When and why do individuals high in narcissistic rivalry attain social status?

The current registered report investigated whether individuals high in narcissistic rivalry are more likely to attain status when they have the opportunity to punish uncooperative group members than when they have the opportunity to share their resources with other group members. We conducted a lab-based behavioral experiment (N = 644) in which groups of seven to nine persons interacted in a modified version of the repeated public goods game with punishment. As expected, narcissistic rivalry was more positively related to social status among participants who had the opportunity to punish free riders than among participants who had the opportunity to share their resources. Among participants with opportunity to punish free riders, narcissistic rivalry was positively linked to punishment behavior (r = .14), but we only found anecdotal evidence that those high in narcissistic rivalry also attained status (β = .05). Among participants with opportunity to share their resources, narcissistic rivalry was negatively related to contributing behavior (r = −.25) and status attainment (β = −.19). The extent to which individuals high in narcissistic rivalry benefit the group and attain status appears to depend on the situation, as the situation affects how narcissistic rivalry is expressed and how others evaluate these expressions.

Plain language summary

We wanted to find out whether people who are antagonistic, competitive, and self-centered (i.e., people high in narcissistic rivalry) are more likely to become influential and admired in groups when they can punish uncooperative group members rather than when they can share resources with other group members. We conducted a study with 644 people. The people interacted with each other via computers in seven- to nine-person groups. In each group, about half of the members had the opportunity to share resources with all other group members. Afterwards, the other half of the group members saw how much the members from the first half had shared and they had the opportunity to punish group members from the first half. Among the group members who had the opportunity to share resources, those with high narcissistic rivalry tended to share less and were less likely to become influential and admired in the group. Among the group members who had the opportunity to punish other group members, those with high narcissistic rivalry tended to punish more and were a bit more likely to become influential and admired. But the evidence for them gaining status was weak. It seems like the extent to which individuals with high narcissistic rivalry help the group and gain status depends on the situation. The situation appears to influence how their competitive nature is shown and how others see it.