Following a dual-pathway approach to the social consequences of grandiose narcissism, we investigated the behavioral processes underlying (a) the decline of narcissists' popularity in social groups over time and (b) how this is differentially influenced by the 2 narcissism facets admiration and rivalry. In a longitudinal laboratory study, participants (N = 311) first provided narcissism self-reports using the Narcissistic Personality Inventory and the Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire, and subsequently interacted with each other in small groups in weekly sessions over the course of 3 weeks. All sessions were videotaped and trained raters coded participants' behavior during the interactions. Within the sessions participants provided mutual ratings on assertiveness, untrustworthiness, and likability. Results showed that (a) over time narcissists become less popular and (b) this is reflected in an initially positive but decreasing effect of narcissistic admiration as well as an increasing negative effect of narcissistic rivalry. As hypothesized, these patterns of results could be explained by means of 2 diverging behavioral pathways: The negative narcissistic pathway (i.e., arrogant-aggressive behavior and being seen as untrustworthy) plays an increasing role and is triggered by narcissistic rivalry, whereas the relevance of the positive narcissistic pathway (i.e., dominant-expressive behavior and being seen as assertive) triggered by narcissistic admiration decreases over time. These findings underline the utility of a behavioral pathway approach for disentangling the complex effects of personality on social outcomes.
Response surface analysis (RSA) enables researchers to test complex psychological effects, for example, whether the congruence of two psychological constructs is associated with higher values in an outcome variable. RSA is increasingly applied in the personality and social psychological literature, but the validity of published results has been challenged by some persistent oversimplifications and misconceptions. Here, we describe the mathematical fundamentals required to interpret RSA results, and we provide a checklist for correctly identifying congruence effects. We clarify two prominent fallacies by showing that the test of a single RSA parameter cannot indicate a congruence effect, and when there is a congruence effect, RSA cannot indicate whether a predictor mismatch in one direction (e.g., overestimation of one’s intelligence) is better or worse than a mismatch in the other direction (underestimation). We hope that this contribution will further enhance the validity and strength of empirical studies that apply this powerful approach.
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