A recent study published in the Journal of Personality suggests that certain types of narcissism can drive a person to seek social status, while achieving that status might fuel their narcissism in return. The research provides evidence of a two-way street between self-centered personality traits and the pursuit of social standing. These findings suggest that climbing the social ladder and possessing an inflated ego tend to reinforce each other over time.
Narcissism is a personality trait characterized by an inflated sense of self-importance, a deep need for excessive attention, and a lack of empathy for others. Psychologists generally divide narcissism into two main categories known as grandiose and vulnerable narcissism. Grandiose narcissism involves extraversion, arrogance, and a tendency to boldly self-promote. Vulnerable narcissism is characterized by deep insecurity, defensiveness, and a tendency to withdraw socially when feeling threatened.
Researchers Christian Jordan and Nikhila Mahadevan designed their study to understand the exact sequence of events connecting these personality traits to social motives. The authors wanted to know if highly narcissistic people are naturally driven to seek status, or if gaining status tends to make people more narcissistic.
"Research has found that people in high-status positions often have higher levels of narcissism, particularly grandiose narcissism," explained Jordan, a professor of psychology at Wilfrid Laurier University. "One question that has never been clearly addressed is whether narcissistic individuals strive for status more than others, or whether being in high-status positions leads people to become more narcissistic over time. So that's what we tested."
Psychologists separate human social desires into two fundamental motives known as status and inclusion. Status refers to being respected, admired, and holding a powerful position in a social hierarchy. Inclusion simply means being liked, accepted, and feeling like an equal part of a community.
To test their ideas, the researchers recruited 528 undergraduate students from a Canadian university. Using a longitudinal study design, participants completed three online surveys, each spaced two weeks apart. The surveys measured participants' general desires for status and inclusion, their perceived attainment of these goals, their assertiveness and friendly, cooperative behavior over the prior two weeks, and their levels of grandiose and vulnerable narcissism.
The researchers found that grandiose forms of narcissism operate in a reciprocal loop with social status. When participants exhibited higher levels of grandiose narcissism than usual, they reported stronger desires for status two weeks later, and were more likely to feel they had successfully attained high status at the next check-in.
"The main thing that we found is that people who are higher in grandiose narcissism tend to become more motivated to achieve status and to perceive themselves as having status over time," Jordan told PsyPost. "And people who perceive themselves to have higher status and to desire status strongly, tend to increase in grandiose narcissism over time. This is consistent with grandiose narcissism and status feeding each other."
Vulnerable narcissism produced a completely different pattern of results. When participants experienced higher levels of vulnerable narcissism than usual, they actually reported weaker desires for both status and inclusion two weeks later, and engaged in less friendly, affiliative behavior during that time.
"On the other hand, those high in vulnerable narcissism tend to desire status, but this desire diminishes over time," Jordan explained. "Similarly, believing you have achieved higher status is associated with lower levels of vulnerable narcissism over time. We did not really expect this — it tends to be correlated with greater desire for status at just one time point, but over time it is related to decreasing desire, possibly because these individuals doubt their ability to compete."
The findings also suggest that narcissistic individuals focus heavily on status rather than genuine social connection. Grandiose narcissism did not consistently predict a desire to simply be included or liked; their primary drive appeared to be elevated social rank and dominance.
Interestingly, the study provided evidence that feeling included might actually soothe an inflated ego. When participants felt highly accepted and liked by their peers, their levels of grandiose narcissism tended to decrease over the following two weeks, suggesting that a strong sense of warm community connection might reduce a person's need for self-aggrandizing behavior.
There are limitations to consider. The sample was limited to undergraduate students in Canada, whose social environment is highly specific, limiting the ability to generalize to other groups. The findings were also somewhat inconsistent across different measures of narcissism, and participants' status was self-reported rather than objectively measured.
Moving forward, the researchers hope to see these processes tested in older adults and different cultural backgrounds, to determine whether the pattern replicates in other populations.