Collective Narcissism Predicts Hypersensitivity to In–group Insult and Direct and Indirect Retaliatory Intergroup Hostility

Abstract

Results of five studies (N = 1596) linked collective narcissism—a belief in in‐group exaggerated greatness contingent on external validation—to direct and indirect, retaliatory hostility in response to situations that collective narcissists perceived as insulting to the in‐group but which fell well beyond the definition of an insult. In Turkey, collective narcissists responded with schadenfreude to the European economic crisis after feeling humiliated by the Turkish wait to be admitted to the European Union (Study 1). In Portugal, they supported hostile actions towards Germans and rejoiced in the German economic crisis after perceiving Germany's position in the European Union as more important than the position of Portugal (Study 2). In Poland, they supported hostile actions towards the makers of a movie they found offensive to Poland (Studies 3 and 5) and responded with direct and indirect hostility towards a celebrity whose jokes about the Polish government they found offensive (Study 4). Comparisons with self‐positivity and in‐group positivity indices and predictors of intergroup hostility indicated that collective narcissism is the only systematic predictor of hypersensitivity to in‐group insult followed by direct and indirect, retaliatory intergroup hostility. Copyright © 2016 European Association of Personality Psychology

Collective narcissism and the growth of conspiracy thinking over the course of the 2016 United States presidential election: A longitudinal analysis

“…Individuals high in CN constantly seek such validation and react aggressively to threats to the in‐group's image. Accordingly, those high in CN react with intergroup aggression when the in‐group is criticized or insufficiently recognized (Golec de Zavala, Cichocka, & Iskra‐Golec, ; Golec de Zavala, Pekker, Guerra, & Baran, ; Golec de Zavala et al., ). Though correlated with other variables related to national identification (such as blind patriotism and nationalism; Kosterman & Feshbach, ; Schatz, Staub, & Lavine, ; patriotism or in‐group satisfaction, Leach et al., ), national CN predicts intergroup hostility even after these other variables are controlled for.…”

“…Though correlated with other variables related to national identification (such as blind patriotism and nationalism; Kosterman & Feshbach, ; Schatz, Staub, & Lavine, ; patriotism or in‐group satisfaction, Leach et al., ), national CN predicts intergroup hostility even after these other variables are controlled for. Indeed, other measures of national identification often cease to explain hostile retaliation to in‐group criticism once CN is accounted for (Golec de Zavala, Cichocka, & Bilewicz, ; Golec de Zavala et al., ).…”

“…A common denominator of populist rhetoric is a righteous proclamation of one political group as the only “true” and legitimate representative of the nation and hostile rejection of all (including co‐nationals) who disagree with its vision of the nation (Müller, ). In this vein, Polish CN was related not only to support for the populist Law and Justice party ( Prawo i Sprawiedliwosc , Marchlewska et al., ), but also to hostility toward its political opponents within the same national in‐group (Golec de Zavala et al., ; Golec de Zavala, ).…”

Will they stay or will they go? Narcissistic admiration and rivalry predict ingroup affiliation and devaluation

“…Given their desire to demonstrate superiority over others, narcissism is related to a stronger social dominance orientation (Carnahan & McFarland, 2007;Cichocka, Dhont, & Makwana, 2017) and indirectly related to outgroup prejudice (Hodson, Hogg, & MacInnis, 2009). In addition, grandiose narcissism is positively related to collective narcissism, an unrealistic and grandiose view of an ingroup that fuels hostility and negativity toward outgroup members (Golec de Zavala, Cichocka, Eidelson, & Jayawickreme, 2009;Golec de Zavala, Peker, Guerra, & Baran, 2016). Narcissism is also positively related to self-esteem, which predicts greater ingroup bias (Aberson, Healy, & Romero, 2000).…”

Collective Narcissism, Anti-Globalism, Brexit, Trump, and the Chinese Juggernaut

“…Those high in collective narcissism are also hypersensitive to perceived insults to their group. In response to such perceived threats to the greatness of the in-group, the likely response is to feel hostility toward the out-groups that are perceived as undermining or failing to appreciate that in-group's greatness (Golec de Zavala et al 2016). Should the nation, ethnic group, religion, or other outgroup find misfortune on its own, the feeling is one of Schadenfreude -joy at the suffering of the other (Powell, Smith and Shurtz 2008).…”