Psychology Depicted in Fiction: Analyses of Psychological Profiles of Fictional Characters

Psychology Depicted in Fiction: Analyses of Psychological Profiles of Fictional Characters

While not often intended by authors, many fictional characters depict accurately psychological phenotypes in line with a scientific understanding of them. This is because while not everyone is knowledgeable on psychology literature, humans develop internal models of how people's minds work and vary, and the degree to which someones intuitive understanding of personality variation aligns with empirical findings in psychology predicts their ability to understand and predict others mental states and behaviors, and social situations (Cloudfindings 2024a). Intuitive understanding of others minds relates to creativity - especially in creating narratives (Andersen 2022)(Crespi et al. 2016), suggesting that writers have a better intuitive understanding of psychology than the average person, thus reflecting that in how they write their characters, even if they are not aware they are depicting a trait or psychiatric disorder. In this post, perhaps the first of a series, I look at several characters which accurately depict psychiatric disorders or certain variations of psychological traits.

Dr. House from "House"

Dr. House is a doctor from the show "House" who is characterized by his eccentric, disinhibited, intelligent, unhinged personality. The main personality traits depicted by his character are secondary psychopathy, and high intelligence. Throughout much of the series, he is dependent on prescription opioids, which he eventually continued to obtain through illegal means, resulting in legal trouble. In addition he abused many other substances like alcohol in excess to cope with emotional pain. He also displayed occasional compulsive gambling. Substance abuse and addiction is highly characteristic of secondary psychopathy, but not primary (Sellbom et al. 2017), and impulsivity is a defining characteristic of secondary psychopathy. House is known for his unorthodox, reckless, risky, and rule breaking style of medical practice, risk taking, recklessness and rule breaking being a defining characteristic of secondary psychopathy (Kendler et al. 2014). He is frequently inappropriate and rude, but importantly he is aware of this and has no deficit in understanding this, stating in one episode that he envied a boy with autism for being unaware of social rules. Additionally, he is efficacious at manipulating people, which also suggests that he is not autistic or lacking in theory of mind. His goals are motivated by reward, which is why he ruthlessly and intensely pursues finding accurate diagnoses as he finds intellectual reward in doing so, sometimes even risking his own life to get a diagnosis - this is characteristic of secondary psychopathy and a textbook example of sensation seeking, which is strongly associated with secondary psychopathy (Cloudfindings 2024b,c). House's intimate relationships are troubled and unstable, and he tends to push people away, attachment difficulties being associated with secondary psychopathy (Blanchard & Lyons 2016). House's talent in diagnosing and treating patients indicates he is high in intelligence, and his motivation to pursue it as an intellectual task indicates he is high in openness (Cloudfindings 2024d). Overall, this shows that Dr. House, the doctor from "House" is a fictional depiction of a secondary psychopath with high intelligence and openness.

Shinji from "Evangelion"

Many of the characters from Evangelion are clearly mentally ill, including the main character Shinji. Shinji in many ways depicts someone with dependent personality disorder. Dependent personality disorder is characterized by high agreeableness, as well as low extraversion and high neuroticism (Gore et al. 2012). Shinji struggles with low self esteem, indicated by his feelings of unworthiness in piloting the robot, however he does so anyway largely motivated by a desire for approval from his father - both being characteristic of what someone with dependent personality disorder would do (Gore et al. 2012), and additionally he at one point quit piloting the robot because of guilt over the destruction caused from battling. Shinji is socially anxious, easily embarrassed, and avoids confrontation and withdrawals socially, which are behaviors associated with dependent personality disorder (Gore et al. 2012)(Nestadt et al. 2006). He is unassertive and is motivated largely by serving others, and rarely fights for his own needs, characteristic of dependent personality (Gore et al. 2012). He repeatedly seeks out relationships and approval from people who are avoidant, emotionally unavailable, or rejecting, reflecting his strong need for approval as well as intimacy that he will seek out intensely from those who will not give it to him, such intense needs being characteristic of dependent personality (Gore et al. 2012). Overall, this shows that Shinji depicts a person with dependent personality disorder.

Asuka from "Evangelion"

Asuka is another character from Evangelion that depicts someone high in both grandiose and vulnerable narcissism. Outwardly she is confident, aggressive, and domineering, proudly proclaims being better, smarter, more popular, attractive, and more talented than others, and puts other people down - such being hallmark behaviors of grandiose narcissism (Raskin & Terry 1988). Despite her overly confident exterior, she is deeply insecure and neurotic, but keeps this hidden, a major characteristic of vulnerable narcissism (Pincus et al. 2009). She views the main character, Shinji as largely inferior, unattractive, and weak, yet she seeks out reinforcement of her self image from him and gets angry at him when he won't provide it, another major characteristic of narcissism (Pincus et al. 2009). She is hyper-competitive, bragging about anything she excels in, until someone else does better, resulting in hostility towards the person and herself. In scenes where her internal thoughts are depicted, themes of intense self hatred, feeling inferior and like she is "still a child", desperation for approval, and a need for independence, being experiences associated with vulnerable narcissism (Pincus et al. 2009). Overall, Asuka depicts someone with narcissistic personality disorder.

Rei from Evangelion 

Rei is a character whose personality is characterized by introversion, apparent unemotionality and social disinterest, compliance, and general oddness. Rei depicts someone with schizoid personality disorder. To others, she appears to be emotionless, rarely showing any facial expressions or automatic expressions of emotion, however it is shown many times that her unemotionality is only on the outside, and her social coldness erodes as she becomes closer to Shinji, showing that she does desire connection and can be cautiously vulnerable with selected people she trusts, this sort of overt coldness masking a deep emotionality and desire for connection being hallmark of schizoid personality disorder (Ahktar 1987). Rei appears outwardly compliant and lacking her own will, at one point stating that her only reason to be friends with someone is if she were ordered to, however she shows her own will at multiple points, such as when she rebelled against Gendo's plan, despite being very loyal and only following orders from him previously, and she does this after her experiences had made her start to become in touch with herself as an individual, outward compliance and lack of expression of needs and self interest being characteristic of schizoid personality disorder (Ahktar 1987). Rei displays experiences characteristic of ipseity disturbance, a core and unique feature of schizophrenia spectrum disorders (Parnas 2012). She repeatedly questions things that other people do not typically think about and take for granted - asking people to explain why they feel or do various things that are typical of the human experience, characteristic of schizophrenia spectrum disorders and ipseity disturbance (Stanghellini & Ballerini 2007). She experiences herself in a detached, almost third person manner, she acknowledges emotional experiences internally but is confused by them, wondering how she is "supposed" to feel, wondering why she feels some way, etc, which is a hallmark of ipseity disturbance (Parnas 2012)(Stanghellini & Ballerini 2007). She lacks a core identity, and feels detached and unfamiliar with herself, in introspective moments showing her lack of innate sense of who she is and who others are, the boundaries of the self being unclear to her, which is the core of ipseity disturbance (Parnas 2012). Rei is seen reading books about psychology and genetics, further showing her detached curiosity about humans and desire to understand what others take for granted, such being characteristic of schizophrenia spectrum disorders (Stanghellini & Ballerini 2007), interest in psychology sometimes being a manifestation of this in schizoid and schizotypal individuals (Cloudfindings 2024e). Feeling different from others to the level of being different on the fundamental nature of one's own existence is a characteristic of schizophrenia spectrum disorders called "anderssein" (Parnas 2012), and Rei is shown to experience this multiple times throughout the series - and in a literal sense she is ontologically different from others, being a clone of Shinji's mother. Overall, Rei depicts someone with schizoid personality disorder, and the experience of self in someone with schizophrenia.

Misato from Evangelion 

The last character from Evangelion I will mention in this post is Misato. Misato depicts traits of someone high in secondary psychopathy. She is an alcoholic who early on is shown to be disorganized and careless, as indicated by her very messy apartment, drug use, disorganization, and carelessness being indicative of secondary psychopathy (Cloudfindings 2024b). She makes decisions impulsively and sometimes fails to consider consequences before acting, which is characteristic of secondary psychopathy (Levenson et al. 1995). Misato repeatedly defies orders and breaks rules when she doesn't agree with them, including social norms - such as indicated by her relationship with Shinji that socially would be considered inappropriate, and breaking rules & social norms is a hallmark of secondary psychopathy (Benning et al. 2003). Her personal relationships are troubled and unstable, having difficulty in relationships being associated with secondary psychopathy (Blanchard & Lyons 2016). Overall, Misato depicts someone who is high in secondary psychopathy. 

1. Cloudfindings (2024a) The Structure of Political Orientations and Underlying Psychological Causes: Part 1 - Statistical Extraction of a Psycho-Political Compass

2. Andersen (2022) Autistic-like traits and positive schizotypy as diametric specializations of the predictive mind

3. Sellbom et al. (2017) Examining gender as moderating the association between psychopathy and substance abuse

4. Kendler et al. (2014) A Multivariate Twin Study of the DSM-IV Criteria for Antisocial Personality Disorder

5. Cloudfindings (2024b) Secondary Psychopathy as the Adult Manifestation of ADHD

6. Cloudfindings (2024c) You'll Cowards Don't Even Smoke Crack: Sensation Seeking & its Correlates

7. Blanchard & Lyons (2016) Sex differences between primary and secondary psychopathy, parental bonding, and attachment style

8. Cloudfindings (2024d) Dimensions of Talent and Ability: A Critical Look at Multiple Intelligences, and How They Really Manifest

9. Gore et al. (2012) A five-factor measure of dependent personality traits

10. Crespi et al. (2016) Imagination in human social cognition, autism, and psychotic-affective conditions

11. Nestadt et al. (2006) Latent structure of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition personality disorder criteria

12. Raskin & Terry (1988) A principal-components analysis of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory and further evidence of its construct validity.

13. Pincus et al. (2009) Initial construction and validation of the Pathological Narcissism Inventory.

14. Ahktar (1987) Schizoid personality disorder: a synthesis of developmental, dynamic, and descriptive features

15. Parnas (2012) The core Gestalt of schizophrenia

16. Stanghellini & Ballerini (2007) Values in persons with schizophrenia

17. Cloudfindings (2024e) Schizotypal fact sheet (version 2) 

18. Levenson et al. (1995) Assessing psychopathic attributes in a noninstitutionalized population

19. Benning et al. (2003) Factor structure of the psychopathic personality inventory: validity and implications for clinical assessment.