Eric Schwitzgebel, Professor of Philosophy at University of California at Riverside, posted an essay on his terrific blog, “The Splintered Mind,”in which he speculates on the phenomenology of being a jerk, giving all of us some tools to determine whether we are jerks, or in imminent danger of jerkhood.
His method centers on two key features of a jerk mindset, both of which lead to the rationalization of unethical behavior:
I. An implicit or explicit sense that you are an “important” person. This, says the professor, leads to thoughts like, “Why do I have to wait in line at the post office with all the schmoes?” and to “feeling that an injustice has been done when you have been treated the same as others rather than preferentially.”
II. The implicit or explicit sense that you are surrounded by idiots. He writes, ‘Thinking of other people as idiots plays into jerkhood in two ways: the devaluing of others’ perspectives is partly constitutive of jerkhood, and…it provides a handy rationalization of why others aren’t participating in your jerkish behavior. Maybe everyone is waiting their turn in line to get off the freeway on a crowded exit ramp and you (the jerk) are the only one to cut in at the last minute, avoiding waiting your turn (and incidentally increasing the risk of an accident and probably slowing down non-exiting traffic). If it occurs to you to wonder why the others aren’t doing the same you have a handy explanation in your pocket — they’re idiots! — which allows you to avoid more uncomfortable potential explanations of the difference between you and them.”
There may be other beliefs that propel us to jerkhood, but these are certainly a good start on self-diagnosis, early detection, and treatment.
Ethics Alarms 
Jack, you just gave it away. You are a closet optimist. How else could you have overlooked:
III. The consitutional (possibly genetic) inability to self-diagnose jerkhood, detect it before it’s too late, or accept treatment unless it’s part of the sentence for causing mass mayhem on the freeway, in which case your attitude and behavior will alienate your psychiatrist, your lawyer, the judge, the family members who put up your bail, your guards, and your cellmates. At this point, you may be constrained by the exigencies of social isolation to begin reading philosophy and ethics. Thereby becoming a jerk with intellectual pretentions.
I see your point. But then, I’ve always known I was a jerk. I fight it, though…
Yeah? There is some circular reasoning going on. I don’t think you can know you are something that is defined by not knowing itself. If you can believe you’re an important person who is surrounded by idiots, then you couldn’t be conscious of being a jerk just like everyone else. However, a person might suffer the delusion that he is, say, Lord of the Ethical Universe; then it could be that the claim to potential jerknicity is a simple matter of hubris-phobia — not a delusion at all, but a humble homage to ones truly exalted self.
Does “jerk” have a feminine synonym? I don’t think I’ve every heard it applied to a woman.
Realized on re-reading that my reply may have come off as an insult –when the contrary was meant, I assure you — due to careless thinking and overconfidence (rather than ignorance of syntax, which might be excusable). Which makes me a … what was that four-letter word … oh yes: jerk.
I didn’t take it that way, Penn. Too many people call me a jerk outright here: I can’t afford to be hyper-sensitive.
No. I’m not a potential jerk.
“Outa my way… Jerk!” I say that on the freeway about a dozen times a day. My knowing aforehand that I am the intellectual superior of every person traversing I-45 at any given time lends me all the justification necessary to make this statement. Repeatedly.
Am I a Jerk? Or is everyone else? It’s logically one or the other. Naturally, my perspective mandates the latter point of view. My well nurtured ego demands it. And what’s more, my ability to reason this all out PROVES it.
However, my modest side also tells me that, despite my railings against these poor, brain deprived schmucks who impede my progress, they can’t hear me anyway, so I’m not REALLY being a jerk. The Jerkitude is their’s for not realizing it in their own pathetic existence without my pointing it out to them. Thus, they remain jerkified. It’s my curse on them.
BTW: If there’s one thing I hate worse than those who cut in line at a crowded off-turn on the freeway, it’s those wimpy uberjerks who LET them. And they always seem to be the ones just ahead of me whom I was previously decrying (in private) for their jerkousness in another category. Therefore, I’m aware that the jerkstate is not confined, but engulfs the entire spectrum of a jerk’s state of being.
They should all be shot. However, as the judiciary is liable to be squeamish on this logical remedy (the bench is where the master jerks are liable to be found) I suggest that those overtly guilty of highway jerkdom should be forced to drive yellow Chevy Volts with special license plates proclaiming their disability. Besides, these cars- littering the sides of the highways due to the short range of their batteries- are a judgement in themselves. They’re also easier to shoot at in the dark, being yellow.
This is how it should be. Jerks!