Running head RESEARCH PROPOSAL10RESEARCH PROPOSAL 8.docxtoltonkendal
Running head: RESEARCH PROPOSAL 10
RESEARCH PROPOSAL 8
Research Proposal
Jamie Bass
Argosy University
March 3, 2016
ABSTRACT
Suicide is experienced in all parts of parts of the world. Even though it has been argued that suicide is common amongst the elderly in the society, it is worth noting that even children as young as 13 years old have committed suicide. The myths and misconceptions surrounding suicidal individuals are inherently different from one culture to another. For instance, in some cultures it is believed that suicidal individuals are possessed by demons. Other cultures attribute suicide to generational curses whereas other cultures attribute suicide to such factors as depression and other mental disorders. The purpose of the proposed research is to establish the risk factors of suicide and realize possible strategies which if undertaken can help to counteract suicide and hence its adverse effects in the society. In this proposal are the points to be addressed in the course of the research. It is anticipated that there will be objections to the factors to be established and hence part of this proposal are possible objections and how each of the possible objections will be addressed. The research will use secondary sources of information and hence part of this proposal is an annotated bibliography of the sources that will be utilized in course of the research. Comment by Spencer Ellsworth: This is good, but could you state it more as a piece of argumentation? Like “This paper argues that early intervention can prevent suicide if done correctly.”
WORKING THESIS
Suicide has negatively affected the society, and unless there are mitigation strategies to curb this menace, it will continue to take the lives of many people in the society.
EXPLANATION
Suicide is the act of human beings voluntarily taking their lives. Research has shown that it has always been caused by a sense of despair or hopelessness. All these issues may be induced by mental illness which may include Bipolar disorder or even depression. Suicide has been traumatizing and shameful to the bereaved families and many people in the society have always viewed it as a cowardice way of taking one’s life. Many suicidal persons have been haunted by their thoughts in many cases this is depicted as a very personal process (Goldsmith, Pellmar, Kleinman & Bunney, 2002).
In this paper, it is very much possible to look at what suicide is and the risk factors associated with suicide. A study conducted in Sweden consisting of 271 men aged 15 years and above revealed that mental disorder is a major suicide risk factor. It is thus recommended that the research paper will dwell on mental disorder and substance abuse as risk factors that contribute to suicide as well as medical conditions and psychosocial states. Harris & Barraclough (2009) also established a causal relationship between mental disorder and suicide a factor that further makes the proposed research ...
This analysis elucidates the significance of objectivity in psychological research as well as personal potential barriers to objectivity regarding addiction psychology.
How is mental illness defined? Why is the philosophy of psychiatry the way it is today? Is there hope for improvement in the societal context of ill persons?
Running head research proposal1research proposal8.docxjeanettehully
Running head: research proposal 1
research proposal 8
Impact of Personality on Individuals’ Self-Esteem
LaTonya Bethune
PSYCH 665
Professor Teresa Neal
December 16, 2019
Impact of Personality on Individuals’ Self-Esteem
There are various definitions of self-esteem as described by different authors in the field of psychological research. It can also be defined as the general or typical feeling that an individual has about himself in a certain context and time (Heimpel et al., 2006). Andreassen et al. (2017), stated that self-esteem is an individual’s sense of worth or the level at which an individual likes or values himself. Self-esteem is individuals’ personal evaluation regarding their capabilities, importance, value, or worth (Pizzolli & Strapparava, 2019). Personality refers to the consistent set of behaviors that form a person’s distinctive character. These behaviors have emotional and cognitive patterns that have unique characteristics. An individual’s self-esteem is largely determined by their inherent personality traits, which include extraversion, neuroticism, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness (Pizzolli & Strapparava, 2019). Previous research has linked personality with self-esteem but didn’t establish the extent to which self-esteem is influenced by personality. This research seeks to establish how individual personality traits influence an individual’s self-esteem.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this research is to establish the relationship between personality and self-esteem and determine the extent to which personality traits can be used to predict an individual’s level of self-esteem. The personality traits, which include extraversion, neuroticism, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness, are usually referred to as the Big Five and are described in the five personality traits model. Each trait individually affects an individual’s self-esteem, but the most dominant traits determine an individual’s level of self-esteem.
Significance of the Study
Understanding the relationship between personality and self-esteem is important because it would enable psychologists to establish the psychological outcomes associated with various personality traits which would be helpful in the prediction of outcomes such as personality disorders, job performance, divorce, and academic achievement. Also, personality traits determine the temperament level of an individual and their overall behavioral tendencies. For example, individuals with low temperament are likely to be negative about themselves, thus, have low self-esteem. The findings of this study would enable therapists to precisely predict the patient outcomes based on their personality traits and understand the type of therapy that would suit their personality. For instance, individuals with low self-esteem may not respond to therapeutic sessions that are offered in group sessions since they cannot actively participate in that context.
Lite ...
Definition of Personality
Approaches to the study of personality
Personality and the Social Media
The role of Ethnicity and Gender in Personality
The Role of Culture in Shaping Personality
Methods of personality assessment
1
Running head: REVIEW PAPER
Alisebeth Nelson
Argosy University Twin Cities
Advanced General Psychology
PSY492
Review Paper – Draft of Literature Findings
M2A3
June 2016
Abstract
This paper discusses the similarities, differences, and content of 10 articles and other resources the report and discuss the findings of research that has been done on the Psychology of Evil. The idea of a person being completely “evil” is still a new idea in psychology and all of the main research on this has been done within the past 70 years, so as of right now there is now hard proof that someone can really truly be “evil.” Most of the research done has been done based on the idea of an authority figure being the main reason why someone may do an evil task, not one on single person doing an evil thing on their own recognizance. This paper focuses on experiments performed by Milgram and Zimbardo and their findings, but also includes discussions from other sources.
The Psychology of Evil
There have been many discussions based on the research done to prove that humans can be and are instinctively evil beings. However, most of the research that has been presented to us has been performed with some type of authority that wills the participants to perform the “evil” acts. Becker states in his article “little effort has been made in psychology and psychiatry to study pathologies that afflict, not the aberrant neurotic or psychotic individual or social group, but the greater population of the psychologically normal” (2008). I would have to say that based on my schooling and the personal research that I have done that I would agree with this statement. All too often, any research performed to test the psychology behind good and evil only includes what we would call a “normal” individual; someone who has no type of psychotic diagnosis. Now if these experiments were tested on individual who was diagnosed with Antisocial or Borderline Personality Disorder, would the outcomes have been different? Becker states in this article that he believes that to be so. In this article he mainly focuses on Nazi leaders during the holocaust.
Chirico writes an article that is 22 chapters long that is divided in 5 sections to study this concept: “Basic issues and Controversies,” “Motivation and Cognitive Processes,” “Developmental, Personality and Clinical Aspects,” “Good and Evil,” and “Synthesis” (2011). Chirico starts his analysis with the main question that so many of us ask; “Why is there evil?” Chirico studies focus mainly on whether or not evil is a normal human condition or simply a side effect of mental illness. He also looks into the schemas of cognitions and morality.
Kadar’s article discusses a very interesting theory that the central goal of ecological psychology is for humans to create coping mechanisms to deal with everyday tasks, and sometime that these coping mechanisms can include evil behaviors. He states that sometimes an evil act ...
Comparative Personality Sketch of Middle Aged Male and Female Counterparts Hi...inventionjournals
The aim of the present study is to make a comparative personality profile in the light of anger expression, narcissism and happiness among middle aged males and females. A sample of 100 middle aged individuals (50 males and 50 females) was selected. The variables selected for the study were anger expression, narcissism and happiness. Results indicate that happiness and narcissism both are positively correlated and basically self-love is found to be a basic source of happiness for both subsamples. Moreover, significant differences were found in case of anger expression and overall narcissism. Male counterparts were positioned at the top point of narcissism and anger expression and lack anger control but females have more anger out, anger reaction, superiority and vanity than male ones which pinpoints the fact that females tend to invest a great deal of energy in maintaining and preventing the experience and expression of anger. While controlling anger is certainly desirable, the over-control of anger may result in passivity, withdrawal and depression.
Respond Respond to two classmates’ discussions Summary of .docxwilfredoa1
Respond
Respond to two classmates’ discussions: Summary of a Scholarly Journal Article
You will respond to TWO peers' posts in the discussion area (minimum of 150 words each). These responses are not part of your five required weekly discussions.
Classmate #1: Lisa G Bogetto
Shannon,
I like what you have chosen for your academic Journal article. I believe that body image and eating disorder go hand and hand. I think that the goals of the study will show that it is not only eating disorders that cause people to think about body image. It is also society and the things that we read in magazines as well a television. Self-esteem is a big issue when it comes to how people see themselves and compare to other people.
Why do you think in the study they did not have the same number of males as they did females? They body mass index calculator is sometimes not a good thing to use when determining heathy weight. Everybody has different body structures and builds, which could mean that even though the mass index says there overweight they may not feel like they are.
Under the findings you said that the females were shorter and lighter than the males used in this study. I think the reason for this is the way men are built is different than woman and carry there weight differently. In the study it shows men being overweight, but I believe it is because of their body is structured different than women. Men have more muscle than and muscle weight more than fat. I think that the weight status would be hard to define.
I would say that they are correct that body image makes some people feel negative about themselves and creates feeling of not liking who they are. Nice job on your paper.
Classmate #2: Jessica E Dill
The article,
Correlates of bullying behaviors among a sample of North American Indigenous adolescents
, written by Lisa A. Melander, Kelley J. Sittner Harthorn, and Les B. Whitbeck, details the factors that contribute to bullying, using a sample of North American children from the ages of eleven to fourteen.
The purpose of this study is to learn the components that play a part in whether a child may become a bully, or will be the one who is bullied by others. After the authors did their own research, they did find previous studies on causes for bullying behaviors. These studies found that children from families in which they did not receive enough affection from their parents were more likely to bully others. Similarly, these studies found that if the child had a good, open relationship with their parents, they were less likely to be bullied themselves. Another finding the authors mentioned was that children who had good parents to look up to had a lesser chance of bullying others. The teachers also play a roll in the amount of bullying in the schools. Studies found that if the teachers were more involved with the students and offered encouragement, then the amount of bullying at the s.
Social psychology and personality psychology have the same job: to seek to understand the meaningful, consequential, and for the most part social behaviors of daily life. Cognitive psychology examines component processes such as memory, perception, and cognition. Biological psychology seeks to understand the physical underpinnings of behavior in the anatomy, physiology, functional organization, genetic basis and evolutionary history of the nervous system. Developmental psychology explores the roots of behavior in genetics and early childhood experience, and changes across the life course. All of these fields could be viewed as foundational for the common concern of social and personality psychology, which is to understand what people do every day. In this light, it is unsurprising that courses in social and personality psychology are among the most popular offerings on most college campuses; their subject matter is not only important, it is personally relevant and intrinsically interesting.
Social and personality psychology began to come into their own about the same time – the 1920’s and 1930’s – through the work of many of the same people, such as the Allport brothers, Floyd and Gordon (F. Allport, 1924; G. Allport, 1931, 1937; F. Allport & G. Allport, 1921). What is surprising, in retrospect, is how the two fields diverged over the subsequent decades. Social psychology came to specialize in the study of what people have in common; in particular how aspects of situations can change what people, on average, will do. Personality psychology came to specialize in the study of how people differ from each other psychologically, and on ways to characterize and measure these differences. This division of labor makes a certain amount of sense, but problems arose as the fields gradually became so specialized that many practitioners of each field became unaware of the basic principles, findings and methods of the other, and grew worse when social psychologists began to suspect that personality psychology’s emphasis on individual differences was misguided. In his memoirs, the eminent social psychologist Roger Brown described one memorably awkward encounter between the two traditions:
Running head RESEARCH PROPOSAL10RESEARCH PROPOSAL 8.docxtoltonkendal
Running head: RESEARCH PROPOSAL 10
RESEARCH PROPOSAL 8
Research Proposal
Jamie Bass
Argosy University
March 3, 2016
ABSTRACT
Suicide is experienced in all parts of parts of the world. Even though it has been argued that suicide is common amongst the elderly in the society, it is worth noting that even children as young as 13 years old have committed suicide. The myths and misconceptions surrounding suicidal individuals are inherently different from one culture to another. For instance, in some cultures it is believed that suicidal individuals are possessed by demons. Other cultures attribute suicide to generational curses whereas other cultures attribute suicide to such factors as depression and other mental disorders. The purpose of the proposed research is to establish the risk factors of suicide and realize possible strategies which if undertaken can help to counteract suicide and hence its adverse effects in the society. In this proposal are the points to be addressed in the course of the research. It is anticipated that there will be objections to the factors to be established and hence part of this proposal are possible objections and how each of the possible objections will be addressed. The research will use secondary sources of information and hence part of this proposal is an annotated bibliography of the sources that will be utilized in course of the research. Comment by Spencer Ellsworth: This is good, but could you state it more as a piece of argumentation? Like “This paper argues that early intervention can prevent suicide if done correctly.”
WORKING THESIS
Suicide has negatively affected the society, and unless there are mitigation strategies to curb this menace, it will continue to take the lives of many people in the society.
EXPLANATION
Suicide is the act of human beings voluntarily taking their lives. Research has shown that it has always been caused by a sense of despair or hopelessness. All these issues may be induced by mental illness which may include Bipolar disorder or even depression. Suicide has been traumatizing and shameful to the bereaved families and many people in the society have always viewed it as a cowardice way of taking one’s life. Many suicidal persons have been haunted by their thoughts in many cases this is depicted as a very personal process (Goldsmith, Pellmar, Kleinman & Bunney, 2002).
In this paper, it is very much possible to look at what suicide is and the risk factors associated with suicide. A study conducted in Sweden consisting of 271 men aged 15 years and above revealed that mental disorder is a major suicide risk factor. It is thus recommended that the research paper will dwell on mental disorder and substance abuse as risk factors that contribute to suicide as well as medical conditions and psychosocial states. Harris & Barraclough (2009) also established a causal relationship between mental disorder and suicide a factor that further makes the proposed research ...
This analysis elucidates the significance of objectivity in psychological research as well as personal potential barriers to objectivity regarding addiction psychology.
How is mental illness defined? Why is the philosophy of psychiatry the way it is today? Is there hope for improvement in the societal context of ill persons?
Running head research proposal1research proposal8.docxjeanettehully
Running head: research proposal 1
research proposal 8
Impact of Personality on Individuals’ Self-Esteem
LaTonya Bethune
PSYCH 665
Professor Teresa Neal
December 16, 2019
Impact of Personality on Individuals’ Self-Esteem
There are various definitions of self-esteem as described by different authors in the field of psychological research. It can also be defined as the general or typical feeling that an individual has about himself in a certain context and time (Heimpel et al., 2006). Andreassen et al. (2017), stated that self-esteem is an individual’s sense of worth or the level at which an individual likes or values himself. Self-esteem is individuals’ personal evaluation regarding their capabilities, importance, value, or worth (Pizzolli & Strapparava, 2019). Personality refers to the consistent set of behaviors that form a person’s distinctive character. These behaviors have emotional and cognitive patterns that have unique characteristics. An individual’s self-esteem is largely determined by their inherent personality traits, which include extraversion, neuroticism, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness (Pizzolli & Strapparava, 2019). Previous research has linked personality with self-esteem but didn’t establish the extent to which self-esteem is influenced by personality. This research seeks to establish how individual personality traits influence an individual’s self-esteem.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this research is to establish the relationship between personality and self-esteem and determine the extent to which personality traits can be used to predict an individual’s level of self-esteem. The personality traits, which include extraversion, neuroticism, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness, are usually referred to as the Big Five and are described in the five personality traits model. Each trait individually affects an individual’s self-esteem, but the most dominant traits determine an individual’s level of self-esteem.
Significance of the Study
Understanding the relationship between personality and self-esteem is important because it would enable psychologists to establish the psychological outcomes associated with various personality traits which would be helpful in the prediction of outcomes such as personality disorders, job performance, divorce, and academic achievement. Also, personality traits determine the temperament level of an individual and their overall behavioral tendencies. For example, individuals with low temperament are likely to be negative about themselves, thus, have low self-esteem. The findings of this study would enable therapists to precisely predict the patient outcomes based on their personality traits and understand the type of therapy that would suit their personality. For instance, individuals with low self-esteem may not respond to therapeutic sessions that are offered in group sessions since they cannot actively participate in that context.
Lite ...
Definition of Personality
Approaches to the study of personality
Personality and the Social Media
The role of Ethnicity and Gender in Personality
The Role of Culture in Shaping Personality
Methods of personality assessment
1
Running head: REVIEW PAPER
Alisebeth Nelson
Argosy University Twin Cities
Advanced General Psychology
PSY492
Review Paper – Draft of Literature Findings
M2A3
June 2016
Abstract
This paper discusses the similarities, differences, and content of 10 articles and other resources the report and discuss the findings of research that has been done on the Psychology of Evil. The idea of a person being completely “evil” is still a new idea in psychology and all of the main research on this has been done within the past 70 years, so as of right now there is now hard proof that someone can really truly be “evil.” Most of the research done has been done based on the idea of an authority figure being the main reason why someone may do an evil task, not one on single person doing an evil thing on their own recognizance. This paper focuses on experiments performed by Milgram and Zimbardo and their findings, but also includes discussions from other sources.
The Psychology of Evil
There have been many discussions based on the research done to prove that humans can be and are instinctively evil beings. However, most of the research that has been presented to us has been performed with some type of authority that wills the participants to perform the “evil” acts. Becker states in his article “little effort has been made in psychology and psychiatry to study pathologies that afflict, not the aberrant neurotic or psychotic individual or social group, but the greater population of the psychologically normal” (2008). I would have to say that based on my schooling and the personal research that I have done that I would agree with this statement. All too often, any research performed to test the psychology behind good and evil only includes what we would call a “normal” individual; someone who has no type of psychotic diagnosis. Now if these experiments were tested on individual who was diagnosed with Antisocial or Borderline Personality Disorder, would the outcomes have been different? Becker states in this article that he believes that to be so. In this article he mainly focuses on Nazi leaders during the holocaust.
Chirico writes an article that is 22 chapters long that is divided in 5 sections to study this concept: “Basic issues and Controversies,” “Motivation and Cognitive Processes,” “Developmental, Personality and Clinical Aspects,” “Good and Evil,” and “Synthesis” (2011). Chirico starts his analysis with the main question that so many of us ask; “Why is there evil?” Chirico studies focus mainly on whether or not evil is a normal human condition or simply a side effect of mental illness. He also looks into the schemas of cognitions and morality.
Kadar’s article discusses a very interesting theory that the central goal of ecological psychology is for humans to create coping mechanisms to deal with everyday tasks, and sometime that these coping mechanisms can include evil behaviors. He states that sometimes an evil act ...
Comparative Personality Sketch of Middle Aged Male and Female Counterparts Hi...inventionjournals
The aim of the present study is to make a comparative personality profile in the light of anger expression, narcissism and happiness among middle aged males and females. A sample of 100 middle aged individuals (50 males and 50 females) was selected. The variables selected for the study were anger expression, narcissism and happiness. Results indicate that happiness and narcissism both are positively correlated and basically self-love is found to be a basic source of happiness for both subsamples. Moreover, significant differences were found in case of anger expression and overall narcissism. Male counterparts were positioned at the top point of narcissism and anger expression and lack anger control but females have more anger out, anger reaction, superiority and vanity than male ones which pinpoints the fact that females tend to invest a great deal of energy in maintaining and preventing the experience and expression of anger. While controlling anger is certainly desirable, the over-control of anger may result in passivity, withdrawal and depression.
Respond Respond to two classmates’ discussions Summary of .docxwilfredoa1
Respond
Respond to two classmates’ discussions: Summary of a Scholarly Journal Article
You will respond to TWO peers' posts in the discussion area (minimum of 150 words each). These responses are not part of your five required weekly discussions.
Classmate #1: Lisa G Bogetto
Shannon,
I like what you have chosen for your academic Journal article. I believe that body image and eating disorder go hand and hand. I think that the goals of the study will show that it is not only eating disorders that cause people to think about body image. It is also society and the things that we read in magazines as well a television. Self-esteem is a big issue when it comes to how people see themselves and compare to other people.
Why do you think in the study they did not have the same number of males as they did females? They body mass index calculator is sometimes not a good thing to use when determining heathy weight. Everybody has different body structures and builds, which could mean that even though the mass index says there overweight they may not feel like they are.
Under the findings you said that the females were shorter and lighter than the males used in this study. I think the reason for this is the way men are built is different than woman and carry there weight differently. In the study it shows men being overweight, but I believe it is because of their body is structured different than women. Men have more muscle than and muscle weight more than fat. I think that the weight status would be hard to define.
I would say that they are correct that body image makes some people feel negative about themselves and creates feeling of not liking who they are. Nice job on your paper.
Classmate #2: Jessica E Dill
The article,
Correlates of bullying behaviors among a sample of North American Indigenous adolescents
, written by Lisa A. Melander, Kelley J. Sittner Harthorn, and Les B. Whitbeck, details the factors that contribute to bullying, using a sample of North American children from the ages of eleven to fourteen.
The purpose of this study is to learn the components that play a part in whether a child may become a bully, or will be the one who is bullied by others. After the authors did their own research, they did find previous studies on causes for bullying behaviors. These studies found that children from families in which they did not receive enough affection from their parents were more likely to bully others. Similarly, these studies found that if the child had a good, open relationship with their parents, they were less likely to be bullied themselves. Another finding the authors mentioned was that children who had good parents to look up to had a lesser chance of bullying others. The teachers also play a roll in the amount of bullying in the schools. Studies found that if the teachers were more involved with the students and offered encouragement, then the amount of bullying at the s.
Social psychology and personality psychology have the same job: to seek to understand the meaningful, consequential, and for the most part social behaviors of daily life. Cognitive psychology examines component processes such as memory, perception, and cognition. Biological psychology seeks to understand the physical underpinnings of behavior in the anatomy, physiology, functional organization, genetic basis and evolutionary history of the nervous system. Developmental psychology explores the roots of behavior in genetics and early childhood experience, and changes across the life course. All of these fields could be viewed as foundational for the common concern of social and personality psychology, which is to understand what people do every day. In this light, it is unsurprising that courses in social and personality psychology are among the most popular offerings on most college campuses; their subject matter is not only important, it is personally relevant and intrinsically interesting.
Social and personality psychology began to come into their own about the same time – the 1920’s and 1930’s – through the work of many of the same people, such as the Allport brothers, Floyd and Gordon (F. Allport, 1924; G. Allport, 1931, 1937; F. Allport & G. Allport, 1921). What is surprising, in retrospect, is how the two fields diverged over the subsequent decades. Social psychology came to specialize in the study of what people have in common; in particular how aspects of situations can change what people, on average, will do. Personality psychology came to specialize in the study of how people differ from each other psychologically, and on ways to characterize and measure these differences. This division of labor makes a certain amount of sense, but problems arose as the fields gradually became so specialized that many practitioners of each field became unaware of the basic principles, findings and methods of the other, and grew worse when social psychologists began to suspect that personality psychology’s emphasis on individual differences was misguided. In his memoirs, the eminent social psychologist Roger Brown described one memorably awkward encounter between the two traditions:
1. Just one question can identify a narcissist
Are you a narcissist? Turns out, one question could reveal the tendency to think the world revolves
around you.
People who have an inflated sense of self will readily admit they are narcissists if they're asked just
one straightforward question, a new study suggests.
"Narcissists aren't afraid to tell you they're narcissists," said study co-author Brad Bushman, a
communications and psychology professor at The Ohio State University. "They're not embarrassed
about it at all." [7 Personality Traits That Are Bad for You]
Nation of egotists
People with a classic narcissistic personality tend to have an overinflated sense of self, an
exhibitionist streak, a sense of entitlement and little empathy for others. People in Western countries
rate higher on narcissistic traits than do those in Eastern nations, and millennials people born
between the early 1980s and early 2000s are more likely to be self-centered than previous
generations, at least in the United States, Bushman said.
"The self-esteem movement, I think, is a big part of that," Bushman said. "Also, I think social media
provides a venue for people to project themselves to very large audiences."
Being egotistical can have its uses, at least in the short term. For instance, overconfidence can help
people land a job or attract a partner, and some studies suggest that narcissists make good leaders.
But in general, narcissists aren't doing anybody any favors with their overinflated sense of self,
Bushman said.
For the arrogant and self-absorbed, "if you already think you're great, then you're not going to try to
improve yourself," Bushman said. And because narcissists show less empathy, they aren't going to
be good for the people in their lives, he added.
No shame
Typically, researchers studying narcissistic traits rely on a 40-question survey in which respondents
choose from one or two options. For instance, some of the options included the following:
"I prefer to blend in with the crowd" (non-narcissistic response) versus "I like to be the center of
attention" (narcissistic response), or "The thought of ruling the world frightens me" versus "If I ruled
the world, it would be a better place" (narcissistic response).
In the new study, which is detailed Aug. 5 in the journal PLOS ONE, researchers looked at 11
published studies of 2,200 people who were quizzed with the more extensive survey.
2. The team found that the answer to one question was strongly correlated with their overall score on
the longer test: "To what extent do you agree with the statement, 'I am a narcissist'? (Note: The
word "narcissist" means egotistical, self-focused and vain.)."
Participants had the option of rating their agreement on a scale of 1 (not very true of me) to 7 (very
true of me). Since narcissism is a continuous dimension, rather than dichotomous (i.e., two answers:
narcissist or not a narcissist), there was no cutoff for whether a person was or was not a narcissist,
Bushman said. The score just reveals where one would fall along a spectrum compared with others
in the population.
Past studies show that younger participants and males tended to score higher on the narcissist scale
than others in the study. (You can also take a quizto see how you compare to others of the same age
and sex.)
The new study suggests that researchers who are pressed for time or doing a much larger study can
include this simple question in their research if they want to get a rough gauge of narcissistic traits.
The question couldn't be used to diagnose narcissistic personality disorder, which is a psychiatric
condition in which narcissism negatively impacts someone's life, Bushman said.
Quick survey
The new findings aren't terribly surprising, as similar one-question surveys have been found to work
for self-esteem, said W. Keith Campbell, a psychology professor at Georgia State University, who
was not involved in the study.
"There is some evidence in the literature that people who are narcissistic are self-aware," Campbell
told Live Science. "That's why some of the self-assessment measures work."
Ideally, the question could be used in the context of
other large research questions. Because it's only one
question, it would be easy to send people text messages
with the question when doing a quick survey of their
mood, he said.
But for researchers specifically studying narcissism, the
more extensive survey would be better, Campbell said.
That's because narcissism has several components, from exhibitionism to a tendency to exploit
others, Campbell said.
"With a longer scale, you can look at those factors; with the one item, you just can't," Campbell said.
Copyright 2014 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may
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