Narcissists May Be More Common in These 3 Careers, Experts Say

Every industry and profession has its share of narcissistic, even psychopathic, individuals, as well as its share of empathetic people. However, are there careers or industries that seem to have more narcissistic people or, at the very least, a more likely chance of narcissists causing more harm in these professions than most? Research suggests that narcissists may gravitate toward certain industries and careers. This obviously doesn’t discount the truly caring and generous people who work in these fields, but simply highlights places where wolves in sheep’s clothing can be more commonly found.

Medicine.

If there’s one industry or specialty that you pray doesn’t have narcissistic people, it’s medicine. The stakes are much higher and access to vulnerable populations can have long-term consequences. While health professionals generally tend to score lower on the Dark Triad traits, but not everyone leaves with clean hands. Many research studies note the epidemic of bullying among nurses and show that nursing professionals tend to have a higher degree of secondary psychopathy, the most anxious and impulsive subtype of psychopathy. Surgeons also have significantly higher levels of narcissism. Obviously, not all nurses and surgeons are the same and these results should be taken with caution and should not be seen as an excuse to stereotype or generalize. However, this may explain why you may encounter some healthcare professionals who are deeply empathetic and caring, while others are insensitive, entitled, or engage in bullying behaviors. You may even encounter narcissistic people in the mental health and related care field as therapists, although there are clearly many compassionate therapists as well.

Law enforcement.

In a study conducted by Papazoglou and colleagues (2019) with 1,173 participants who were police officers, researchers found that 94.7% of participants had moderate levels of narcissism and 70% of participants had moderate levels of the trait. of the dark triad of Machiavellianism. Fortunately, they had lower levels of psychopathy. Clearly, there are also people who join law enforcement to help save lives, not to harm them, and the study also shows that higher levels of compassion fatigue and d Burnout can accentuate all three traits of the dark triad. However, it appears that law enforcement may be a good place for narcissistic individuals to gravitate toward in order to occupy a position of power and authority and exert power over others. Combined with excessive force, this combination can be deadly to innocent civilians who are targeted.

CEO.

Not all CEOs are narcissists or psychopaths like the stereotype and there is immense variety in this group of business owners, from the most wonderful and compassionate to the most cutthroat that exist in different types of businesses. However, according to some experts, narcissism is three times more prevalent among CEOs than in the general population. A Harvard study of 179 different CEOs also found that more than 18% of them could be considered narcissistic. This may be because certain ruthless strategies and traits are required to achieve such a position.

The big picture

When discussing the different professions and careers that narcissists tend to flock to, it is important to remember that every career can be infiltrated by narcissistic people. No career or profession is safe, some just tend to be popular hotspots. Other studies show that there may be a difference between the careers chosen by grandiose narcissists and vulnerable narcissists, suggesting that those with more grandiose narcissism may generally gravitate toward jobs in science and business, while that more vulnerable narcissists choose more social and artistic careers. Psychopaths also tend to choose jobs in fields such as physical sciences, engineering, and adventurous jobs (which makes sense given that they are thrill and thrill seekers).

There is also a difference between perception and reality: while the careers listed here have research to back up the stereotypes, other professions need to be studied more thoroughly through studies, such as lawyers and college professors who may have stereotypes in society of greatness or callousness, but not yet much research highlighting this. Divorce lawyers have also noted that women tend to have more conflictual relationships with people in careers not only in medicine and law enforcement, but also in jobs such as military jobs, as pilot or firefighter. Narcissistic and psychopathic people also tend to climb the corporate ladder easily, and research shows that they can be workplace bullies, meaning it’s important to watch out for traits like than superficial charm, entitlement, grandiosity and lack of empathy among employees and combat bullying before it escalates. Healthy work environments often thrive when there is empathy, transparency, integrity and accountability at all levels of the company.