Illuminating the Paradox of Narcissism
How Envy Links Narcissists’ Quest for Status and Its Diverging Social Outcomes
Jan Crusius, Social Cognition Center Cologne Jens Lange, Social Cognition Center Cologne Birk Hagemeyer, University of Jena One day when the queen asked her mirror:
Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who in this land is fairest of all?
It answered: You, my queen, are fair; it is true. But Snow-White is a [evil queen picture] thousand times fairer than you.
The queen took fright and turned yellow and green with envy.
(Grimm & Grimm, 1857/2002) Paradox of Narcissism
Social Outcomes
Social Potency
[Jekyll & Hyde picture]
Social Conflict
Narcissismsimultaneously popular and unpopular at zero acquaintance (Back et al., 2013; Küfner, Nestler, & Back, 2013) Paradox of Narcissism
Behavioral Patterns Social Outcomes
Narcissistic Admiration Social Potency
[Jekyll & Hyde picture]
Narcissistic Rivalry Social Conflict
Back et al. (2013) Paradox of Narcissism
NARQ Behavioral Patterns Social Outcomes
Grandiosity “I am great.“ Uniqueness “I show others how special I am.“ Narcissistic Admiration Social Potency Charmingness “I am very adept at dealing with other people.” Devaluation “Other people are worth nothing.“ Supremacy “I enjoy it when another person is Narcissistic Rivalry Social Conflict inferior to me.” Aggressiveness “…get annoyed when criticized.”
Back et al. (2013) Paradox of Narcissism
Motivation Behavioral Patterns Social Outcomes
Hope for Success Narcissistic Admiration Social Potency
Maintenance of a grandiose self
Fear of Failure Narcissistic Rivalry Social Conflict
Back et al. (2013) Narcissism and Envy
• Envy central to psychoanalytic approaches to narcissism (e.g., Kernberg, 1975) • Envy part of diagnostic criteria for Narcissistic Personality Disorder (up until DSM-IV) • NPI: “I am envious of other people's good fortune.” (Raskin & Hall, 1979) • However: elusive link between grandiose narcissism and envy (Gold, 1996; Krizan & Johar, 2012; Neufeld & Johnson, 2015) Different Shades of Green
Crusius & Lange (2014), Lange & Crusius (2015) Falcon (2015), Van de Ven, Pieters, & Zeelenberg (2009, 2011, 2012)
other Benign envy Malicious envy
Russian: белая зависть („white envy“) Russian: черная зависть (“black envy”) Arabic: ghibtah Arabic: hasad German: beneiden German: missgönnen
Negative valence Negative valence High deservingness Low deservingness High control Low control self Predicted by dispositional Predicted by dispositional hope for success fear of failure (Lange & Crusius, 2015) (Lange & Crusius, 2015) Conceptual Framework
Motivation Emotional and Social Outcomes Behavioral Patterns
Narcissistic Admiration Social Potency Hope for Success Benign Envy
Maintenance of a grandiose self Malicious Envy
Fear of Failure Narcissistic Rivalry Social Conflict Previous Research
Narcissism measure: NPI (Raskin & Terry, 1988) Narcissistic Admiration
Benign Envy
Malicious Envy
Narcissistic Rivalry
Envy measure: Dispositional Envy Scale (Smith et al., 1999) Conceptual Framework
Motivation Emotional and Social Outcomes Behavioral Patterns
Narcissistic Admiration Social Potency Hope for Success Benign Envy
Maintenance of a grandiose self Malicious Envy
Fear of Failure Narcissistic Rivalry Social Conflict
Study 1 Study 1: Dispositional Envy
• mTurk, N = 204 (Mage = 35.69, SD = 11.86, 20 – 73, 122 male) • Hope for Success, Fear of Failure (AMS-R; Lang & Fries, 2006) • HS: e.g., “I like situations in which I can find out how capable I am.” (α = .85) • FF: e.g., “I feel uneasy to do something if I am not sure of succeeding.” (α = .88) • Narcissistic Admiration, Narcissistic Rivalry (NARQ; αNA = .88, αNR = .86; Back et al., 2013) • Dispositional Benign and Malicious Envy (BeMaS, Lange & Crusius, 2015) • BE: e.g., “When I envy others, I focus on how I can become equally successful in the future.”, “I strive to reach other people’s superior achievements.” (α = .88) • ME: e.g., “I feel ill will toward people I envy.”, “I wish that superior people lose their advantage.” (α = .90) (Lange, Crusius, & Hagemeyer, in press, Eur. J. Pers.) Study 1: Dispositional Envy
Hope for Fear of Narcissistic Narcissistic Benign Malicious Success Failure Admiration Rivalry Envy Envy
Hope for - Success
Fear of -.29* - Failure
Narcissistic .29* -.13+ - Admiration Narcissistic -.19* .31* .31* - Rivalry Benign .36* .03 .48* .23* - Envy Malicious -.25* .35* .12+ .71* .08 - Envy N = 204, *p <.05, +p <.10 (Lange, Crusius, & Hagemeyer, in press, Eur. J. Pers.) Study 1: Dispositional Envy
Hope for Success 0.60* 0.59*
Narc Admiration Benign Envy 0.49* e1 e3 -0.21+
-.29* .42* -.04
0.27* e2 e4 0.80* Narc Rivalry Malicious Envy
0.41* 0.18*
Fear of Failure CFI = .99, RMSEA = .068 CI 95%[.000; .139] Indirect effect HSNABE: ab = 0.29, CI95%[0.17; 0.45], p < .001 + *p <.05, p <.10 Indirect effect FFNRME: ab = 0.33, CI95%[0.21; 0.46], p < .001 Conceptual Framework
Motivation Emotional and Social Outcomes Behavioral Patterns
Narcissistic Admiration Social Potency Hope for Success Benign Envy
Maintenance of a grandiose self Malicious Envy
Fear of Failure Narcissistic Rivalry Social Conflict
Studies 2-3 Study 2: Episodic Envy
• N = 155, German online sample (Mage = 34.32, SD = 12.40, 18 – 66, 75 male) • Narcissistic Admiration/Rivalry (NARQ; αNA = .87, αNR = .86 Back et al. 2013) • Task: Recall recent episode of envy • Benign envy • e.g. “I felt [benign] envy towards the person (…) because of X.”; “I felt inspired to obtain X as well.” (α = .82) • Malicious envy • e.g., “I felt [malicious] envy towards the person because of X”; “I would have liked to hurt the person.” (α = .92) (Lange, Crusius, & Hagemeyer, in press, Eur. J. Pers.) Study 2: Episodic Envy
Narcissistic Narcissistic Benign Malicious Admiration Rivalry Envy Envy Narcissistic - Admiration Narcissistic .32* - Rivalry
Benign Envy .17* .04 -
Malicious Envy .11 .29* -.08 -
N = 155, *p <.05 NA B = 0.22, SE = 0.11, p = .05 BE NR B = -0.02, SE = 0.12, p = .86
NA B = 0.02, SE = 0.14, p = .86 ME NR B = 0.51, SE = 0.15, p = .001 Study 3: Episodic Envy
• mTurk, N = 208 (Mage = 31.75, SD = 9.55; 19 – 67, 123 male) • Session 1: Narcissistic Admiration, Narcissistic
Rivalry (NARQ; αNA = .89, αNR = .86; Back et al., 2013) • Session 2 (after 1 week): Upward comparison standard • benign envy (α = .90) • malicious envy (α = .82)
(Lange, Crusius, & Hagemeyer, in press, Eur. J. Pers.) Study 3: Episodic Envy
Narcissistic Narcissistic Benign Malicious Admiration Rivalry Envy Envy Narcissistic - Admiration Narcissistic .34* - Rivalry
Benign Envy .24* -.02 -
Malicious Envy .12+ .52* .13+ -
N = 208, *p <.05, +p <.10 NA B = 0.37, SE = 0.10, p < .001 BE NR B = -0.17, SE = 0.11, p = .10
NA B = -0.07, SE = 0.07, p = .28 ME NR B = 0.62, SE = 0.07, p < .001 Conceptual Framework
Motivation Emotional and Social Outcomes Behavioral Patterns
Narcissistic Admiration Social Potency Hope for Success Benign Envy
Maintenance of a grandiose self Malicious Envy
Fear of Failure Narcissistic Rivalry Social Conflict
Study 4 Study 4: Social Outcomes
• N = 424, dyads approached on campus (Mage = 22.39 years, SD = 3.36, 18 – 38, 148 male) • Narcissistic Admiration, Narcissistic Rivalry (NARQ; αNA = .80, αNR = .83; Back et al., 2013) • Dispositional Benign and Malicious Envy (BeMaS; αBE = .83, αME = .86; Lange & Crusius, 2015) • Social potency (peer-report) • e.g., “My acquaintance gets compliments.”, “My acquaintance is admired by others.” (α = .72) • Social conflict (peer-report) • “My acquaintance gossips about others.”, “My acquaintance feels Schadenfreude.” (α = .74) (Lange, Crusius, & Hagemeyer, in press, Eur. J. Pers.) Study 4
N = 426 (in dyads), Actor-Partner Interdependence Model, CFI = .96, RMSEA = .046, CI 95% [.016; .068]
Self-report Peer-report
Narcissistic Admiration 0.42* 0.09* Benign Envy Social Potency
.32* e1 e3 .18* .09+ e2 -0.09+ e4 -0.11*
Malicious Envy Social Conflict 0.13* Narcissistic Rivalry 0.75*
*p <.05, +p <.10 Indirect effect NABESP: ab = 0.04, CI 95%[0.01; 0.07], p = .01 Indirect effect NRMESC: ab = 0.09, CI 95%[0.00; 0.19], p = .051 Conceptual Framework
Motivation Emotional and Social Outcomes Behavioral Patterns
Narcissistic Admiration Social Potency Hope for Success Benign Envy
Maintenance of a grandiose self Malicious Envy
Fear of Failure Narcissistic Rivalry Social Conflict
Study 1 Studies 2-3 Study 4 Implications
• Benign and malicious envy as functional pathways in narcissists‘ quest for status [evil queen picture] • Neglected research on social consequences of envy • Diversity of narcissism‘s motivational consequences Thank you for your attention!
Jan Crusius, Social Cognition Center Cologne Jens Lange, Social Cognition Center Cologne Birk Hagemeyer, University of Jena References
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