An exploration of spiritual superiority: The paradox of self‐enhancement

Abstract

Spiritual training is assumed to reduce self‐enhancement, but may have the paradoxical effect of boosting superiority feelings. It can thus operate like other self‐enhancement tools and contribute to a contingent self‐worth that depends on one's spiritual accomplishments. In three studies (N = 533, N = 2,223, N = 965), a brief measure of spiritual superiority showed good internal consistency and discriminant validity. As predicted, it was distinctly related to spiritual contingency of self‐worth, illustrating that the self‐enhancement function of spirituality is similar to other contingency domains. It was correlated with self‐esteem and, more strongly, with communal narcissism, corroborating the notion of spiritual narcissism. Spiritual Superiority scores were consistently higher among energetically trained participants than mindfulness trainees and were associated with supernatural overconfidence and self‐ascribed spiritual guidance. Our results illustrate that the self‐enhancement motive is powerful and deeply ingrained so that it can hijack methods intended to transcend the ego and, instead, adopt them to its own service.

Is There a General Factor of Spiritual Intelligence? Factorial Validity of the Polish Adaptation of Spiritual Intelligence Self-Report Inventory

“…These variables might represent or express various human faculties, capacities, beliefs, or values. Moreover, they may even be manifestations of other psychological variables such as narcissism (Vonk & Visser, 2020). Future studies could shed more light on their nature.…”

What Mindfulness, and for Whom? And Why Might it Work?

“…Additionally, practitioners' levels of empathy, narcissism, and psychopathology seem to make a difference. There are some indications that especially for practitioners low on empathy and/or high on narcissism, mindfulness practice might be prone to showing unintended effects, such as even increasing narcissistic tendencies and boosting selfenhancement (Chen & Jordan, 2020;Gebauer et al, 2018;Ridderinkhof et al, 2017;Vonk & Visser, 2021;Winning & Boag, 2015). A recent meta-analysis found that a higher baseline level of psychopathology or depression was associated with a deterioration in outcomes after meditation, whereas higher scores on motivation and interpersonal variables yielded comparatively more positive meditation outcomes (Buric et al, 2022).…”