Sunday, February 2, 2014

The 10 worst Things about Being a Phony: Who they are and what they do



RICK JAMROZY, Ph.D.

Author of The Abomination Project

 

 

                   The 10 worst Things about Being a Phony: Who they are and what they do

I am sure you have heard about or read articles about alpha personality types and beta personality types. I am equally sure you have not heard about or read about gamma personality types or delta personality types. All of these personality types came from the psychologically scientific mind of Harrison Gough, Ph.D. in a psychological test he developed called the California Psychological Inventory.

This article will focus on describing who the media-fixated Alpha personality type are and what they do in a more scientific and less public relations way. Gough labelled them the externality-oriented, norm-favoring personality type. I label them the conservative extravert personality type and use the non-scientific term “phony” just for fun. I will be describing the 10 worst things about being a phony in a generalized way. Even though every phony is unique, they all more or less have the same personality characteristics.

10 worst things about being a phony.       

1.        Phonies comprise 25% of the population of the U.S. (and probably other countries as well) and are split almost equally between males and females just like the 3 other personality types. This is the most important worst thing because there are a lot of them.

2.       Phonies are committed to make as much money as possible during their lifetime. Accumulating money is their primary goal while the concept of having fun and pleasure is almost non-existent.     The high level of their greed suggests a diagnosis of obsessive-compulsive disorder or severe addiction. They tend to judge the value of others using wealth, status, power, and ability to control as measures of success.

3.       Phonies tend to make everything they do to be dull, boring, and devoid of pleasure including school, work, sex, and even ordinary tasks of daily living. They are compelled to achieve and often engage in unethical and illegal behavior to achieve their goals.

4.       Phonies compulsively adhere to societal rules developed by established authority figures or institutions. They are rule-bound, and never develop a personal set of individual values. They join and support authoritarian organizations like religions, large corporations, military, and law enforcement. They don’t follow the “golden rule”. That is, treat others the way you want to be treated.

5.       Phonies have a high level of energy and have an exaggerated work ethic. They tend to be workaholics and have recently developed a 24/7 work schedule with the help of cell phone technology. Their days are spent going to places where phonies cluster, and they are constantly interacting with them. They avoid isolating themselves from others, and rarely engage in self-reflection.

6.       Phonies are not innovative or creative in anything they do. They are always thinking “inside of the box”. They are implementers. They follow orders without question and give orders without regard to the consequences of those orders.

7.       Phonies are ascetic, hypo-sexual, not easily sexually aroused, and have limited and less intense orgasms. They don’t like variety in their sexual partners so they are usually monogamous and maintain long-term marriages. They avoid trying creative ways of engaging in sexual behavior and the frequency and duration of sexual acts is limited.

8.       Phonies aggressively pursue their goals, and respond quickly and hostilely to verbal or physical threats. They often make assertions that are blatantly false, distorted, or lack any supportive data. They will say or do anything to achieve their goals.     

9.       Phonies experience very little stress and emotion so they tend to engage in what others would consider high-risk behavior.

10.   Phonies respond to the environment with their senses, and are not spiritual. They are not intuitive and are less imaginative in their thinking. They do not believe in ghosts, angels, UFOs, etc. although they may say they do to win the support and to control introverted personality types.

As you can see from this 10 worst list, phonies are marching to the beat of one drummer. How much they deviate from the demands of societal norms depends on how conservative and extroverted the individual phony is. And, of course, extraverted and introverted liberals are not going to conform to conservative norms. Conservative introverts often become nervous with the phony’s “in your face” aggressive attitude, but they also tend to conform to the phony’s demands submissively.

The political is personal and the personal is psychological.

Rick Jamrozy, Ph.D.  has had a practice in both Counseling and Organizational Psychology. The antagonists in his novel, “The Abomination Project” further describes the behavior, attitudes, and lifestyles of conservative extraverts (phonies). It also describes the behavior, attitudes, and lifestyles of liberal extraverts (players) who are the protagonists in the novel.

Copyright 2014 by Rick Jamrozy, Ph.D. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author.      

  

     

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