Oddly enough, this unpleasant personal quality helps to study well.
This conclusion was reached by psychologists from the City University of Manchester (UK), whose article in the journal Learning and Individual Differences.
Andrew Denovan and his colleagues are studying negative personality traits — the «dark triad», which includes:
narcissism — overestimated conceit, desire for leadership, arrogance;
machiavellianism — cynicism, immorality, a tendency to manipulate others for their own benefit;
psychopathy — tendency to impulsive and antisocial behavior, lack of empathy.
This time, the researchers decided to determine how these personality traits affect academic success.
At the same time, scientists suggested that it is also necessary to take into account such an individual personal quality as psychological stability — the ability of a person to cope with problems and function normally under stress.
The study involved one hundred British students of both sexes, who twice — at the beginning of the academic year and about three months later, at the beginning of the second semester — completed a detailed questionnaire. The participants’ answers to the questions allowed the researchers to assess the severity of symptoms of depression, the degree of psychological stability, the individual characteristics of the perception of new information, and also to determine the extent to which the traits of the «dark triad» are manifested in their character.
It turned out that narcissism is the only «dark» personality trait associated with academic success.
Students who scored high on the Narcissism Scale tended to have good psychological resilience, did not suffer from depression, and used more effective strategies in the learning process.
The ability of narcissists to focus and confidently go to the goal, their desire to receive high marks and superiority over fellow students, combined with excellent psychological stability, enables them to build an optimal learning strategy that allows them to achieve the desired results, Andrew Denovan.
Andrew Denovan, Neil Dagnall, Elena Artamonova, Kostas A.Papageorgiou. «Dark Triad traits, learning styles, and symptoms of depression: Assessing the contribution of mental toughness longitudinally», Learning and Individual Differences, Volume 91, October 2021.