What is it about?

It is about the psychology of 'iPhone' users (and probably other 'iDevice'' users too) in terms of their 'narcissistic' tendencies. 'iPhone' users exhibit higher levels of narcissism in comparison to non 'iPhone' smartphone users. However the increase is only in the 'good' component of narcissism (as in leadership and adaptation skills) and not in the bad component (as in entitlement rage and exploitativeness).

Featured Image

Why is it important?

It can serve 2 purposes 1. In basic personality assessment through ascertaining the brand of smartphone being used by the subject (very easy as smartphones are one of the most visible consumption). 2. Gifting 'iPhone' to improve the adaptive narcissism level (there by leadership and adaptive ability) in targets

Perspectives

'iPhone' is one of the most widely used and aspired brand of premium smartphone and its users are distinctly different in their personality. Writing this article revealed how people use brands to signal about themselves to others and how the iconic 'iDevices' have become a part of this social signalling using brands. The article also brought me closer to the legend of 'Apple', the people and the ideas that gave birth to the most successful modern product brand.

Sanjeev MA
Jaipuria Institute of Management

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: iPhone as a proxy indicator of adaptive narcissism: An empirical investigation, Psychology and Marketing, July 2019, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1002/mar.21243.
You can read the full text:

Read

Contributors

The following have contributed to this page