The Psychological Assessment of Political Leadersslighted. They continually scan the environment for clues that vali-
date their original prejudicial ideas, attitudes, or biases. Their affec-
tive experience is severely limited.
In Neurotic Styles, Shapiro (1967) describes in detail formal fea-
tures of suspicious thinking, the sine qua non of the paranoid per-
sonality. A striking quality is pervasive rigidity. Suspicious people
have something on their mind, and they search repetitively, and
only, for confirmation of it. Suspicious people do not ignore new data
but examine them extremely carefully. The goal of the examination
is to find confirmation of their suppositions, dismissing evidence
that disconfirms their fearful views and seizing upon what appar-
ently confirms them.
In many life circumstances, being suspicious and on guard is both
appropriate and adaptive. However, psychologically healthy individ-
uals can abandon their suspicions when they are presented with con-
vincing contradictory evidence. Paranoid individuals, in contrast,
have a firm conclusion in search of evidence. Hostile, stubborn, and
defensive, they will reject evidence that disproves their suspicions.
Indeed, well-meaning attempts to reassure them or reason with them
will usually provoke anger, and the "helpful one" may become the
object of suspicions as well. Paranoids are hypervigilant, ever alert to
a hostile interpersonal environment, always expecting plots and
betrayal. They have a readiness to see themselves alone, surrounded
by enemies. This explains why paranoia is the most political of men-
tal disorders, because of the requirement for enemies.^6
Paranoids tend to be rigid and unwilling to compromise. In a new
situation, they intensely and narrowly search for confirmation of
their bias with a loss of appreciation of the total context. They usu-
ally find what they anticipated finding. Theirs is a world of hidden
motives and special meanings. They have a readiness to counterat-
tack against a perceived threat and can become excited over small
matters, "making mountains out of molehills."
Priding themselves on always being objective, unemotional, and
rational, they are uncomfortable with passive, soft, sentimental, and
tender feelings. They avoid intimacy except with those they
absolutely trust, a minute population. They show an exaggerated
need to be self-sufficient, relying on no one. They avoid participating
in a group setting unless they are in a dominant position. Keenly