Narcissistic People Are More Likely To Take Part In Political Activities

By Emily Reynolds There’s likely to be a diverse set of factors driving any given person’s interest in politics. It could be that their parents had a political affiliation they’ve subsequently inherited; they may have had a personal experience that changed how they see the world; politics could provide a social life or community connections; they might consider political action a civic duty; or they might just be passionate about a particular issue. According to a recent paper in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, there may be another motivation, too — namely narcissism. The paper finds that particular kinds of narcissism are related to taking part in political activities, suggesting that deeply rooted individual factors may play a large part in our willingness to engage in politics. Zoltán Fazekas from Copenhagen Business School and Peter K. Hatemi from The Pennsylvania State University explored the link between narcissism and political participation through three surveys: one in Denmark, with 2,450 participants, and two in the US, with 500 and 2,280 participants respectively. In each study, participation in politics was measured through an eight-item questionnaire, which gave an overall measure of participation based on how often people took part in various activities like signing a petition, boycotting or buying products for political reasons, participating in protests, attending political meetings, contacting politicians, donating money, c...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Personality Political Source Type: blogs