Rivalry and admiration-seeking in a social competition: From traits to behaviors through contextual cues

Anna Szücs, Elizabeth A. Edershile, Aidan G. C. Wright, Alexandre Y. Dombrovski

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

To gain social status, humans employ two strategies, rivalry and admiration-seeking, and these strategies are over-expressed in trait narcissism, according to the Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Concept (NARC) and the Status Pursuit in Narcissism (SPIN) model. Whether one engages in rivalry or admiration-seeking behaviors is thought to depend on the interaction between underlying traits and status-relevant social cues, with status threats encouraging rivalry and status-boosting experiences encouraging admiration-seeking. However, experimental studies of how traits and environment influence rivalry and admiration-seeking are lacking, and we do not know whether status-relevant cues selectively activate congruent traits (i.e., whether defeat primarily activates trait rivalry and victory, trait admiration-seeking). We used a rigged video game tournament with three randomized blocks with defeat manipulations of varying intensity, measuring behavioral rivalry (stealing points from opponents) and admiration-seeking (paying to boost rank in the tournament) in a sample of 434 undergraduates assessed for trait rivalry and trait admiration-seeking with the Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire. We found trait-congruent main effects: behavioral rivalry scaled with trait rivalry and behavioral admiration-seeking with trait admiration-seeking. Exploratory analyses found modest support for trait × environment interactions wherein trait rivalry primarily increased status-pursuit behaviors following defeats and trait admiration-seeking following victories. However, these effects were not robust. These results support the NARC's two-dimensional conceptualization of narcissistic grandiosity. Future studies with greater within-subject power are needed to test the interactionist model of status pursuit.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)429-440
Number of pages12
JournalPersonality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment
Volume14
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2023

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health, Maryland, USA (Alexandre Y. Dombrovski, grants R01MH100095 and R01MH048463). The authors report no competing interests

FundersFunder number
National Institute of Mental HealthR01MH048463, R01MH100095
National Institute of Mental Health

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