{"id":651,"date":"2025-05-25T17:56:31","date_gmt":"2025-05-25T21:56:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/?p=651"},"modified":"2025-05-25T17:56:31","modified_gmt":"2025-05-25T21:56:31","slug":"the-institutional-personality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/?p=651","title":{"rendered":"The Institutional Personality"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steven Pinker, a Canadian psychologist and longtime faculty member at Harvard, reflected this week in a NYT op-ed on what he is terming \u2018Harvard Derangement Syndrome\u2019. The university, one of many lightening rods for the Trump administration, has drawn multiple \u2018strikes\u2019 \u2014 first for refusing to take a knee to the \u2018modest proposal\u2019 that they cede administrative oversight, admission policies, nominal presidency, DEI mandates, and a whole truck load of other demands. . . by the current Whitehouse autocrat. After the dictum was withdrawn (oopsie, must have been sent in error!), Harvard\u2019s tax exempt status was to be removed, again on executive instruction to the IRS \u2014 don\u2019t get Elizabeth Warren started on that one! And now an attempt to block all international student attendance, which, if it hadn\u2019t been stayed, would have gone a good way toward gutting fiscal viability and academic excellence at the institution.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After detailing Harvard\u2019s manifest \u2018warts and all\u2019, Pinker goes on to plead his case for a \u2018sense of proportionality\u2019 and temperance when dealing not with just institutions, but all the other targets of \u2018waste, fraud, and abuse\u2019 (as the current catch phrase goes!) \u2014 aka, DOGE\u2019s slash and burn approach to implementing the administration\u2019s whim.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Early in his piece, Pinker makes reference to a symptom, oh so familiar to mental health practitioners, that resonated with this one in particular: \u2018splitting<\/i><\/b>\u2019. Anyone with even a passing brush with CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy), will recognize what has for nigh on 75 years been viewed as \u2018black or white\u2019 \u2018all or none\u2019 views of the world. In Pinker\u2019s words, a world populated by \u2018exalted angels\u2019 or \u2018odious evildoers\u2019. In those of CBT\u2019s patriarch, Albert Ellis, irrational thought.<\/i><\/p>\n

I was (once again) reminded of a collection of essays published shortly after the beginning of Trump\u2019s first<\/i> term, called The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump.<\/i> Contributions from academics and clinicians, psychologists and psychiatrists \u2014 all very careful to avoid \u2018diagnosing\u2019 the new president; but offering up thoughts on what various and sundry disorders, syndromes might be descriptive \u2014 were he to be assessed<\/i> and diagnosed<\/i>. The twenty plus articles float narcissism, dementia, antisocial personality, sociopathy, or just flat \u2018crazy\u2019 as considerations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been asked too many times to count, variations on the same question: \u2018So. . . what is he?\u2019 I typically \u2018plead the 5th\u2019 \u2014 but can\u2019t resist the temptation to speculate. . .even if only privately! Pinker\u2019s piece raised another question: Is there a dysfunctional, administrative style underpinning not just Trump. . . but Project 2025 as a game plan? Is there an institutional personality? <\/i>One that so informs its governance and so reflects the characteristics of its chief, that it goes far beyond a \u2018split view of the world\u2019 all the way to borderline behaviour?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So with the proviso that this is not<\/i> a diagnosis. . . but only a \u2018compare and contrast\u2019 exercise between traits and styles associated with borderline behaviour and the parallels with administrative proclivities. . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Borderline Style Trait<\/b><\/td>\nPossible Parallel in Administration Behavior<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Emotional volatility<\/b><\/td>\nFrequent policy reversals or erratic messaging<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
    \n
  • Shifting positions on foreign alliances or domestic priorities within days or weeks.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Black-and-white thinking<\/b><\/td>\nDepicting issues as good vs. evil, loyalty vs. betrayal<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
    \n
  • Allies are idealized until disagreement arises, then they are vilified. Abrupt firings or denunciations of former supporters.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Fear of abandonment<\/b><\/td>\nOverreactions to criticism or loss of support from key allies<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
    \n
  • Obsessive focus on poll numbers, loyalty pledges, or crowds. Fragile coalition-building based on personal allegiance, not shared values.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Impulsivity<\/b><\/td>\nSudden executive actions without clear strategy (e.g., tweets, executive orders)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
    \n
  • Policy by reaction: responding to media coverage or personal affronts rather than strategy. Use of social media as a knee-jerk policy tool.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Relationship instability<\/b><\/td>\nFrequent cabinet turnover or shifting alliances<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Identity disturbance<\/b><\/td>\nInconsistent messaging about national priorities or values<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n
    \n
  • Shifting narratives about national identity or leadership vision. Victimhood rhetoric: \u201cWe are always under attack,\u201d often directed at media, academia, or political opposition.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Chronic victimization<\/b><\/td>\nRhetoric centered on being persecuted or misunderstood<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Disproportionate anger<\/b><\/td>\nPublic outbursts, aggressive rhetoric toward perceived enemies<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

Just sayin\u2019. . . to riff on OJ \u2014 if the glove fits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Steven Pinker, a Canadian psychologist and longtime faculty member at Harvard, reflected this week in a NYT op-ed on what he is terming \u2018Harvard Derangement Syndrome\u2019. The university, one of many lightening rods for the Trump administration, has drawn multiple \u2018strikes\u2019 \u2014 first for refusing to take a knee to the \u2018modest proposal\u2019 that they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=651"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":652,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651\/revisions\/652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}