The psychology of Rand's protagonists are terrified control freaks. They insulate themselves from the pain of human emotion by only caring about the self. They

The psychology of Rand's protagonists are terrified control freaks. They insulate themselves from the pain of human emotion by only caring about the self. They hedonistically gobble up pleasures (wealth, sex, food) to fill gaping emotional holes. They don't believe in God because that would mean something had agency over them or their future. Randian characters are completely alone in the world, wielding shields of power.