“Heaven for climate; hell for society.” Mark Twain
“Revolution is the festival of the oppressed.” Germaine Greer.
In the last two columns, I have shared two different personality styles. The first was based on power and the second on affiliation and love. Both styles are from the 1950’s research by Timothy Leary, Ph.D.
Leary believed that every personality style was based on two aspects of being human. The first was to reduce anxiety (“not feel bad”) and the second was to increase self-esteem (“to feel good.”)
So how does a rebellious personality fit into Leary’s ideas? What’s so good about feeling bad?
There are two subgroups of this unconventional personality style. The first is one of distrustful alienation, while the second is more like the criminal psychopath.
Unfortunately, conventional society views both styles as being the same. The sullen, skate-boarder is somehow seen as the same as the psychopathic youth, who breaks into your car. Let’s look at how they are different.
Distrustful, resentful, rebellious individuals avoid close relationship with others, provoking rejection and punishment from them. These bitter, cynical individuals are often unhappy.
Artistic variants feel that closeness to others means a loss of creative individuality. Individuals with a moderate amount of isolating rebelliousness are seen as being eccentric. Other individuals with a schizoid personality feel emotionally overwhelmed by intimacy. Tenderness brings anxiety to a schizoid personality, and one purpose of any personality style is to avoid anxiety. So, schizoid individuals isolate from others to protect themselves from intimacy.
Some rebellious personalities often have flat, emotional affect, as well as a lack of motivation and drive (needed for academic and occupational success.)
Leary told us that all maladjusted individuals are skillful in provoking others to exhibit the reciprocal responses and behaviors towards them.
This is particularly true for the individual with an aggressive, alienated personality style. Aggressive, sadistic behavior provokes punishment or fear from others.
The interpersonal ‘message’ of this personality style is, “I am an angry, dangerous person. Give me what I want, then go away.”
A mild form of this style is seen in the skeptical, questioning person, and in the book or stage critic. A more moderate form is mocking others with sarcasm. A more extreme form is the sadist in an S and M relationship.
In its most extreme maladjusted form, in everyday life, this personality style’s hurtful, threatening behaviors manage and coerce others, who respond with a resentful submission. These hostile behaviors are justified by misperceptions that others are more hostile towards them, than they really are.
This is the psychopath who cannot trust and cannot love.
This is where we find the exact opposite of conventional affiliation and love…the attitude of hate.
Hateful alienated personalities are often not depressed (unlike milder schizoid variants of this style) and they do not have physical complaints. They do exhibit problems at work and in their marriages. They rarely come to see a therapist, unless court-ordered.
A future column will look more closely at the schizoid variant of the rebellious, alienated personality style. Where the psychopath is “bad and mad,” the schizoid individual is “sad and mad.” Other columns will examine submissive forms of personality make-up. Finally, I will share what I believe are good traits that a person should have from all personality styles.
A NOTE: Today’s column is my 200th column. I wish to thank Jack McElroy, the editor of the Knoxville News Sentinel and a fellow lover of the Southwest landscape. who took a chance on my life-long love of psychology and my below mediocre writing skills, allowing my love to persist and my writing skills to advance to a mediocre level.
Philip Kronk, M.S., Ph.D. is a semi-retired, adult and child clinical psychologist and neuropsychologist. Dr. Kronk has a doctorate in clinical psychology and a post-doctorate degree in clinical psychopharmacology. His year-long internship in clinical psychology was served at the University of Colorado Medical School. He writes a weekly, Friday on-line column for the Knoxville News Sentinel’s website, knoxnews.com. Dr. Kronk can be reached at (865) 330-3633.