Skip to main content

The Relation Between Narcissistic Personality Traits and Accurate Identification of, and Preference for, Facially Communicated Narcissism

Evolutionary Psychological Science volume 6, pages 166–173 (2020)Cite this article

Abstract

When evaluating someone as a potential social acquaintance, people prefer affiliative, pleasant individuals. This necessitates the evolution of perceptual acuity in distinguishing between genuinely prosocial traits and those connoting exploitative intentions. Such intentions can be readily inferred through facial structures connoting personality, even in the absence of other diagnostic cues. We sought to explore how self-reported narcissism, a personality constellation associated with inflated self-views and exploitative intentions, might facilitate one’s ability to detect narcissism in others’ faces as means of identifying social targets who could best satisfy potential exploitative goals. Participants viewed pairs of male and female targets manipulated to connote high and low levels of narcissism before identifying which appeared more narcissistic and indicating their preference among each pair. Narcissistic individuals were no better at accurately identifying other narcissists, but such individuals demonstrated considerable aversion to narcissistic faces. Women higher in exploitative narcissism additionally preferred narcissistic female faces, while men high in exploitative narcissism demonstrated similar patterns of aversion toward narcissistic male faces. Findings provide evidence that narcissistic individuals may adaptively avoid those whom they identify as having similar exploitative behavior repertoire, though when considering the exploitive dimension of narcissism specifically, sex differences emerged.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Fig. 1

Notes

  1. All data and materials are available: https://osf.io/5y6pb/

  2. When analyzing grandiose and vulnerable narcissism separately with target sex preference, both models revealed an interaction between narcissism type and target sex (preference/grandiose: F(1,336) = 7.911, p = 0.005, η2p = 0.023; preference/vulnerable: F(1,336) = 8.918, p = 0.016, η2p = 0.017). These interactions were driven by both higher vulnerable and grandiose narcissism predicting reduced preference for male narcissism (vulnerable: r(340) = − 0.097, p = 0.075; grandiose: r(340) = − 0.131, p = 0.016), but no relation to female narcissism preferences. Given the correlation between grandiose and vulnerable narcissism (r = 0.68) and the fact that they predict narcissism preferences similarly, we report analyses using the full-scale PNI in text. Further, grandiose and vulnerable narcissism were unrelated to narcissism detection accuracy (Fs < 0.635, ps > 0.426).

References

  • Adams, J., Hart, W., & Burton, K. (2015). I only like the idea of you: narcissists tolerate others’ narcissistic traits but not their corresponding behaviors. Personality and Individual Differences, 82, 232–236.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aitken, S. J., Lyons, M., & Jonason, P. K. (2013). Dads or cads? Women’s strategic decisions in the mating game. Personality and Individual Differences, 55, 118–122.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baughman, H. M., Jonason, P. K., Lyons, M., & Vernon, P. A. (2014). Liar liar pants on fire: cheater strategies linked to the Dark Triad. Personality and Individual Differences, 71, 35–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berenson, K., Ellison, W., & Clasing, R. (2017). Age differences in the desirability of narcissism. Journal of Individual Difference, 38, 230–240.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Borkenau, P., Mauer, N., Riemann, R., Spinath, F., & Angleitner, A. (2004). Thin slices of behavior as cues of personality and intelligence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86, 599–614.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Borkenau, P., Brecke, S., Möttig, C., & Paelecke, M. (2009). Extraversion is accurately perceived after a 50-ms exposure to a face. Journal of Research in Personality, 43, 703–706.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, M., & Sacco, D. F. (2016). Avoiding extraverts: pathogen concern downregulates preferences for extraverted faces. Evolutionary Psychological Science, 2, 278–286.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, M., & Sacco, D. F. (2017). Unrestricted sociosexuality predicts preferences for extraverted male faces. Personality and Individual Differences, 108, 123–127.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, M., Sacco, D. F., Lolley, K. P., & Block, D. (2017). Facing the implications: dangerous world beliefs differentially predict men and women’s aversion to facially communicated psychopathy. Personality and Individual Differences, 116, 1–5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, M., Sacco, D. F., & Medlin, M. M. (2019a). Approaching extraverts: socially excluded men prefer extraverted faces. Personality and Individual Differences, 137, 198–203.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, M., Sacco, D. F., & Medlin, M. M. (2019b). Sociosexual attitudes differentially predict men and women’s preferences for agreeable male faces. Personality and Individual Differences, 141, 248–251.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cheng, J. T., Tracy, J. L., & Henrich, J. (2010). Pride, personality, and the evolutionary foundations of human social status. Evolution and Human Behavior, 31(5), 334–347.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cosmides, L., & Tooby, J. (1992). Cognitive adaptations for social exchange. The adapted mind: evolutionary psychology and the generation of culture, 163, 163–228.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greiling, H., & Buss, D. (2000). Women’s sexual strategies: the hidden dimension of extra-pair mating. Personality and Individual Differences, 28, 929–963.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haselton, M. G., & Nettle, D. (2006). The paranoid optimist: an integrative evolutionary model of cognitive biases. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 10(1), 47–66.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Holtzman, N. (2011). Facing a psychopath: detecting the dark triad from emotionally-neutral faces, using prototypes from the Personality Faceaurus. Journal of Research in Personality, 45, 648–654.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holtzman, N., & Strube, M. (2010). Narcissism and attractiveness. Journal of Research in Personality, 44, 133–136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jauk, E., Neubauer, A., Mairunteregger, T., Pemp, S., Sieber, K., & Rauthmann, J. (2016). How alluring are dark personalities? The dark triad and attractiveness in speed dating. European Journal of Personality, 30, 125–138.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jonason, P., & Lavertu, A. (2017). The reproductive costs and benefits associated with the Dark Triad traits in women. Personality and Individual Differences, 110, 38–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jonason, P. K., Li, N. P., & Buss, D. M. (2010). The costs and benefits of the Dark Triad: implications for mate poaching and mate retention tactics. Personality and Individual Differences, 48, 373–378.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jonason, P. K., Wee, S., & Li, N. P. (2015). Competition, autonomy, and prestige: mechanisms through which the Dark Triad predict job satisfaction. Personality and Individual Differences, 72, 112–116.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Little, A., & Perrett, D. (2007). Using composite images to assess accuracy in personality attribution to faces. British Journal of Psychology, 98, 111–126.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lustgraaf, C. N. J., Sacco, D. F., & Young, S. G. (2015). Smiling and social perception: evolutionary, neuroscientific, and social cognitive considerations. Emotional expression: The brain and the face, 7, 115–147.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lyons, M., & Blanchard, A. (2016). “I could see, in the depth of his eyes, my own beauty reflected”: women’s assortative preference for narcissistic, but not for Machiavellian or psychopathic male faces. Personality and Individual Differences, 97, 40–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maner, J. K., Gailliot, M. T., Rouby, D. A., & Miller, S. L. (2007). Can’t take my eyes off you: Attentional adhesion to mates and rivals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93, 389–401.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Marcinkowska, U. M., Helle, S., & Lyons, M. T. (2015). Dark traits: sometimes hot, and sometimes not? Female preferences for Dark Triad faces depend on sociosexuality and contraceptive use. Personality and Individual Differences, 86, 369–373.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCain, J. L., Borg, Z. G., Rothenberg, A. H., Churillo, K. M., Weiler, P., & Campbell, W. K. (2016). Personality and selfies: narcissism and the Dark Triad. Computers in Human Behavior, 64, 126–133.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Minear, M., & Park, D. (2004). A lifespan database of adult facial stimuli. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 36, 630–633.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nevicka, B., De Hoogh, A., Van Vianen, A., & Ten Velden, F. (2013). Uncertainty enhances the preference for narcissistic leaders. European Journal of Social Psychology, 43, 370–380.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parkinson, B. (2005). Do facial movements express emotions or communicate motives? Personality and Social Psychology Review, 9, 278–311.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Penton-Voak, I., Pound, N., Little, A., & Perrett, D. (2006). Personality judgments from natural and composite facial images: more evidence for a “kernel of truth” in social perception. Social Cognition, 24, 607–640.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pincus, A., Ansell, E., Pimentel, C., Cain, N., Wright, A. G., & Levy, K. (2009). Initial construction and validation of the pathological narcissism inventory. Psychological Assessment, 21, 365–379. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016530.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rauthmann, J. F. (2011). Acquisitive or protective self-presentation of dark personalities? Associations among the Dark Triad and self-monitoring. Personality and Individual Differences, 51, 502–508.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rauthmann, J., & Kolar, G. (2013). The perceived attractiveness and traits of the Dark Triad: narcissists are perceived as hot, Machiavellians and psychopaths not. Personality and Individual Differences, 54, 582–586.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sacco, D. F., & Brown, M. (2018). The face of personality: adaptive inferences from facial cues are moderated by perceiver personality and motives. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 12, e12410.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sacco, D. F., Brown, M., Lustgraaf, C., & Young, S. (2017). Women’s dangerous world beliefs predict more accurate discrimination of affiliative facial cues. Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences, 11, 309–315.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sell, A., Hone, L. S., & Pound, N. (2012). The importance of physical strength to human males. Human Nature, 23, 30–44.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Simpson, J. A., Gangestad, S. W., Christensen, P. N. & Leck, K. (1999). Fluctuating asymmetry, sociosexuality, and intrasexual competitive tactics. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 159–172.

  • Taylor, S. E., Klein, L. C., Lewis, B. P., Gruenewald, T. L., Gurung, R. A., & Updegraff, J. A. (2000). Biobehavioral responses to stress in females: tend-and-befriend, not fight-or-flight. Psychological Review, 107, 411–429.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Thomas, K., Wright, A., Lukowitsky, M., Donnellan, M., & Hopwood, C. (2012). Evidence for the criterion validity and clinical utility of the pathological narcissism inventory. Assessment, 19, 135–145.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Vazire, S., Naumann, L. P., Rentfrow, P. J., & Gosling, S. D. (2008). Portrait of a narcissist: manifestations of narcissism in physical appearance. Journal of Research in Personality, 42, 1439–1447.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • You, J., Leung, F., Lai, K., & Fu, K. (2013). Factor structure and psychometric properties of the pathological narcissism inventory among Chinese university students. Journal of Personality Assessment, 95, 309–318.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zebrowitz, L. A., & Collins, M. A. (1997). Accurate social perception at zero acquaintance: the affordances of a Gibsonian approach. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 1, 204–223.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology, The University of Southern Mississippi, Owings-McQuagge Hall 226, Hattiesburg, MS, 39401, USA

    Mary M. Medlin

  2. The University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS, USA

    Donald F. Sacco

  3. Fairleigh Dickinson University, Teaneck, NJ, USA

    Mitch Brown

Authors
  1. Mary M. Medlin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Donald F. Sacco
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Mitch Brown
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mary M. Medlin.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Medlin, M.M., Sacco, D.F. & Brown, M. The Relation Between Narcissistic Personality Traits and Accurate Identification of, and Preference for, Facially Communicated Narcissism. Evolutionary Psychological Science 6, 166–173 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40806-019-00224-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40806-019-00224-x

Keywords

  • Narcissism
  • Face perception
  • Personality preference
  • Evolutionary psychology