Desperately Seeking Status: How Desires for, and Perceived Attainment of, Status and Inclusion Relate to Grandiose and Vulnerable Narcissism

Abstract

The desire for social status is theorized as being central to narcissism; however, research to date has focused exclusively on grandiose narcissism. We examined how desires for, and perceived attainment of, status and inclusion relate to grandiose narcissism, vulnerable narcissism, and three-factor models of narcissism. Two studies (total N = 676) found that all expressions of narcissism relate to a stronger desire for status. Within three-factor models, this relation was not due solely to variance shared by grandiose and vulnerable narcissism, but also to phenotype-specific components. Grandiose narcissism was also strongly associated with perceived attainment of status, but not desire for or perceived attainment of inclusion, whereas vulnerable narcissism was strongly associated with desire for inclusion, but not perceived attainment of status or inclusion. Three-factor models of narcissism revealed comparable results. The findings delineate the social and motivational profiles of different expressions of narcissism, helping to illuminate narcissism’s fundamental character.

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