Status, rivalry and admiration-seeking in narcissism and depression: A behavioral study

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 behav...

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Published in:	PloS one Vol. 15; no. 12; p. e0243588
Main Authors:	Szücs, Anna, Szanto, Katalin, Adalbert, Jade, Wright, Aidan G C, Clark, Luke, Dombrovski, Alexandre Y
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States Public Library of Science 03-12-2020 Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Subjects:	Adult Behavior Biology and Life Sciences Competitive Behavior Competitiveness Computer & video games Depression (Mood disorder) Depression - psychology Emotional behavior Female Humans Interpersonal Relations Male Medicine and Health Sciences Mental depression Middle Aged Morals Motivation Narcissism Patient outcomes Psychiatry Psychological aspects Rivalry Self Concept Social interactions Social rank Social Sciences Young Adult Canada United States Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Vancouver British Columbia Canada United States > US Pennsylvania
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Summary:	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.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
ISSN:	1932-6203 1932-6203
DOI:	10.1371/journal.pone.0243588