The Best Words: Linguistic Indicators of Grandiose Narcissism in Politics

James E. Underberg; Anton Gollwitzer; Gabriele Oettingen; Peter M. Gollwitzer

doi:10.1177/0261927X19883898

The Best Words: Linguistic Indicators of Grandiose Narcissism in Politics

James E. Underberg, Anton Gollwitzer, Gabriele Oettingen, Peter M. Gollwitzer

Psychology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

At a 2015 campaign event, Donald Trump claimed, “I have the best words.” While remarks like these have inspired extensive commentary on grandiosity in politics, few studies have investigated how grandiosity manifests in political speech. This research finds that grandiose U.S. presidents (n = 35) use words differently than their humbler presidential counterparts, and differently than other grandiose individuals, including by using more “we-talk.” We theorize that grandiose individuals adjust their language based on context to find “the best words” for a particular audience.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	271-281
Number of pages	11
Journal	Journal of Language and Social Psychology
Volume	39
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X19883898
State	Published - Mar 1 2020

Keywords

American presidency
grandiose narcissism
personality
politics
word use

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Social Psychology
Education
Language and Linguistics
Anthropology
Sociology and Political Science
Linguistics and Language

Access to Document

10.1177/0261927X19883898

Cite this

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abstract = "At a 2015 campaign event, Donald Trump claimed, “I have the best words.” While remarks like these have inspired extensive commentary on grandiosity in politics, few studies have investigated how grandiosity manifests in political speech. This research finds that grandiose U.S. presidents (n = 35) use words differently than their humbler presidential counterparts, and differently than other grandiose individuals, including by using more “we-talk.” We theorize that grandiose individuals adjust their language based on context to find “the best words” for a particular audience.",

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The Best Words: Linguistic Indicators of Grandiose Narcissism in Politics

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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