The Hungarian hubris syndrome

Abstract

Powerful figures, such as politicians, who show a behavioural pattern of exuberant self-confidence, recklessness, and contempt for others may be the subject of the acquired personality disorder, the hubris syndrome, which has been demonstrated to leave its mark on speech patterns. Our study explores characteristic language patterns of Hungarian prime ministers (PMs) with a special emphasis on one of the key indicators of hubris, the shift from the first person “I” to “we” in spontaneous speech. We analyzed the ratio of the first-person singular (“I”) and plural (“we”) pronouns and verbal inflections in the spontaneous parliamentary speeches of four Hungarian PMs between 1998–2018. We found that Viktor Orbán during his second premiership (2010–2014) used first person plural relative to singular inflections more often than the other three PMs during their terms. Orbán and another Hungarian PM, Ferenc Gyurcsány, who were re-elected at some point showed an increased ratio of first-person plural vs. singular inflections and personal pronouns by their second term, likely reflecting increasing hubristic tendencies. The results show that the ratio of “I” and “we” usually studied in English texts also show changes in a structurally different language, Hungarian. This finding suggests that it is extended periods of premiership that may increase hubristic behaviour in political leaders, not only experiencing excessive power. The results are particularly elucidating regarding the role of re-elections in political leaders’ hubristic speech–and behaviour.

Ambition and Its Psychopathologies

“…Overconfident ambition, sometimes noted as “hubris” (Magyari et al, 2022; Poblete, 2022), linked to narcissism (Brunzel, 2021), may result from the so-called “Dunning-Kruger effect,” the finding that across a wide range of tasks, poor performers greatly overestimate their ability, whereas top performers make more accurate self-assessments (Kruger and Dunning, 1999). Although hubristic ambition may contribute to entrepreneurial success, literature also suggests that hubristic individuals often get hurt, harm those around them, and may do more harm than good (Trevelyan, 2008).…”

Consider the hubris syndrome for inclusion in our classification systems

“…With reference to the second phase of validation (laboratory study), research of speech patterns of hubristic and non-hubristic leaders supported the second ‘unique’ criterion for the hubris syndrome, a tendency to speak in the ‘royal we’. When the researchers counted the frequency of the first person plural pronouns (‘we’, ‘us’, and ‘our’) and their singular equivalents (‘I’, ‘me’, and ‘my’), they found evidence of an increased We-to-I ratio in the affected leaders (Garrard, Rentoumi, Lambert, & Owen, 2014 ; Magyari, Pléh, & Forgács, 2022 ). The results of a recent study suggest that machine learning algorithms have the ability to identify automatically hubristic v. non-hubristic speech patterns (Akstinaite, Garrard, & Sadler-Smith, 2022 ).…”