On March 17, another session of the Advanced Studies Seminar – Conference Series will take place. Aleksandra Cichocka (University of Kent) will be the guest speaker, presenting on Making the Personal Political: the Role of Narcissism in Political Attitudes and Behaviours. The session will be held in the Maria de Sousa Room at ICS-ULisboa, starting at 10:30 a.m. See the full program of this conference series.

In order to make informed political decisions, it is important to understand the psychological factors that influence political convictions and behaviours. Given the prevalence of narcissistic tendencies among political leaders, it is key to examine the role of narcissistic beliefs about oneself and one's social groups play in politics. This seminar will review survey and experimental research demonstrating that individual and collective narcissism can pose challenges to democratic functioning, social cohesion, as well as harmonious international relations. It will also present new studies which rely on large language models to identify narcissistic identity rhetoric in text and examine whether such rhetoric resonates with the public and predicts electoral outcomes. Finally, the implications for understanding political leadership, social movements, and policy support will also be discussed.

Aleksandra Cichocka is a Professor of Political Psychology at the University of Kent. She completed her PhD at the University of Warsaw and was a Fulbright Scholar in the Department of Psychology at New York University. She served as Vice President of the International Society of Political Psychology. Her research leverages the psychology of the self and the psychology of social groups to understand contemporary politics. She investigates topics such as ideology, intergroup relations, political engagement, conspiracy beliefs, environmental attitudes, and support for democratic practices. She is especially interested in understanding how frustration of psychological needs—and associated defensiveness—affect political attitudes and behaviours.