Television and social media have made politicians increasingly visible, yet they continue to take risks and generate scandals despite the likelihood of being caught. This may be because of personality traits that occur more frequently in politicians than the general population, such as narcissism, risk-taking, the motivation for power, and a false self (developing a political persona).
These traits may render politicians more likely to engage in scandalous behavior, refuse to apologize, make contradictory public statements, and not care about a mismatch between their private identity and their public persona.