Friday, August 12, 2011

Study Confirms Our Gut Feeling About Narcissists

The Daily Mail (U.K.) ran an article about how narcissists can smooth-talk their way to the top but are unable to live up to their high opinion of their leadership abilities.

They may be charming, confident and climb the job ladder with ease, but when they reach the top, narcissists are actually not very good at their roles.

Such people are often too self-obsessed to do their jobs properly, according to a study.

Those who love themselves and have vast self-confidence often impress others with their self-belief, dominance and authority, leading them to climb the career ladder effortlessly....

Scientists at the University of Amsterdam proved their theory by conducting an experiment involving 150 people, split into groups of three.

One of the three was randomly assigned as group leader as part of a task intended to choose a job candidate.

Information about the candidate was handed out, some to a single member, some to the entire group.

The group was told that all three members could contribute advice, but that their leader was ultimately responsible for any decisions.

The study was designed to see how narcissistic leaders could hold back information about candidates, a tactic that could result in a less skilled person given the job, thereby damaging the company.

Questionnaires given to 'employees' and 'leaders' revealed that employees hailed narcissistic leaders as the most effective.

But they were wrong....

The results are published in the journal Psychological Science.

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