STUDY BY DANCING PSYCHIATRISTS FINDS THAT EGOTISM IS SELF-CENTERED

STUDY BY DANCING PSYCHIATRISTS FINDS THAT EGOTISM IS SELF-CENTERED

A study by the University of Massachusetts at Anchorage School of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Dance recently found that egotists are more self-centered than the general population. In this study of 100 egotists and 100 controls, a mirror was placed in front of each person and their eye movements were measured by a team of modern jazz dance psychiatrists. Egotism was measured by the amount of time they watched themselves as compared to the amount of time they watched the psychiatrists' rendition of Cats: The Musical. These results were then compared to the same test done last year by a UMass Houston team of ballet dancing social workers.

"What we found was that the total lack of interest in the social workers indicated the high level of self-centeredness of egotists who go to the ballet," said Dr. Lester Retsell, Director of Psychiatry at UMass Anchorage, and a dancer with a strong sense of self. "Furthermore, when we plotted egotism vs. the volume of the music, there was an exponential growth in egotism for every linear increase in volume, indicating that their level of narcissism rose at a faster rate than the level of music."

The psychiatrists are careful to point out that the fact that they are medical doctors may have had a negative influence on the results. Next year the School of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Dance plans to continue the research with ballroom dancing existential psychologists.