Power is not merely a structural or relational construct but also a psychological state; power influences the way an individual is inclined to act, treat others, and to make decisions. Power can be...Show morePower is not merely a structural or relational construct but also a psychological state; power influences the way an individual is inclined to act, treat others, and to make decisions. Power can be construed as a responsibility or as an opportunity and the specific construal of power determines the eventual action a powerholder will take. When it comes to positions of power, there is no shortage of individuals at powerful positions who exhibit narcissistic personality traits. This research aims to investigate the influence that narcissistic personality traits, in combination with gender, have on the construal of power. To investigate this relation the following hypothesis was formulated: Male leaders with stronger narcissistic personality traits will construe their power in an opportunistic manner significantly more than female leaders with stronger narcissistic personality traits and male leaders with low narcissistic personality traits. 250 participants with leadership positions were surveyed on gender, power construal and narcissistic traits. Results showed that narcissistic personality traits have a significant, positive effect on the construal of power as opportunity and a significant, negative effect on the construal of power as responsibility. The effect of gender was not found in this study. The results are discussed in terms of the current research and suggestions for the future. This study demonstrates that powerholders with higher narcissistic traits are more likely to interpret their power as opportunity, and less likely to interpret their power as responsibility, regardless of gender.Show less
The shy and mysterious YouTube-star Magibon provides unsettling perspectives on the social- and visual impact of reality television. Being subjected to the gaze of the unknown viewer, Magibon’s...Show moreThe shy and mysterious YouTube-star Magibon provides unsettling perspectives on the social- and visual impact of reality television. Being subjected to the gaze of the unknown viewer, Magibon’s case serves to investigate concepts of representation and consequently visual appropriation linked to the contemporary phenomena of online voyeurism.Show less
People with a low self-esteem can possibly be more violent to more easy targets to increase their own self-esteem (Ha, Peterson & Sharp, 2008). According to the model of Kohut (1977)...Show morePeople with a low self-esteem can possibly be more violent to more easy targets to increase their own self-esteem (Ha, Peterson & Sharp, 2008). According to the model of Kohut (1977) narcissistic traits can lead to conduct problems. This is because persons with high narcissistic traits won’t be able to change their high self-image. Lastly, the mask model (Kernberg, 1975) presumes that people with conduct problems can have a negative implicit self-esteem that can be masked by narcissistic traits. However, literature shows mixed evidence. Therefore this study was interested in to what extent narcissistic traits and/or low self-esteem are related to conduct problems in adolescents of 12-17 years old. This research included 549 adolescents (mean age: 14.8; SD = 1.22; 51% male) from 9 prevocational high schools. The measuring instruments were questionnaires and a computer task. To measure explicit self-esteem the Rosenberg Self-Esteem scale (Rosenberg, 1965) was used. Implicit self esteem was measured with the Implicit Association Task- Self Esteem (Greenwald, McGhee & Schwartz, 1998). Narcissistic traits were measured by a subscale of the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory (Das & De Ruiter, 2003). Conduct problems were measured by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (Treffers & Van Widenfelt, 2005). The hypotheses have been tested by a regression analyses and interaction analysis. Results were that a low explicit self-esteem and narcissistic traits are individually related to conduct problems. Limitations of this study are the small effect sizes, risk of social desirability bias and the limited measure for narcissistic traits. However, strengths are the large and heterogeneous sample size, measuring both types of self-esteem and measuring narcissistic traits and self-esteem in the same sample. Future research can especially concentrate on interventions that increase explicit self-esteem.Show less