Ohmann, Katharina and Burgmer, Pascal ORCID: 0000-0003-3664-0539 (2016). Nothing compares to me: How narcissism shapes comparative thinking. Pers. Individ. Differ., 98. S. 162 - 171. OXFORD: PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD. ISSN 0191-8869

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Abstract

Feeling special feels good. This may be particularly true for individuals with narcissistic tendencies who put great emphasis on distinctiveness and uniqueness in relation to others. But how do people arrive at the conclusion that they are special? Psychological research has identified social comparisons as a powerful means to inform such judgments about the self. The present research investigates whether narcissism may be related to a particular strategy of comparative thinking. Specifically, we expected that narcissistic individuals-presumably to meet an elevated need for uniqueness-would predominantly focus on differences (as opposed to similarities) when engaging in comparisons. To test this prediction, four studies investigated how narcissism shapes comparative thinking in social and nonsocial judgment domains. The first two studies revealed that narcissistic personality tendencies were positively related to an informational focus on differences during habitual comparisons in both social and nonsocial contexts (Studies la and lb). Two additional studies extended this relation between narcissism and difference focus to the domain of spontaneous social and nonsocial comparisons (Studies 2a and 2b). Such a content-free processing style during comparative thinking may assist narcissists to increase their feelings of distinctiveness, and may ultimately contribute to the rise and maintenance of narcissistic tendencies. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Item Type: Journal Article
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCIDORCID Put Code
Ohmann, KatharinaUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
Burgmer, PascalUNSPECIFIEDorcid.org/0000-0003-3664-0539UNSPECIFIED
URN: urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-267803
DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2016.03.069
Journal or Publication Title: Pers. Individ. Differ.
Volume: 98
Page Range: S. 162 - 171
Date: 2016
Publisher: PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
Place of Publication: OXFORD
ISSN: 0191-8869
Language: English
Faculty: Unspecified
Divisions: Unspecified
Subjects: no entry
Uncontrolled Keywords:
KeywordsLanguage
SELF-EVALUATION MAINTENANCE; PERSONALITY-INVENTORY; PATHOLOGICAL NARCISSISM; EMPATHY; ENHANCEMENT; ASSIMILATION; PSYCHOLOGY; CONSUMERS; ACCURACY; VALIDITYMultiple languages
Psychology, SocialMultiple languages
Refereed: Yes
URI: http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/26780

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