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NARCISSISM and ENVY 1 Lange*, J., Crusius*, J., & Hagemeyer, B

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NARCISSISM and ENVY 1 Lange*, J., Crusius*, J., & Hagemeyer, B Running head: NARCISSISM AND ENVY 1 Lange*, J., Crusius*, J., & Hagemeyer, B. (2016). The Evil Queen's dilemma: Linking narcissistic admiration and rivalry to benign and malicious envy. European Journal of Personality, 30, 168-188. doi:10.1002/per.2047 accepted manuscript before copyediting The Evil Queen’s dilemma: Linking narcissistic admiration and rivalry to benign and malicious envy Jens Langea, Jan Crusiusa, & Birk Hagemeyerb a University of Cologne, b Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena Author Note Jens Lange and Jan Crusius contributed equally to this research. This work was supported by a grant from the German Research Foundation (CR 489/1-1). We would like to thank Felix Speckmann, Carola Bloch, Eileen Pauels, Jannik Süselbach, Lucia Gehlen, and Jana Harzem for collecting the data for Study 5. We are also grateful to the Social Cognition Center Cologne and the Department of Personality Psychology and Psychological Assessment in Jena for valuable feedback. Correspondence should be addressed to either Jens Lange, Social Cognition Center Cologne, University of Cologne, Richard-Strauss-Str. 2, 50931 Köln, Germany, E-Mail: [email protected], or Jan Crusius, Social Cognition Center Cologne, University of Cologne, Richard-Strauss-Str. 2, 50931 Köln, Germany, E-Mail: [email protected]. NARCISSISM AND ENVY 2 Abstract It is widely assumed that narcissists are envious. Nevertheless, evidence supporting this claim has remained elusive. In five studies (combined N = 1225), we disentangle how grandiose narcissism predicts divergent envious inclinations. Specific facets of narcissism and forms of envy shared the same underlying motivational orientations (Study 1) and distinctively related to each other (Studies 1 to 5) via differences in emotional appraisal (Study 4). Moreover, envy was linked to opposing social consequences of different narcissism facets (Study 5). Specifically, hope for success related to narcissistic admiration, predicting benign envy, which entails the motivation to improve performance, translating into the ascription of social potency by the self and others. In contrast, fear of failure related to narcissistic rivalry, predicting malicious envy, which entails hostility, translating into the ascription of a proneness for social conflict by others. These results converged with envy measured as a trait (Studies 1 and 5) or state in recall tasks (Studies 2 and 4) and as response to an upward standard in the situation (Study 3). The findings provide important insights into narcissists’ emotional complexities, integrate prior isolated and conflicting evidence, and open up new avenues for research on narcissism and envy. Keywords: grandiose narcissism; narcissistic admiration and rivalry; benign and malicious envy; social comparison; social perception NARCISSISM AND ENVY 3 The Evil Queen’s dilemma: Linking narcissistic admiration and rivalry to benign and malicious envy 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 thousand times fairer than you. The queen took fright and turned yellow and green with envy. (Grimm & Grimm, 1857/2002) Are narcissists envious? According to a widely held assumption, envy is a central element of narcissism. In fact, this notion has been endorsed so strongly that it even used to be one of the criteria to diagnose narcissistic personality disorder (American Psychiatric Association, 2000) and was incorporated in measures of grandiose narcissism (Raskin & Terry, 1988). However, the empirical link of envy and narcissism remains to be elusive. In fact, the few investigations of this question have concluded that narcissists might not suffer from the green-eyed monster. If anything, previously, only vulnerable and not grandiose narcissists have been found to be envious of others’ qualities, achievements, and possessions (Gold, 1996; Krizan & Johar, 2012). Indeed, should not narcissists’ grandiosity protect them from threatening upward comparisons (Neufeld & Johnson, in press)? Here, we show that narcissists are in fact highly prone to react with envy. Importantly, however, the relationship of narcissism and envy is more complex than previously assumed. To unravel it, it is necessary to take distinct motivational dynamics within both envy and narcissism into account. NARCISSISM AND ENVY 4 Even though narcissists1 share the conviction that they are superior to others, we contend that this belief does not inoculate them against upward social comparisons. In many situations, objective sources of information, such as exam results, promotion decisions, or truth-telling mirrors, may undeniably reveal one’s inferiority relative to others. If high status is narcissists’ central concern, any defect substantiated by comparisons with superior others should be a particularly strong elicitor of emotion and spur them to deal with their disadvantage. We posit that, despite the weakness such envious action may uncover, narcissists respond to situational inferiority with envy—the Evil Queen’s dilemma. The goal of the present research is to investigate whether narcissists are prone to feel envy and how this emotional process is connected to the social consequences of the narcissistic personality. We link the two facets of grandiose narcissism—narcissistic admiration and rivalry (Back et al., 2013)—to the two distinct forms of envy—benign and malicious envy (Lange & Crusius, 2015a; Van de Ven, Zeelenberg, & Pieters, 2009). Moreover, we investigate how these emotional links illuminate the paradox of narcissism, the enigmatic opposing effects of narcissism on perceived (un-)popularity. Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Narcissists hold highly inflated, unrealistically positive, grandiose views of themselves (Gebauer, Sedikides, Verplanken, & Maio, 2012; Morf & Rhodewalt, 2001). This biased self-perception has a profound impact on narcissists’ social behavior. Much of the recent interest in narcissism research has been fed by the paradoxical nature of these outcomes. On the one hand, narcissists are socially attractive (Back, Schmukle, & Egloff, 2010; Vazire, Naumann, Rentfrow, & Gosling, 2008) and seen as confident, intelligent, and competent by their peers (Back et al., 2013; Paulhus, 1998). As a consequence, narcissists have high mating success (Dufner, Rauthmann, Czarna, & Denissen, 2013, Grosz, Dufner, Back, & Denissen, 2015), are more often chosen as leaders of social groups (Brunell et al., NARCISSISM AND ENVY 5 2008), and have a higher probability to become famous (Dufner et al., 2015; Young & Pinsky, 2006). On the other hand, narcissists also show hostile behaviors (Bushman & Baumeister, 1998; Morf & Rhodewalt, 1993) leading others to see them as aggressive, less trustworthy, or bragging towards competitors (Back et al., 2013; Paulhus, 1998) which undermines their social relationships (Back et al., 2013; Campbell, Foster, & Finkel, 2002; Carlson & DesJardins, 2015; Leckelt, Küfner, Nestler, & Back, in press; Paulhus, 1998). The paradox culminates in the finding that narcissism can simultaneously contribute to being popular and unpopular at zero acquaintance (Back et al., 2013; Küfner, Nestler, & Back, 2013). Back and colleagues (2013; Leckelt et al., in press) have recently developed the Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Concept (NARC) as a process model that accounts for these diverging behavioral and social outcomes. They posit that—at the trait level—these paradoxical effects are differentially connected to two narcissistic facets. According to their model, these facets are fed by distinct motivational dynamics determining the way in which narcissists pursue their goal of maintaining a grandiose self. The behavioral pattern of narcissistic admiration is driven by hope for greatness and success, causing a self-regulatory strategy of assertive self-enhancement. In line with this conceptualization, narcissistic admiration comprises feelings of grandiosity, striving for uniqueness, and perceived charmingness. As social interaction outcomes, these tendencies result in narcissists’ social potency—desirable social consequences such as admiration and praise. The behavioral pattern of narcissistic rivalry, in contrast, is driven by fear of failure, prompting a self-regulatory strategy of antagonistic self-protection. In this vein, narcissistic rivalry is conceptualized as comprising striving for supremacy, active devaluation of others, as well as aggressiveness. As social interaction outcomes, these tendencies result in social conflict—negative social consequences such as perceived aggressiveness and unpopularity. In several studies, Back and colleagues (2013) developed a reliable and valid measure of the two facets. Their data indicates that narcissistic admiration and rivalry capture the diversity of narcissistic behavior NARCISSISM AND ENVY 6 in a more comprehensive manner than narcissism as assessed by the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI; Raskin & Terry, 1988). Despite the importance of identifying the mechanisms underlying social effects of personality (Back, 2015; Back et al., 2011), the evidence about the processes driving the paradoxical effects of narcissism is still limited (see Leckelt et al., in press for initial findings). In line with previous researchers (e.g., Tracy & Robins, 2007), we argue that specific emotions may have much explanatory power in narcissistic reactions. Often, narcissists show more intense emotional responses than other
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