Narcissism and Prosociality: A Meta-Analysis
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Previous theoretical models and research have mainly focused on the general relationship between narcissism and prosocial behavior, the nuanced associations between different types of narcissism and various forms of prosociality remain underexplored through quantitative synthesis. To address this gap, we developed and tested a theoretical framework examining these distinctions. We conducted a meta-analysis of 397 effect sizes from 88 studies and 110 samples (total N = 111566) exploring the link between narcissism and prosociality. Using a three-level random effects meta-analysis (MLMA), we found no significant overall effect of narcissism on prosociality. However, narcissistic individuals tend to report engaging in more prosocial behaviors than they actually demonstrate. They are more likely to engage in public rather than anonymous prosocial behavior, self-interested rather than altruistic prosocial behaviors, nonmaterial rather than material prosocial behaviors, and demonstrate more prosocial behaviors in collectivist than individualistic cultures. Moreover, vulnerable narcissism exhibited stronger negative associations with overall, subjective, altruistic, material, and nonmaterial prosociality compared to grandiose narcissism. Relative to agentic extraversion, entitlement showed a stronger negative correlation with overall, objective, subjective, and altruistic prosociality. Narcissistic rivalry, compared to narcissistic admiration, showed stronger negative associations with overall, objective, subjective, altruistic, and nonmaterial prosociality. In contrast, communal narcissism was more positively correlated with overall prosociality, subjective prosociality, and altruistic prosociality than agentic narcissism. Additionally, collective narcissism was more positively related to overall prosociality than individual narcissism. These findings suggest that the relationship between narcissism and prosociality is nuanced, providing a theoretical framework for further research.
