Earlier essays in this series mentioned how conspiracy theories function as "grievance narratives" that appeal to the neurotic authoritarian by providing him with a means of externalizing his feelings of social and economic frustration. Individuals with authoritarian tendencies tend to undergo a "split" between the elements of the psyche, so that the id and the ego ally against the learned values of the super-ego. It is this subjugation of the super-ego that makes it possible for an individual to profess belief in wild conspiracy theories, or to engage in acts of extreme violence. The incongruity between conspiracy theory narratives and everyday life is subjugated within the neurotic's mind and constitutes a form of denial. Those issues may be referred to as "secondary dissonance", because the neurotic authoritarian engages in a steadfast refusal to acknowledge those concerns, as doing so may threaten his ability to maintain belief in the social movement that provides his steady diet of grievance narratives.
Such a profound alteration in the function of the psyche is accelerated by the presence of a charismatic leader. The introduction of the charismatic leader is described here as the third step in the ego maintenance process. At this point, the neurotic authoritarian has already experienced some form of economic stress. The neurotic authoritarian struggles from an inability to adapt to changing economic conditions. While some individuals will develop a situational neurosis, characterized by intense feelings of anxiety, the individual who lacks innate authoritarian tendencies will adapt to that period, and manage to persevere without developing a susceptibility to radicalizing ideologies. The neurotic will instead dwell on his perceived failure, and engage in self-destructive behaviors that sabotage his own efforts at coping with the situation. (Horney, 1964) In spite of that tendency towards self-destruction, the neurotic authoritarian won't always make the leap towards a radicalizing ideology without a charismatic leader to act as a guide.
To successfully lead a socially frustrated audience into political radicalization, the charismatic leader must offer a message that resonates immediately with his audience like a key fitting to a lock. While many wonder how does an authoritarian leader like Adolf Hitler or Donald Trump just happen to show up at a given point in time, the reality is that human society is always filled with charlatans who are seeking an audience that they can use to provide themselves with wealth and power. The union between the political agitator and his audience is a relationship that must fit like a key to a lock. Psychologist H.A. Murray, MD remarked in the Analysis of the personality of Adolf Hitler that he drafted for the Army O.S.S. that "Hitler's unprecedented appeal, the elevation of this man to the status of a demi-god, can be explained only by the hypothesis that he and his ideology have almost exactly met the needs, longings and sentiments of the majority of Germans." In her book Too much and never enough, Donald Trump's niece Mary, who is the author of the book Too Much and Never Enough, and has a PhD in Clinical Psychology, remarked that Donald's ingrained habits of using deceit, refusing to admit a wrong, and boldly presenting over-simplified narratives on topics he knew nothing about resonated with a substantial number of Americans.
It appears that the charismatic leader may often suffer from a far greater degree of mental disturbance than his audience, and a large part of the ego maintenance process is that charismatic leader sharing the nature of his own illness and inviting his audience to adopt destructive mental habits. One aspect that is described extensively in the psychoanalysis of Adolf Hitler, and also suggested in Mary Trump's book is the presence of a domineering father that the child feared, and the development of an idealego reaction formation wherein the charismatic leader developed an alternate sense of self completely separated from his weaknesses and failings. Naturally, such a process requires the development of a profound capacity for finding scapegoats who can be blamed for every misfortune in life. The charismatic leader is someone whose neurosis has made him expert at casting blame and aspersions on others, and through his rhetoric he invites the mass of neurotic authoritarians into his world, and effectively shares his neurosis with his audience.
In the next essay in this series, I will engage in a brief description of the psychology of crowds, and how social media appears to function as a "virtual crowd", that encourages the abdication of self, and the adoption of "mob mentality".
WORKS CITED
Horney, K. (1964). The neurotic personality of our time. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company.
Murray, H. A. (1943). Analysis of the personality of Adolf Hitler. N.p.: U.S. Army O.S.S.
Trump, M. L., PhD. (2020). Too much and never enough. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.
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Image Credit: Face of violent demon, detail from Musees de Saint Augustine
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Paintings_of_demons#/media/File:Mus%C3%A9e_des_Augustins_Toulouse_23.JPG
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