Do narcissists gain meaning in life via conspicuous consumption?

Abstract

Grandiose narcissism, a multifaceted personality trait characterised by self-absorption, vanity, and entitlement, has been positively associated with luxury consumption. Previous theorising suggests that narcissists’ luxury purchases are socially motivated, thus reflect conspicuous consumption; the consumption of luxurious products to display one’s status, wealth, and self-image to others. Given narcissists’ desire to maintain a grandiose self, their extravagant and fashionable purchases are thought to serve as a kind of self-regulatory strategy to signal status, uniqueness, and trendiness to others. Until now, this has not been empirically tested.

My research addresses the contradictory findings that extrinsic goals, such as conspicuous consumption, are consistently negatively associated with well-being, yet narcissists appear to be psychologically healthy. Specifically, in a series of studies I examine whether narcissists benefit psychologically from pursuing extrinsic goals because they gain meaning in life (MIL) from them. Although one study has demonstrated that the extrinsic goal of wealth predicted higher MIL in narcissists, no study had assessed whether narcissists gain state MIL from conspicuous consumption. In a programmatic sequence of five studies, I delve into the complexity of what aspirations are meaningful for narcissists, demonstrate that narcissists’ luxury purchases are indeed socially motivated (thus reflects conspicuous consumption), and analyse whether narcissists can gain meaning from their conspicuous consumption. The implications that this may have at the individual, societal, and environmental level are discussed, as are the strengths and limitations with the range of methodologies used.

Throughout the studies, two distinct forms of grandiose narcissism (admiration and rivalry) are assessed. Their often-opposing associations, both with aspirations and with the presence of meaning in life, reveal potential explanations for past inconsistent findings (in studies that have only assessed overall grandiose narcissism). This highlights the importance for research on narcissism to control for these relatively adaptive and maladaptive forms.

Key words: Grandiose Narcissism, Conspicuous Consumption, Meaning in Life

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Identifiers

ORCID for Claire Hart: orcid.org/0000-0003-2175-2474

ORCID for Constantine Sedikides: orcid.org/0000-0003-4036-889X

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