Conditional Parochial Vicarious Ostracism: Gender Collective Narcissism Predicts Distress at the Exclusion of the Gender Ingroup in Women and Men

Abstract

Three experiments (two pre-registered) tested whether gender collective narcissism (i.e., a belief that one’s gender ingroup’s exceptionality is not sufficiently recognized by others) predicts parochial vicarious ostracism (i.e., feeling ostracized and distressed while recognizing the gender ingroup’s exclusion, but not when recognizing the exclusion of the gender outgroup). In all studies (overall N = 1480), gender collective narcissism was positively associated with distress among women who witnessed the exclusion of women, but not among men who witnessed the exclusion of women. In Study 3, gender collective narcissism was positively associated with distress among men who witnessed the exclusion of men, but not among women who witnessed the exclusion of men. These findings help explain why men do not universally feel distressed by the discrimination of women and why some women may mobilize to challenge gender discrimination.

Gender and National Collective Narcissism: Gender Asymmetries and Obstacles to Gender Equality

“…Next, we test measurement equivalence of the scale assessing gender collective narcissism (and, for comparison, gender ingroup satisfaction) across gender groups. Finally, we demonstrate that, as can be predicted from collective narcissism theory (Golec de Zavala, 2011Zavala, , 2023, gender collective narcissism among men and women is similarly associated with gender ingroup satisfaction, zero-sum beliefs and gender intergroup antagonism.…”

“…Collective narcissism, a specific evaluative aspect of ingroup identification, refers to a belief that the ingroup's exaggerated greatness is not sufficiently recognized by others (Golec de Zavala, 2011Zavala, , 2023. Collective narcissism is robustly associated with an inflated preoccupation with the ingroup image, exaggeration of intergroup threat, zero-sum perceptions of intergroup situations, and intergroup antagonism (for review of findings, Golec de Zavala & Lantos, 2020; Golec de Zavala et al, 2019).…”

The Father’s Love: Collective Narcissism and Defensive Reactions to Allegations about Pope John Paul II in Polish Public Opinion

“…This is illustrated by a robust association between CN and group-serving conspiracy theories (Golec de . CN is also associated with biased evaluations of people's actions, depending on whether the actions are perpetrated by the ingroup or the outgroup (Bocian et al 2021;Golec de Zavala et al, 2009;Golec de Zavala 2022;2023b;West et al 2022). CN, but not IS, is linked to denial of collective political responsibility for past transgressions by the ingroup (Dyduch-Hazar et al 2019;Kazarovytska and Imhoff, 2022).…”

Bright sides of tribal exaggeration?: Collective narcissism and tribal attitudes towards equality

“…They are also consistent with the literature suggesting that that intergroup conflict, when well-managed, has a potential of bringing up a constructive social change and more equal organization of societies but disadvantaged groups need to organize to collectively oppose their predicament (Dixon et al, 2012;Dixon & McKeown, 2021;Hässler et al, 2021). It seems that it is more likely that they will oppose their predicament and challenge the advantaged groups when they score high on collective narcissism and exaggerate their disadvantaged ingroup's image (Golec de Zavala, 2022;2023). That exaggeration may be needed to balance deficits and power imbalance in intergroup relations is not that surprising.…”