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Blowhards, Snobs, and Narcissists

Interpersonal Reactions to Excessive Egotism

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Aversive Interpersonal Behaviors

Part of the book series: The Springer Series in Social/Clinical Psychology ((SSSC))

Abstract

Few interactions are as annoying, exasperating, and unpleasant as those with people whom we perceive are behaving egotistically. The words commonly used to describe egotistical individuals are extremely disparaging; we call them arrogant, haughty, big-headed, vain, conceited, stuck-up, or pretentious, and brand them blowhards, show-offs, snobs, narcissists, pompous asses, or worse. Of the 300 adjectives on the Adjective Check List, those that connote egotism—arrogant, boastful, conceited, egotistical, snobbish, and the like—rank among those rated most unfavorably (Gough & Heilbrun, 1983). Simply put, we don’t like egotistical people. Our interest in this chapter is on the interpersonal aspects of egotism—why egotistical behavior evokes such strong negative reactions in other people, the consequences of egotism for both the egotistic individual and others who are present, and why, given the negative reactions of others, people often act egotistically.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 27109, USA

    Mark R. Leary, Richard Bednarski, Dudley Hammon & Timothy Duncan

Authors
  1. Mark R. Leary
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  2. Richard Bednarski
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  3. Dudley Hammon
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  4. Timothy Duncan
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, North Carolina, USA

    Robin M. Kowalski

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Leary, M.R., Bednarski, R., Hammon, D., Duncan, T. (1997). Blowhards, Snobs, and Narcissists. In: Kowalski, R.M. (eds) Aversive Interpersonal Behaviors. The Springer Series in Social/Clinical Psychology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9354-3_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9354-3_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-9356-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-9354-3

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