Narcissism, Psycho/Sociopathy, Bigotry, and Bullying

Work in Progress

Note: I have no training whatsoever in psychology, much less psychiatry.  My knowledge comes merely from a layman's reading of Narcissistic and Antisocial Personality Disorders, usually in the context of Corporate Psychopathy.  Therefore, this post is ultimately my personal speculation and nothing more. Only a trained mental health expert duly licensed by his or her local, regional, or national governmental entity is qualified to give an authoritative opinion in this matter, particularly regarding the mental state of any particular individual.

It’s well-established there are similarities between Narcissistic Personality Disorder and Antisocial Personality Disorder (formerly called psychopathy or sociopathy), as evidenced by the fact that many having one condition will have traits of the other. In fact, both personality disorders are classified by the American Psychological Association as “Cluster B” personality disorders (dramatic/erratic ones). However,  it’s important to note that not all narcissists are antisocials and vice versa.

After reading the DSM-IV* diagnostic criteria for both disorders, I noticed the mindsets accompanying the disorders are far too similar to bigotry for me to confidently handwave away. I will deal with the bullying aspect later. For now, let’s look at the similarities between narcissists and bigots.

 Like narcissists, bigots try to raise themselves above certain “others” or degrade those same others.  Also like narcissists, bigots seem to merely endure the presence of “lesssers” in their presence, if they tolerate them being in their presence at all.  Again, also like narcissists, bigots have a superior sense of entitlement relative to the target of their contempt.  Yet again like narcissists, bigots get quite irritated (often outright agitated) when others call on them to consider the feelings and interests of those others they look down upon.  Ultimately, narcissists and bigots are egocentric, whether for themselves or the group they are members of (or wish they were part of) – usually even in reference to other groups they don’t particularly look down upon (even in this case, their respect for that group is conditional upon that group – as a whole – conforming to their ultimately shallow ideals of respectworthiness to a satisfactory degree).  Without implying that either one is necessarily the other, all these similarities compel me to believe that these mentalities have the same ultimate source – elevation of the self or one’s own group above others.

With this in mind, I adapted the DSM-IV criteria for Narcissistic Personality Disorder to check how closely the attitudes of a bigot mirror those of a narcissist.  As you can guess, all I did was cross out the word “others” from the official DSM criteria, then substitute in its place races, religions, sexual orientation, believers in a different religion, political ideology, philosophical outlook, etc.

(1)  has a grandiose sense of the importance of their own race, orientation, belief system (whether religious, political, philosophical, etc.), socio-economic group, etc. (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements).

(2)  is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, etc. of their own race, orientation, belief system, socio-economic class, etc. OR preoccupied with with the ultimate beauty or admiration or widespread sense of righeteousness of the same.

(3)  believes that their race, orientation, belief system, socio-economic class, etc. is "special" and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with people of similar backgrounds or belief systems (or institutions).

(4)  requires from others an excessive admiration from others about their own race, sexual orientation, belief system, socio-economic class, etc.

(5)  has a sense of entitlement for their own race, orientation, belief system, socio-economic class, i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her group’s expectations.

(6)  is interpersonally exploitative, i.e., takes advantage of others who do not belong to their race, orientation, belief system, socio-economic class, etc. (especially those less acceptable to their social group) to achieve his or her own ends.

(7)  lacks empathy towards others who are not part of their race, sexual orientation, belief system, socio-economic class, etc. (i.e., is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of those outside their own or preferred group(s)).

(8)  is often envious of those of a different race, sexual orientation, belief system, socio-economic class, etc. others or believes that others are envious of him or her.

(9)  shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes toward those of a different race, sexual orientation, belief system, socio-economic class, etc.

So far, we’ve emphasized the list with regard to the bigot raising themselves up.  In the real world, most people barely give those groups (or any “out” group, or even targets of bullying) a second thought. That is, they usually ignore or shove them aside, except when they feel like harassing them or exploiting them.  Also, keep in mind that just because one thinks unreasonably highly of him or herself does not mean they view those they are “better than” with active contempt. With this in mind, let’s look at this list from the standpoint of looking down on others in a spirit of active contempt.

(1)  has a stuborn sense of the worthlessness of another race, orientation, belief system (whether religious, political, philosophical, etc.), socio-economic group, etc. (e.g., downplays or degrades their achievements and talents, expects others to see “them” as inferior regardless of how great their accomplishments are).

(2)  is preoccupied with fantasies of the ultimate failure, weakness, timidity, stupidity, etc. of another/or certain race(s), orientation(s), belief system(s), socio-economic class(es), etc. OR preoccupied with the ultimate disgust, contempt or evil of those groups.

(3)  believes that their race, orientation, belief system, socio-economic class, etc. is "unclean”, “sleazy”, etc. (often uniquely so) and therefore no “normal, sensible, self-respecting person with strong backbone” should associate with such people, or even try to understand their point of view.

(4)  requires from others (especially members of their own group or the most socially acceptable groups) a firm contempt of the race(s), sexual orientation(s), belief system(s), socio-economic class(es), etc. they hold in low esteem.

(5)  thinks such race(s), orientation(s), belief system(s), socio-economic class(es), etc. don’t deserve even the basics of common courtesy, decency, fairness, and respect (often speaking about them in terms suggesting they barely [if at all] deserve even the very basics of human rights, civil liberties, etc. – perhaps to the point of secretly wishing genocide against those people).

(6)  if they aren’t ignoring or snubbing such people, they either denigrate, exploit, con, manipulate, or even persecute such people to achieve his or her own ends.

(7)  thinks any “normal, sensible, self-respecting person with strong backbone would (or ought to) lack empathy toward members of those race(s), orientation(s), belief system(s), or socio-economic class(es), etc. (i.e., be unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of those outside their own or preferred group(s)).

(8)  sees these “others” as a threat to social position/status, if not to their culture, society, or even civilization.

(9)  shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes toward those target(s) of their contempt.

As I said above, this doesn't prove narcissism and bigotry are exactly the same, or even similar. Most bigots are not narcissists. Narcissists comprise only one percent of the general adult population. Even so, I cannot help but notice the similarities between narcissism and bigotry.  Personally, I think (at the time of this writing) the most likely explanation is that most bigots are brainwashed by narcissistic cultural attitudes, but that's merely my own opinion.  This certainly is an interesting avenue to explore by professional researchers.  Nevertheless, given how little we still know about human psychology, I think it wise to ask yourself how much behavioral difference there really is between bigotry and narcissism, particularly whether one can cause the other (but not necessarily do so).

*DSM-IV  Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fourth Edition, of the American Psychiatric Association

As for psychopathy/socipathy -- In short, I don't believe bigots and bullies are psychopaths, not most of them anyway.  Psychopaths and sociopaths generally do not have emotion, although sociopaths do have a sense of loyalty (the defining difference between a psychopath or sociopath).  Only one percent of all adults are psychopaths or sociopaths, while well over one percent of a population could be considered bigoted, even if they aren't even a substantial minority of the people. If we use 1960s White American Southerners and 1980s White South Africans as examples, it's safe to say that well over one percent of those populations harbored bigoted or otherwise racist tendencies toward African Americans and Native Africans respectively. So despite the fact that behaviors like bullying and bigotry do resemble the behaviors of psychopaths and sociopaths toward other people in general, I think the similarities are more superficial than real. Were they - as a group - truly pathological, then we should see them behaving similarly toward each other at much greater rates than is acutally the case. For this reason, I've all but completely discarded the notion that bullies and bigots are even close to having psychopathy/sociopathy to even a moderate degree (barring the absolute extreme-most cases).