arrogance

n.

The state or quality of being arrogant; overbearing pride.

noun

The quality of being arrogant: haughtiness, hauteur, insolence, loftiness, lordliness, overbearingness, presumption, pride, pridefulness, proudness, superciliousness, superiority. See attitude/good attitude/bad attitude/neutral attitude.

n

Definition: exaggerated self-opinion
Antonyms: humility, meekness, servility

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In the course of psychoanalyzing psychotic patients, Bion came across a series of invariant clinical phenomena that seemed to characterize the psychotic personality. In 1958, he presented the paper "On Arrogance," in which he noted that the psychotic patients he was analyzing seemed to demonstrate a constantly conjoined yet mysteriously dispersed triad of phenomena: arrogance, curiosity, and stupidity. Bion was able to formulate that the root cause of this syndromic cluster of phenomena was ultimately due to a failure on the part of the psychotic patient to have had at his disposal as an infant a mother who was able or willing to tolerate his projective identifications into her. This theme of the unavailability of a receptive mother to tolerate her infant's projective identifications was to be carried through in two successive papers, "Attacks on Linking" and "A Theory of Thinking." Ultimately, it became the pivotal alteration of Klein's concept of intrapsychic projective identification into intersubjective projective identification and the foundation for Bion's later theories of alpha function and container/contained.

Bion found that, in these patients, the triad of curiosity, stupidity, and arrogance was initiated clinically by the revival in the analysis of the presence of an obstructive object, which represented the psychotic infant's projection-rejecting (part-object) mother in addition to her hostility and the infant's hostility. As an internalized hybrid, it becomes a formidable, archaic superego, which attacks the infant's normal curiosity; is arrogant (because of the projective identification of omnipotence); and conveys stupidity because of its hatred of curiosity. Bion states that where the life instincts predominate, pride becomes self-respect, whereas when the death instinct predominates, pride becomes arrogance.

The fact that the triad is mysteriously dispersed, and therefore unsuspected as belonging together, is evidence, according to Bion, that a psychotic disaster had taken place. The analytic process itself, which seeks to learn more, constitutes the stimulus for curiosity. Bion states, "The very act of analyzing the patient makes the analyst an accessory in precipitating regression and turning the analysis itself into a piece of acting out" (Bion, 1967, p. 87). The features that characterize the transference are references to the appearance of the analyst and the analysand's identification with him in terms of being "blind, stupid, suicidal, curious, and arrogant."(Bion, p. 88). What takes place is a hateful attack by this obstructive superego against the ego, either in the analysand or, by projective identification, in the analyst. Thus, either the analyst and or the analysand are targets of the obstructive object's hateful attacks.

Since the aim of analysis is the pursuit of truth (curiosity), the truth-pursuing analyst is considered to have a capacity to contain the discarded, split-off portions of the analysand's psychotic self, including the obstructive object and its destructive effects. This capacity becomes the target for envious and hateful attacks. In short, as Bion summarizes:

What it was that the object could not stand became clearer . . . where it appeared that in so far as I, as analyst, was insisting on verbal communication . . . I was felt to be directly attacking the patient's methods of communication [i.e., projective identification].

Bion further summarizes that in some patients the denial to the patient of a normal employment of projective identification precipitates a disaster through the destruction of an important link. Inherent in this disaster is the establishment of a primitive superego which denies the use of projective identification.

Bibliography

Bion, Wilfred R. (1967). On arrogance. In his Second thoughts (pp. 87-88). London: Heineman.

—JAMES S. GROTSTREIN

IN BRIEF: A feeling of too great pride or confidence in oneself.

It is harder to be poor without murmuring than to be rich without arrogance.

Quotes:

"The need to be right is the sign of a vulgar mind." - Albert Camus

"Sure of their qualities and demanding praise, more go to ruined fortunes than are raised." - Alexander Pope

"None are more haughty than a common place person raised to power." - French Proverb

"None are more unjust in their judgments of others than those who have a high opinion of themselves." - Charles Haddon Spurgeon

"Nothing in the world is more haughty than a man of moderate capacity when once raised to power." - Baron Wessenberg

"Early in life, I had to choose between honest arrogance and hypocritical humility. I chose honest arrogance and have seen no occasions to change." - Frank Lloyd Wright

See more famous quotes about Arrogance

• Formed: 1969, Chapel Hill, NC
• Disbanded: 1983 10
• Genres: Rock
• Representative Albums: "The 5'11" Record," "Suddenly," "Rumors"

Biography

In the Swing Era, there existed what were called "territory bands," swing outfits that performed successfully in a specific region but never ventured much beyond it to achieve national recognition. By the time the Rock Era got started, regionalism had faded somewhat in the U.S., but the modern period has still had its share of rockers who became local heroes yet somehow never went nationwide. Arrogance, from the Piedmont area of North Carolina, must be counted one such rock ‘n' roll territory band. It's not that they didn't try to achieve stardom beyond their natural stomping grounds. But timing was against them. The group was a tuneful outfit influenced by the Beatles and the Byrds who came along just after the period when they might have made a splash as a "folk rock" or "garage rock" group and lasted until just before they might have been equally successful as an "alternative" band. Indeed, former member Don Dixon, who took to producing acts like R.E.M. just as Arrogance finally gave up the struggle, was one of the architects of the alternative trend of the 1980s. But anyone who saw Arrogance play in North Carolina or Virginia between the late 1960s and early ‘80s will tell you that they are one of the great lost bands of rock ‘n' roll.

Singer/guitarists Dixon and Robert Kirkland formed Arrogance in the fall of 1969 when they were both freshmen at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, adding keyboard player Marty Stout and drummer Scott Davison. The boastful name, coined by Dixon, referred to their ability to upstage other acts and their early hard-rock style. By the time of their self-released debut album, Give Us a Break, in 1973, however, Arrogance had adopted a softer folk-rock style. They also recorded a second album on their own, 1975's Prolepsis. At a time when bands wanting to make it usually moved to New York or Los Angeles and looked for a major label deal, Arrogance's strategy of building a regional following and issuing its own records was both unusual and forward-looking. It was also, well, arrogant. But eventually, it brought national labels to Chapel Hill, and the band signed to Vanguard Records in late 1975. Unfortunately, Vanguard, a New York independent with a roster of folk performers, was not equipped to launch a new rock band properly, and 1976's Rumors did not attract much attention. (Of course, it didn't help that, early the following year, Fleetwood Mac released a multi-platinum album using the English spelling of the same title, Rumours.)

Arrogance parted with Vanguard after that one album and returned to a harder rocking style, adding lead guitarist Rod Abernethy to beef up their sound. Having failed on a national level, however, they had to overcome industry skepticism, and it was not until 1980 that they were signed again, this time to Curb/Warner, which released their fourth album, Suddenly. By then, post-punk power pop was all the rage, and Arrogance was not a priority at the label. The album failed, but Curb/Warner was willing to put out a second record. Arrogance, however, decided to leave and shop around for another deal. Once again, their timing was off. With synth-pop coming in, no label was interested in a band that sounded like the jangle-pop of the mid-1960s. The independent Moonlight Records put out a live collection, Lively, in 1981, but no one else wanted to know. Fearing that, as two-time losers, they were being held back by their tarnished name, Arrogance sent out a set of demos under the name 5'11" (the average height of the band members), but still no one bit. In October 1983, they finally gave up and split the band. By that time, Dixon had already launched a career in the recording studio by co-producing R.E.M.'s debut album Murmur. Over the years, he would handle the board for such like-minded artists as Richard Barone, Kim Carnes, the Connells, Marshall Crenshaw, Guadalcanal Diary, Hootie & the Blowfish, In Tua Nua, Marti Jones, Tommy Keene, Let's Active, James McMurtry, the Reivers, the Smithereens, Chris Stamey, and Matthew Sweet, among many others, while putting out the occasional solo album, sometimes including songs written in his Arrogance days. (Half a dozen of the 5'11" demos turned up on his solo debut, Most of the Girls Like to Dance But Only Some of the Boys Do in 1985.) Kirkland also went solo, but when he was able to get his album Kick the Future released only in Europe, he began to question whether music should be his career. Eventually, he went into the business of designing and selling kitchen cabinets. Abernethy played in several bands after Arrogance and then continued to work in music as a session musician for commercials. Davison went into real estate and Stout became an accountant. Meanwhile, other bands came up that sounded a lot like Arrogance; many old fans swore when they first heard it on the radio that Fastball's 1998 hit "The Way" was by their long-gone favorite band.

In the spring of 2000, Arrogance reunited for two shows at Dixon's instigation. In May, the band played its folk-rock repertoire at the Carrboro, N.C., Arts Center, and in June it played a harder rocking set at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh. In August 2002, Gaff Music belatedly released the band's early 1980s demo tape under the title The 5'11" Record. ~ William Ruhlmann

, All Music Guide

5'11" Record Buy this CD

Rumors Buy this CD