Neuroscience
At a superficial level, people who are narcissistic seem like they will be good leaders. They're confident, outgoing and unafraid of putting themselves forward. But once in charge, their appeal rapidly wanes. In this way, say the authors of a new paper in the Journal of Personality, they are rather like chocolate cake:
"Taken together, the findings of the two studies are consistent with the chocolate cake model and demonstrate that initial positive peer perceptions of narcissistic leadership fade over time, and eventually become negative," the researchers said.
--The Leader Ship Is Sinking: A Temporal Investigation of Narcissistic Leadership
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Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
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Neuroscience
Why narcissistic leaders are like chocolate cake
"The first bite of chocolate cake is usually rich in flavor and texture, and extremely gratifying. After a while, however, the richness of this flavor makes one feel increasingly nauseous. Being led by a narcissist could be a similar experience."Supporting their chocolate cake model, the researchers recruited 142 unacquainted students to take part in weekly group tasks. Through the course of the study, the students rated each others' leadership skills. High scorers in narcissism attracted positive leadership ratings from their peers early on, but this positive impression faded. The deteriorating perception of narcissists over time was partly explained by their lack of so-called "transformational leadership skills" becoming apparent – that is, their inability to motivate and inspire others. A second study was similar but involved students who already knew each other. In this case, the narcissists did not receive positive leadership ratings from the outset – there was no honeymoon period for them – and as the study went on, they received more negative ratings from their peers.
"Taken together, the findings of the two studies are consistent with the chocolate cake model and demonstrate that initial positive peer perceptions of narcissistic leadership fade over time, and eventually become negative," the researchers said.
--The Leader Ship Is Sinking: A Temporal Investigation of Narcissistic Leadership
_________________________________
Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
Our free fortnightly email will keep you up-to-date with all the psychology research we digest: Sign up!
- For Group Creativity, Two Narcissists Are Better Than One
"God is really an artist, like me ... I am God, I am God, I am God." Pablo PicassoSome experts have suggested there's a link between narcissism and creativity - that the self-obsession and self-belief create the necessary time and space for originality...
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Image from Cakehead Loves Evil. Marina Malvada is a painter, musician and chocolatier who makes anatomically correct skulls out of the finest imported chocolate. How does she get them to look so realistic? The confections are cast from an actual human...
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