ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the expectation that narcissistic characteristics would be more prevalent in individuals engaged in occupations involving frequent opportunities for attention and admiration from others, social prestige, and power, and that narcissism would be less prevalent in occupations that provide less of these characteristics. University faculty, politicians, and clergy were selected for sampling because these occupations involve frequent appearances before audiences and thus frequent social attention, as well as authority over others, relatively high levels of prestige and status, responsibility, and power. Faculty, politicians, and clergy were all expected to exhibit higher levels of adaptive narcissism than librarians, who were expected to manifest lower levels of adaptive narcissism. Faculty and librarians may be more familiar with academic research surveys, and thus more inclined to participate, and politicians may experience a higher volume of mail with less time and inclination to respond to unnecessary correspondence.
