Category: Personality

The idea that people with aggressive, selfish and disagreeable personalities are more likely to get promotions and acquire power is false.

Jerks do not get ahead, research finds.

The idea that aggressive, selfish, disagreeable people are more likely to get promotions and acquire power is false.

While intimidating people get some advantage from their selfish behaviour, this is offset by their poor relationships.

In other words, what jerks gain by being nasty, they lose by being hated.

Extraverts get ahead

In fact, it is extraversion that predicts people getting ahead in their jobs and obtaining more power.

People who are outgoing, energetic and assertive — all hallmarks of the extravert — are more likely to advance.

Professor Cameron Anderson, the study’s first author, said:

“I was surprised by the consistency of the findings.

No matter the individual or the context, disagreeableness did not give people an advantage in the competition for power — even in more cutthroat, ‘dog-eat-dog’ organizational cultures.”

Disagreeable traits

The study tracked people from college or graduate school to 14 years into their careers.

They were asked about their power and rank in their workplaces.

Those with deceitful, aggressive personalities were no more likely to have gained power than those who were generous and trustworthy, the results showed.

Jerks still obtained positions of power, though, Professor Anderson explained:

“The bad news here is that organizations do place disagreeable individuals in charge just as often as agreeable people.

In other words, they allow jerks to gain power at the same rate as anyone else, even though jerks in power can do serious damage to the organization.”

Agreeable people produce the best results, Professor Anderson said:

“My advice to managers would be to pay attention to agreeableness as an important qualification for positions of power and leadership.

Prior research is clear: agreeable people in power produce better outcomes.”

Signs of a disagreeable personality

‘Disagreeableness’ is one of the five major personality traits.

It roughly translates to ‘being a jerk’, the study’s authors write:

“Disagreeableness is a relatively stable aspect of personality that involves the tendency to behave in quarrelsome, cold, callous, and selfish ways.

Disagreeable people tend to be hostile and abusive to others, deceive and manipulate others for their own gain, and ignore others’ concerns or welfare.”

One of difficulties for disagreeable people is creating alliances.

However, what applies in the workplace may not apply in politics, Professor Anderson said:

“Having a strong set of alliances is generally important to power in all areas of life.

Disagreeable politicians might have more difficulty maintaining necessary alliances because of their toxic behavior.”

→ Read on: How to change your personality

The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Anderson et al., 2020).

Here is a list of the 10 types of personality disorder, including cluster A, B and C from the DSM 5 manual.

People with these types of personality disorder feel, think and behave in quite a different way to the average.

Symptoms of personality disorders vary depending on the type.

Treatment for a personality order usually involves talking therapy, although the condition can improve with time (see below).

For problems associated with personality disorders, such as depression, medication is sometimes prescribed.

There are ten types of personality disorder, which are grouped into three main types.

Each of the three types — or ‘clusters’ in psychiatric speech from the DSM 5 — has various different disorders within it.

Types of personality disorders are controversial

As you read through, bear in mind that personality disorders are controversial for mental health professionals.

The reason is that many people diagnosed with them do not fit neatly into one category or the other.

Many are diagnosed with more than one personality disorder, or have symptoms of one and some of another.

This suggests the categories may not be helpful.

Personality disorder type A: Eccentric or odd

1. Schizoid personality disorder

A person with a total lack of interest in social relationships.

They live alone or have a very lonely lifestyle.

They are typically cold, apathetic and secretive.

It is very difficult to get close to them emotionally: they avoid all emotions, whether positive or negative.

If you can get closer, though, you will discover they have a rich imaginative inner life.

2. Schizoptypal personality disorder

A very socially anxious person who also has other strange or eccentric beliefs.

For example, they may endorse paranormal or superstitious beliefs.

They may have strange patterns of speech and dress unusually.

They may also experience delusions and hallucinations — perhaps believing they can read other people’s minds.

It is difficult to get close to this type of persona because of their natural suspicion of others.

3. Paranoid personality disorder

A paranoid person who is extremely mistrustful of others.

They are very sensitive and are always on the look out for things that confirm their worst fears: that everyone is out to get them.

They assume others are hostile, they bear grudges and find it hard to have an emotional connection with others.

Personality disorder type B: Emotional, dramatic or erratic

1. Borderline personality disorder (BPD)

A history of unstable relationships characterises those who have a borderline personality disorder (BPD).

This is partly caused by unstable and impulsive emotions.

At one time people with borderline personality disorder can idolise someone else, and soon after they hate them.

People with BPD are terrified of being abandoned and they have a very unusual and disturbed sense of self-identity.

They may also be depressed and/or substance abusers.

2. Antisocial personality disorder

Typically have no regard for other people’s feelings or judgments.

Likely have a history of crime or impulsive and borderline illegal behaviour.

They see themselves as free of society’s rules and standards.

Often similar to what we think of as a psychopath.

3. Histrionic personality disorder

This type of person loves to attract attention to themselves.

They love to flirt, to be dramatic and enthusiastic.

They desire approval from others above all else.

They will exaggerate their emotions, indulge themselves and perhaps manipulate others to get what they want.

4. Narcissistic personality disorder

Narcissists are convinced of their own superiority to others.

Naturally, then, they appear arrogant and conceited.

At the same time, they are also envious: they want power, prestige and adoration.

It goes without saying that they are extremely self-absorbed.

Personality disorder type C: Fearful or anxious

1. Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder

One of the most well-known of personality disorders, those with OCPD are typically perfectionists who are also highly fearful or anxious.

They want control and find it very hard to relax.

They will plan everything down to the last detail.

Those with OCPD carry out certain rituals in response to their fears (checking ovens are off, doors locked and so on…)

There is relatively little difference between OCPD and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).

2. Dependent personality disorder

A person who is highly dependent on others.

This dependence is so strong that it is very difficult for them to lead any kind of independent life.

3. Avoidant personality disorder

These are people who very much want to be close to others, but find it difficult.

They consider themselves socially inept and fear humiliation and rejection.

That fear causes them to avoid all social situations for fear of extreme embarrassment.

Causes of personality disorders

All these types of personality disorder are thought to be caused by a combination of genes, environmental circumstances and early life experiences.

Environmental factors linked to personality disorders include:

• a chaotic or unstable family life,
• little support from caregiver,
• bad experiences at school,
• poverty and dislocation.

Adverse early life experiences include:

• losing a parent,
• often feeling afraid, upset,
• neglect
• and being involves in major accidents or incidents.

Treatment for personality disorders

The treatment for personality disorders is usually talk therapy and possibly medication for associated conditions, such as depression.

However, time can slowly remedy personality disorders, even without treatment, research shows  (Lenzenweger et al., 2004).

Psychologists and psychiatrists had long thought that people with personality disorders cannot change.

Personality was thought to be like eye colour or height — very difficult to change.

But, personality disorders can improve, the study of 240 people over 4 years found — even without any kind of treatment (although treatment can help).

Professor Mark F. Lenzenweger, who led the study, said:

“Although the disorders are common, with 1 in 10 people affected, the good news is that we now know the disorders can change with time.”

The results showed that over time the features of personality disorders reduce, by an average of 1.4 per year.

People who did get treatment for their personality disorder during the study also saw an increased improvement in their symptoms.

The study’s authors conclude that:

“… [personality disorder] features show considerable variability across individuals over time.

This fine-grained analysis of individual growth trajectories provides compelling evidence of change in PD [personality disorder] features over time and does not support the assumption that PD features are traitlike, enduring, and stable over time.”

Studies on particular personality disorders, such as borderline personality disorder have found something similar.

One study concluded that borderline personality disorder is not a ‘death sentence’ for patients (Sharp et al., 2021).

The personality disorder can be treated and it generally improves over time even without specialised treatment.

However, early intervention in young people is the best approach.

Psychotherapies and even time can both help to heal the disorder, researchers found.

Dr Carla Sharp, the study’s first author, said:

“Like adult BPD, adolescent BPD appears to be not as intractable and treatment resistant as previously thought.

That means we should not shy away from identifying BPD in adolescents and we shouldn’t shy away from treating it.”

The results of that study showed that most people got better over time, with or without specialised treatment.

Currently, the best treatments for borderline personality disorder are mentalisation-based therapy and dialectical behaviour therapy.

→ Read on: How to change your personality

Building courage and bravery can be done using personality traits, self-efficacy, hope, resilience, values, beliefs and social forces.

How does a fire-fighter feel so courageous they can enter a burning building?

How does an anxious person pluck up the courage to introduce themselves to a stranger?

How does a severely depressed individual find the bravery to go through the motions of another day?

All require courage, but this sort of bravery is an elusive quality.

In this article we look at the components that make up courage and how these can be developed.

Sean Hannah and colleagues from the United States Military Academy, writing in The Journal of Positive Psychology, provide a new model of courage (Hannah et al., 2007).

In it they set out a web of interrelated factors thought to feed into the subjective feeling of courage.

Broadly they suggest that levels of courage are influenced by character traits, particular states of mind and the values, beliefs and social forces acting on a person.

Alongside these factors set out below, I’ve provided suggestions for how each can be increased.

Courageous character traits

Firstly, then, the following three personality traits are thought important in being courageous:

1. The courageous are open to experience

This trait is associated with both divergent thinking, e.g. brainstorming, and the related idea of creativity.

Being courageous, then, is all about having options, and in order to generate those options you need to be creative.

How can it be increased?

Techniques which may help increase divergent thinking are brainstorming, keeping a journal, free writing and mind mapping.

Whether these will lead back into increased openness to experience, however, is unknown.

It’s unlikely to cause you any harm though!

2. The courageous are conscientious

The conscientious are dependable people who feel a sense of duty towards themselves and others.

They get the job done.

How can it be increased?

One way to increase conscientiousness may be to commit to more social institutions such as marriage, work, family or other role in the community.

This suggestion comes from research that has found conscientiousness increases with age, which is also associated with greater work, family and social commitments.

3. Core self-evaluation

These include traits like emotional stability and internal locus of control.

An internal locus of control refers to a feeling of control over situations.

How can it be increased?

Increasing locus of control can be achieved through cognitive therapy.

Central to cognitive therapy is the idea that our outlook on life is fundamentally affected by how we explain what happens to us and others – the attributions we use.

Changing these attributions can lead to changes in core self-evaluations.

Remember that these first three components are ‘traits’ meaning they are thought to be relatively stable across situations and across time-points.

While they can, and do change, they will be difficult to budge quickly or easily.

Courageous states of mind

The following four states of mind are, though, more open to adjustment and may be better bets for increasing courage in the moment:

1. Self-efficacy and confidence

Essentially means confidence in yourself and your ability to achieve desired outcomes.

How can it be increased?

Two important predictors of self-efficacy are firstly mastering a skill and secondly cognitively reinterpreting current situations.

So, self-efficacy can be increased through practicing a task and through the way it is cognitively represented.

2. Means efficacy

This is the belief that the tools available can do the job.

How can it be increased?

They say a bad workman blames his tools – so a good workmen sees potential in his tools to complete the job.

Really believing you can use what you’ve got is half the battle to becoming more courageous.

3. State hope

Believing the task is possible and seeing a way of carrying it out at the time at which it needs to be done.

How can it be increased?

Like locus of control, state hope can be increased using cognitive therapy.

At heart, the idea is to change the attributions we make.

4. Resilience

This is bounce-back-ability.

It’s also having the belief that should the inevitable problems arise, you’ll be able to overcome them.

How can it be increased?

Research suggests resilience may be predicted by positive emotions.

Generating amusement, interest or any other positive emotion is likely to increase levels of resilience.

Essentially, it may be possible to laugh off the fear often experienced when being courageous.

Convictions and social forces

There are two final components important in Hannah and colleagues’ model of courage.

1. Inner convictions of bravery

These include independence, selflessness, integrity and honour.

These types of beliefs can all have important effects on behaviour in the face of fear.

How can it be increased?

Inner convictions can come from a variety of sources such as philosophy, societal beliefs or religion.

2. Social forces for courage

Really important, some might even argue this is the most important.

People look at how other’s react to a situation, then think how they should act in relation to other people.

How can it be increased?

Essentially courage is socially contagious.

The practical advice from this is simple: to increase your courage, hang out with courageous people.

Interrelationships

While I’ve considered each of these factors separately, in Hannah’s model of building courage they are all interrelated.

For example positive emotions are likely to lead to less experienced fear, which also leads to more courageous behaviours which leads to the subjective experience of courageousness which in turn will feed back into positive emotional states.

Only courage by a different name?

One of the main criticisms of these types of models about building courage is that they just re-describe courage in terms of different attributes.

There is some truth to that, but only some.

The strength of this model is that it breaks down courage into its components so that each can be individually targeted.

.

Dramatic people love to gossip, stir up trouble and they constantly think they are victims.

People who enjoy getting others riled up and who can’t hold their opinion back have a high need for drama, research finds.

Other aspects of a ‘need for drama’ include saying things just to see how others react and feeling like a victim all the time.

The conclusions come from a study which validates a 12-point scale to measure need for drama.

People who score high on the ‘need for drama’ scale also typically have high but non-clinical levels of psychopathy and narcissism.

The typical life of dramatic individuals is described by the study’s authors:

“People with drama-prone personalities generally live chaotic lives and inflict contrived crises on family, friends, and co-workers.

In our interpersonal relationships, we would likely identify “dramatic” individuals with their histories of failed relationships and their conflicts with friends and family.

Often this interpersonal drama becomes public on social networking sites.

In the workplace, dramatic individuals are likely to engage in gossip to influence others, create conflicts among co-workers and management, and feel that they are the victims of others’ gossip and conflicts.”

The study found that three factors make up the need for drama:

1. Interpersonal manipulation: “characterized by a person’s willingness to influence other people to behave in a manner serving of the manipulator’s goals.”
2. Persistent perceived victimhood:  “the propensity to constantly perceive oneself as a victim of everyday life circumstances that many people would dismiss as benign.”
3. Impulsive outspokenness: “characterized by a person’s compulsion to speak out and share opinions, even when inappropriate and without regard to social consequences.”

Need for drama test

The more that you agree with these statements the higher your need for drama:

1. Sometimes it’s fun to get people riled up.
2. Sometimes I say something bad about someone with the hope that they find out what I said.
3. I say or do things just to see how others react.
4. Sometimes I play people against each other to get what I want
5. I always speak my mind but pay for it later.
6. It’s hard for me to hold my opinion back.
7. People who act like my friends have stabbed me in the back.
8. People often talk about me behind my back.
9. I often wonder why such crazy things happen to me.
10. I feel like there are people in my life who are out to get me.
11. A lot of people have wronged me.

Agreeing with the following statement, though, is linked to lower levels of need for drama:

• I wait before speaking my mind.

The study was published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences (Frankowski et al., 2016).