Psychologists know a fair amount about how personality traits are perceived in general. But they know a lot less about how a person’s own personality influences how they perceive those personality traits of others. Now, a study finds that people with dysfunctional traits such as narcissism and antagonism are more tolerant when they run into others who share those troublesome traits.
“If you describe yourself as neurotic, there is a correlation with you saying that you like that trait,” study researcher Joshua Miller, a professor and director of the psychology department’s Clinical Training Program, told Live Science. “It was strongest in the trait we’re most interested in, antagonism.”
Miller and Joanna Lamkin recruited 218 college students and surveyed them to determine to what extent they had certain personality disorder traits. In a second study, 198 students completed surveys on their own levels of general personality traits, not just maladaptive ones.
According to Miller, the findings showed that people were more positive toward traits they themselves had—whether those traits were personality disorder traits or more general personality traits.
