On the Popularity of Agentic and Communal Narcissists: The Tit-for-Tat Hypothesis. (September 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Rentzsch, Katrin; Gebauer, Jochen E.
• Is Part Of: Personality & social psychology bulletin. Volume 45:Number 9(2019)
• Page Start: 1365
• Page End: 1377
• Publication Date: 2019-09
• Subjects: grandiose narcissism -- agentic narcissism -- communal narcissism -- interpersonal liking -- social relations model; Personality -- Periodicals; Social psychology -- Periodicals; 302
• DOI: 10.1177/0146167218824359
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0146-1672

Abstract

Among well-acquainted people, those high on agentic narcissism are less popular than those low on agentic narcissism. That popularity-difference figures prominently in the narcissism literature. But why are agentic narcissists less popular? We propose a novel answer―the tit-for-tat hypothesis. It states that agentic narcissists like other people less than non-narcissists do and that others reciprocate by liking agentic narcissists less in return. We also examine whether the tit-for-tat hypothesis generalizes to communal narcissism. A large round-robin study ( N = 474) assessed agentic and communal narcissism (Wave 1) and included two round-robin waves (Waves 2-3). The round-robin waves assessed participants' liking for all round-robin group members (2, 488 informant-reports). The tit-for-tat hypothesis applied to agentic narcissists. It also applied to communal narcissists, albeit in a different way. Compared with non-narcissists, communal narcissists liked other people more and―in return―those others liked communal narcissists more. Our results elaborate on and qualify the thriving literature on narcissists' popularity.