27: Grandiosity

Grandiosity is a species of narcissism in which a person's obsession with their self-worth is not based on their actual qualities, but on an exaggeration or fabrication of qualities. A narcissist admires herself for the beauty she possesses, but a homely person who admires herself for her beauty is merely being grandiose - and, more to the point, is practicing self-deception.

Grandiose individuals are self-absorbed and expect others to show respect and deference for the qualities they do not possess, and if others do not play along with their self-deception, they become provoked into hostility, which may be expressed in a variety of forms, but most commonly retaliation of some kind.

Both conditions are common to psychopathic personality disorder, in which an individual's inflated sense of self-worth causes them to devalue others. This combination results in "predators who charm, manipulate, and ruthlessly plow their way through life."