- Destroying the relationship with others (Brophy, 1996).
B- Not receiving respect from other (Bierman et al. (2006) 
C- Difficulties reaching out higher level of success

Measurement:
- Most common method used - 
'Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire' (Buss-Perry, 1992).
- A 29-item self-report questionnaire. 
- Includes sub-scales assessing: physical aggression, verbal aggression, anger and hostility.
- Scored on a 5-point scale. 

* A person with high scores on aggression tend to exhibit physical and verbal abuse. 
A person who scores high in aggression is more likely to be assertive, domineering and energetic.

* A person with low scores on aggression tend to be more passive, agreeable and relaxed.

 

- What does your trait mean (what does it mean to have a high level of this trait, what does being on the other end of the trait mean)? 

  The belief in a just world is mainly studied how individuals maintain and defend their beliefs from possible threats (Miguel et al., 2014).

  The more subjects were aware of their own unfairness, the more the personal belief in a just world showed a negative impact on self-esteem (Dalbert, 1999).

  Individuals have a need to believe that they live in a world where people generally get what they deserve. The belief that the world is just enables the individual to confront his physical and social environment as though they were stable and orderly. Without such a belief it would be difficult for the individual to commit himself to the pursuit of long range goals or even to the socially regulated behaviour of day to day life. Since the belief that the world is just serves such an important adaptive function for the individual, people are very reluctant to give up this belief, and they can be greatly troubled if they encounter evidence that suggests that the world is not really just or orderly after all (pp. 1030–1031). (Lerner and Miller, 1978)

 

- Why might it be good? Why might it be bad?

Advantages: 

    1. To induce people to engage in wide-ranging pro-social activities (Kristjánsson, 2004)

    2. BJW as a coping mechanism that may both buffer stress and facilitate achievement striving was reviewed (Furnham, 2003)

    3. Belief in a just world is associated with greater life satisfaction and well-being and less depressive affect.(Furnham & Procter, 1989; Lipkusa, Dalbert & Siegler, 1996)

 Disadvantages:

   1. Higher general BJW was linked to more dishonest behavior (Wenzel, Schindler & Reinhard, 2017)

 

-An example of how the trait is measured, with an example item if it is a self-report questionnaire (include name of author & year)

Chose perhaps the most common theory in social psychology—the five-factor model (FFM), which suggests five basic dimensions of personality

 
 

References 

Dalbert, C. (1999). The world is more just for me than generally: About the personal belief in a just world scale's validity. Social Justice Research, 12(2), 79-98.

Furnham, A. & Procter, E. (1989). Belief in a just world: review and critique of the individual difference literature. British Journal of Social Psychology, 28, 365–384.

Furnham, A. (2003). Belief in a just world: research progress over the past decade. Personality And Individual Differences, 34(5), 795-817. doi: 10.1016/s0191-8869(02)00072-7

Lerner, M. J., & Miller, D. T. (1978). Just world research and the attribution process: Looking back and ahead. Psychological Bulletin, 85(5), 1030-1051. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.85.5.1030

Lipkus, I. M., Dalbert, C., & Siegler, I. C. (1996). The Importance of Distinguishing the Belief in a Just World for Self Versus for Others: Implications for Psychological Well-Being. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22(7), 666–677.

Miguel R. Ramos, Isabel Correia & Hélder Alves (2014) To Believe or Not to Believe in a Just World? The Psychological Costs of Threats to the Belief in a Just World and the Role of Attributions, Self and Identity, 13:3, 257-273, DOI: 10.1080/15298868.2013.798890

Kristjánsson, K. (2004). Children and the Belief in a Just World. Studies In Philosophy And Education, 23(1), 41-60. doi: 10.1023/b:sped.0000010695.02262.fb

Wenzel, K., Schindler, S., & Reinhard, M. (2017). General Belief in a Just World Is Positively Associated with Dishonest Behavior. Frontiers In Psychology, 8. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01770