We propose a self-regulation model of grandiose narcissism. This model illustrates an interconnected set of processes through which narcissists (i.e., individuals with relatively high levels of grandiose narcissism) pursue social status in their moment-by-moment transactions with their environments. The model shows that narcissists select situations that afford status. Narcissists vigilantly attend to cues related to the status they and others have in these situations and, on the basis of these perceived cues, appraise whether they can elevate their status or reduce the status of others. Narcissists engage in self-promotion (admiration pathway) or other-derogation (rivalry pathway) in accordance with these appraisals. Each pathway has unique consequences for how narcissists are perceived by others, thus shaping their social status over time. The model demonstrates how narcissism manifests itself as a stable and consistent cluster of behaviors in pursuit of social status and how it develops and maintains itself over time. More broadly, the model might offer useful insights for future process models of other personality traits.

From a young age, children are concerned about social status. Status indicates children's position within a social hierarchy (Anderson et al., 2015) and is often reflected in their popularity (i.e., social visibility, importance, and influence; Lease et al., 2002). Although the status motive is universal (Anderson et al., 2015), there might be individual differences in children's sensitivity to status gains and losses (McClelland, 1987). We propose that children's status sensitivity is positively associated with narcissism. We hypothesized that children with higher narcissism levels would show intensified positive and negative affective responsiveness to status gains and losses, and that so would their parents. We tested this idea in a randomized experiment, using facial electromyography (fEMG) to track

Several theories propose that narcissism is rooted in affective contingencies. Given narcissists’ focus on power, these contingencies should be strong in the power domain but not in the affiliation domain. We systematically investigated narcissists’ contingencies and explored whether these contingencies might link narcissism to social behavior. In a multimethod longitudinal study, we assessed unidimensional narcissism levels as well as two main narcissistic strategies: Admiration and rivalry. We measured 209 participants’ affective contingencies (i.e., affective responses to satisfying and frustrating experiences of power and affiliation) via self-reports (n = 207) and facial electromyography (fEMG, n = 201). In a 1-year follow-up, we observed participants’ power- and affiliation-related behaviors in the laboratory (valid n = 123). Results indicated that narcissism was linked to increased affective reactivity to power, and this pattern was present for both admiration and rivalry. Narcissism was unrelated to affective reactivity to affiliation, with an important exception: Individuals with higher levels of narcissistic rivalry exhibited decreased reactivity toward satisfactions and increased reactivity toward frustrations of affiliation. Results were more robust for self-reported than for fEMG-indexed reactivity. Although overall narcissism and narcissistic admiration were related to power-related behaviors 1 year later, affective contingencies did not generally account for these links. These findings inform why narcissists have a relatively strong power motive and why some narcissists high in rivalry have a relatively weak affiliation motive. More broadly, these findings provide insight into the affective contingencies underlying personality traits and call for research on the contexts in which these contingencies guide behavior.

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We propose a self-regulation model of grandiose narcissism. This model illustrates an interconnected set of processes through which narcissists (i.e., individuals with relatively high levels of grandiose narcissism) pursue social status in their moment-by-moment transactions with their environments. According to the model, narcissists select situations that afford status. Narcissists vigilantly attend to cues related to the status they and others have in these situations. Based on these perceived cues, narcissists appraise whether they can elevate their status or reduce the status of others. In accordance with these appraisals, narcissists engage in self-promotion (admiration pathway) or other-derogation (rivalry pathway). Each pathway has unique consequences for how narcissists are perceived by others, thus shaping their social status over time. The model we offer helps understand how narcissism manifests itself as a stable and consistent cluster of behaviors in pursuit of social status and how it develops and maintains itself over time. More broadly, the model might offer useful insights for future process models of other personality traits.