Narcissism, the Experience of Pain, and Risky Decision Making.

Melissa T Buelow,Amy B Brunell

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01128

Melissa T Buelow, Amy B Brunell

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01128

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Abstract

Personality characteristics and situational factors are known to influence performance on behavioral decision making tasks; however, variability exists in the relationship between narcissism and decision making. In addition, recent research suggests that the presence of acute pain can negatively affect decisions, and even the threat of pain can also cause changes in decision making. Narcissists are known to experience social pain differently than non-narcissists, but relatively little is known about how physical pain is experienced. The present study examined the influence of both pain and narcissism on risky decision making task performance. Participants (n = 248) completed assessments of the narcissistic admiration and rivalry concept as well as vulnerable narcissism. They were asked to complete a pain recall task before administration of the Balloon Analog Risk Task (BART), Columbia Card Task (CCT), Game of Dice Task (GDT), and Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). Although individuals who recalled a socially painful experience took less risks on the IGT across trials, no effect of narcissism was seen on any of the tasks. Recalling a physically or socially painful situation did not negatively affect decision making on the BART, CCT, or GDT. Results are discussed in the context of previous research on narcissism, pain, and cognitive task performance.

Highlights

Individuals engage in risk-taking behaviors with potential negative consequences for health and well-being
Data was missing for the Balloon Analog Risk Task (BART) (n = 9), Columbia Card Task (CCT) (n = 11), Game of Dice Task (GDT) (n = 16), and Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) (n = 10) (3.6–6.5% of data by task)
Gender was correlated with performance on the IGT, so gender was included as a covariate in the remaining analyses

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Individuals engage in risk-taking behaviors with potential negative consequences for health and well-being. Grandiose narcissists take greater risks on a monetary gambling task (Yang et al, 2018b) but not on tasks such as the BART or IGT (Crysel et al, 2013; Brunell and Buelow, 2017) Specific narcissistic traits such as entitlement, rather than GN, do relate to performance on behavioral tasks (Brunell and Buelow, 2017), indicating the need for a more detailed examination of the elements of narcissism that affect risk-taking behavior. To the best of our knowledge, no research to date examined this topic from the lens of the Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Concept (Back et al, 2013), a conceptualization that appears well-designed to assess narcissism’s effects on decision making following a painful experience. We predicted higher levels of narcissistic admiration and rivalry would predict greater risky decision making following a pain recall task (no specific hypothesis was made about VN)

Participants

Procedure

Data Analysis and Results

DISCUSSION

ETHICS STATEMENT