Narcissists may seem self-assured, but new research shows they often feel excluded — and their behavior may be making things worse. Hallmarks of narcissm include an inflated sense of one’s importance, a hunger for admiration and negative response to criticism. The new research — published Feb. 20 in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology — found that folks with those personality traits are more likely to be left out socially than their peers. And this rejection only reinforces their narcisstic behaviors, creating what the authors described as a self-perpetuating cycle. “Ostracism — being excluded and ignored — has severe, negative consequences,” they wrote. “Many people think of narcissism in terms of entitlement and arrogance, but our research highlights that narcissists also frequently experience social pain,” lead researcher Christiane Büttner of the University of Basel in Switzerland told The Washington Post. To explore the link between narcissism and exclusion, researchers analyzed data from multiple surveys and experiments conducted in Germany, the U.S., Britain, Switzerland and New Zealand. The study focused on “grandiose narcissists.” These are folks who display dominance, rivalry and are extra sensitive to social cues. This form of narcissism differs from “vulnerable narcissism,” which is more closely linked to insecurity, researchers noted. “One of the biggest questions going into this research was whether narcissists might actually report less ostracism because their grandiose self-image… read on > read on >
