Angry Reactionary Narcissists? Anger Activates the Link Between Narcissism and Right-Populist Party Support

Abstract

Even though previous research connected personality traits and support for radical-right populist parties (RRP), the question of which mechanisms connect these concepts is still underexplored. In particular, we focus on narcissistic rivalry, a maladaptive path of grandiose narcissism. Drawing on the affective intelligence framework and the narcissistic admiration and rivalry concept, we propose that the effect of rival narcissism on vote choice for the German Alternative für Deutschland is mediated by reactionary political orientations and activated by anger. Drawing on 2017 data from the mixed-mode representative GESIS panel (N = 2,552 & 1,901), we employ moderated mediation analyses. We show that reactionary political orientations mediate the relationship between narcissistic rivalry and RRP support. However, high levels of generalised anger are needed to activate the relationship between personality, reactionary values, and RRP support, whereas the mediating role of anti-immigrant sentiment is not affected by anger. Our study emphasises the role of anger in RRP support, thus showing that anger might explain why only some people with a specific predisposition support RRPs. The study also stresses the complexity of the relationship between personality, value orientations, and political behaviour.

Grievance Politics: An Empirical Analysis of Anger Through the Emotional Mechanism of Ressentiment

“…The important differences between anger and ressentiment elucidate the puzzle of bitter disengagement and alienation from democratic representation which has become a hallmark of contemporary politics. Our article contributes to studies focusing on emotions to understand negativity and affective polarization in politics (Brader, 2006;Gadarian & Albertson, 2012;Huddy et al, 2002Huddy et al, , 2008Jost et al, 2017;Mason et al, 2021;Mayer & Nguyen, 2021;Turner, 2007), the rise of authoritarian and far-right populist leaders, and the processes by which animus and antagonistic politics gain ground in post-truth electoral campaigns (Achen & Bartels, 2016;Betz, 1993;Farkas & Schou, 2019;Forgas et al, 2021;Kisić Merino et al, 2021;Marcus, 2021;Michel et al, 2020;Nai, 2021;Norris & Inglehart, 2019). We also add to the growing number of empirical studies on ressentiment which have examined political experiences in populist contexts (Capelos & Demertzis, 2018, 2022Capelos et al, 2021;Ciulla, 2020;Demertzis, 2020;Kazlauskaitė & Salmela, 2021;Mishra, 2017).…”

Mapping the populist mind: A network approach to integrate sociological and psychological models of the populist radical right

“…Right-wing ideology and PRR support are also negatively associated with Openness to Experience and positively with Conscientiousness and Neuroticism (Gerber et al, 2011;Zandonella and Zeglovits, 2013;Aichholzer and Zandonella, 2016;Obschonka et al, 2018). A more recent thread of literature has linked the status-focused personality trait Narcissistic Rivalry-a disagreeable form of Narcissism-to PRR voting (Mayer et al, 2020;Mayer and Nguyen, 2021).…”

Data_Sheet_1.pdf

“…Although most studies in this field have considered the Big Five personality traits (often in relation with attitudes like RWA and SDO), recent studies have examined to what extent PRR support is also rooted in Narcissism (Mayer et al, 2020;Mayer and Nguyen, 2021). Narcissism is the personality type that is most closely associated with status motives (Jonason and Ferrell, 2016;Jonason and Zeigler-Hill, 2018;Moshagen et al, 2018).…”

“…Right-wing ideology and PRR support are also negatively associated with Openness to Experience and positively with Conscientiousness and Neuroticism (Gerber et al, 2011;Zandonella and Zeglovits, 2013;Aichholzer and Zandonella, 2016;Obschonka et al, 2018). A more recent thread of literature has linked the status-focused personality trait Narcissistic Rivalry-a disagreeable form of Narcissism-to PRR voting (Mayer et al, 2020;Mayer and Nguyen, 2021).…”

“…We map the complex relationship between voting for the Alternative for Germany (AfD), the Big Five personality traits, two components of Narcissism, measurements of SES and SSRE, as well as attitudinal and ideological variables. We build on two recent studies that have also linked Narcissism and PRR voting in the German context (Mayer et al, 2020;Mayer and Nguyen, 2021). Yet we advance the field in three main ways.…”