I Am Great, but Only When I Also Want to Dominate: Maladaptive Narcissism Moderates the Relationship Between Adaptive Narcissism and Performance Under Pressure

What is it about?

In three experiments, this research demonstrated the interaction effect between the so-called adaptive (reflecting assertiveness and confidence) and maladaptive (reflecting personal control and dominance) narcissism under pressurised performance settings. Adaptive narcissism predicted superior task processing (assessed via behavioural and psychophysiological metrics) and better performance under pressure only when maladaptive narcissism was high but not low. The findings suggest adaptive narcissism is not as "good" as it was previously known, and maladaptive narcissism is more "adaptive" than its first impression, at least in performance settings. We suggest the use of "self-inflated" and "dominate" monikers to replace the "adaptive" and "maladaptive" conceptualisation, respectively, so as to better tackle the underpinning psychological qualities of these different aspects of grandiose narcissism.

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