Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Dec 8;187(18):1359-1363.
doi: 10.1503/cmaj.151135.

Mirror mirror on the ward, who's the most narcissistic of them all? Pathologic personality traits in health care

Vittoria Bucknall  1 , Suendoss Burwaiss  2 , Deborah MacDonald  2 , Kathy Charles  2 , Rhys Clement  2
Affiliations

Mirror mirror on the ward, who's the most narcissistic of them all? Pathologic personality traits in health care

Vittoria Bucknall et al. CMAJ. .

Abstract

Background: Stereotypes in medicine have become exaggerated for the purpose of workplace amusement. Our objective was to assess the levels of "dark triad" personality traits expressed by individuals working in different health care specialties in comparison with the general population.

Methods: We conducted a prospective, cross-sectional study within multiple departments of a UK secondary care teaching hospital. A total of 248 health care professionals participated, and 159 members of the general population were recruited as a comparison group. We measured 3 personality traits--narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy--through the validated self-reported personality questionnaires Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI), MACH-IV and the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (LSRP), respectively.

Results: Health care professionals scored significantly lower on narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy (mean scores 12.0, 53.0 and 44.7, respectively) than the general population (p < 0.001). Nursing professionals exhibited a significantly higher level of secondary psychopathy than medical professionals (p = 0.04, mean LSRP score 20.3). Within the cohort of medical professionals, surgeons expressed significantly higher levels of narcissism (p = 0.03, mean NPI score 15.0).

Interpretation: Health care professionals expressed low levels of dark triad personality traits. The suggestion that health care professionals are avaricious and untrustworthy may be refuted, even for surgeons.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:
Anesthesiologists expressed less narcissism than expected. Is this the effect of overexposure to surgeons who are better looking, more intelligent and physically superior?
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Bennett A. How much are junior doctors paid and why are they threatening to strike? The Telegraph 2015. Available: www.telegraph.co.uk/news/nhs/11887308/How-much-are-junior-doctors-paid-a... (accessed 2015 Aug. 24).
    1. Wright O. Doctor, doctor: Why is my GP going on strike? Because a £53,000-a-year pension deal isn’t enough. The Independent 2012. Available: www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/doctor-... (accessed 2015 Aug. 24).
    1. Paulhus DL, Williams KM. The dark triad of personality: narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy. J Res Pers 2002;36:556–63.
    1. Jones DN, Paulhus DL. Chapter 7. Machiavellianism. In: Leary MR, Hoyle RH, editors. Handbook of individual differences in social behaviour. London (UK): Guilford Press; 2009.
    1. Machiavelli N. Il Principe. Florence (Italy): Antonio Blado; 1532.