Abstract
Humans seek admiration to boost their social rank and engage in rivalry to protect it when fearing defeat. Traits such as narcissism and affective states such as depression are thought to influence perception of rank and motivation for dominance in opposite ways, but evidence of the underlying behavioral mechanisms is scant. We investigated the effects of dimensionally-assessed narcissism and depression on behavioral responses to social defeat in a rigged video game tournament designed to elicit rivalry (stealing points from opponents) and admiration-seeking (paying for rank). We tested an undergraduate sample (N = 70, mean age = 21.5 years) and a clinical sample of predominantly depressed elderly (N = 85, mean age = 62.6 years). Both rivalry and admiration-seeking increased with time on task and were particularly enhanced in individuals high in narcissism. Participants engaged in more rivalry when pitted against high-ranked opponents, but depression partially mitigated this tendency. Our findings provide behavioral evidence that narcissism manifests in increased rivalry and admiration-seeking during social contests. Depression does not suppress general competitiveness but selectively inhibits upward-focused rivalry.
Highlights
As primates whose survival and reproduction depend on our standing in a group, we integrate social comparisons, victories, and defeats into an implicit estimate of our social status or rank
Rivalry and admiration-seeking in narcissism and depression: A behavioral study observed an increase of both behaviors with time on task, which was further enhanced by narcissism
With respect to the level of competitive engagement, we observed no consistent effect of narcissism but found that upward-focused rivalry was inhibited by depression
Summary
As primates whose survival and reproduction depend on our standing in a group, we integrate social comparisons, victories, and defeats into an implicit estimate of our social status or rank. I.e. the hierarchical rank manifested through our behavior, is recalibrated following unexpected outcomes of social comparisons against others [4]. We tend to avoid confrontations with superiors without a reasonable probability of success [5] and prefer same-level comparisons, which give a better chance of increasing our status while remaining reasonably safe [6]. Individuals, as well as firms, political parties, and sports teams act more competitively when facing -ranked counterparts than stronger ones [7,8,9,10].
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