Silver tongues, plastic pens: modality-dependent persuasiveness in narcissists
Silver tongues, plastic pens: modality-dependent persuasiveness in narcissists
Grandiose narcissists claim to be highly persuasive, and they possess characteristics (e.g., charisma, confidence) that might make them so. We report four studies that put their claims to the test. One study focused on spoken persuasion and three on written persuasion (N = 872 speakers/writers and 987 targets who rated persuasiveness). In all four studies, narcissistic speakers/writers claimed that their speeches/essays would be persuasive. However, whereas targets rated their speeches as relatively persuasive (Study 1), they rated their essays as relatively unpersuasive (Studies 2A–C). Differences between study samples and methods preclude direct comparisons between communication modalities. Nevertheless, the results offer a proof of concept that narcissists may not be as persuasive as they think they are, especially when writing. (120 words)
Narcissism, persuasion, communication modality, written modality, , spoken modality
Foster, Joshua D.
be43ca58-c2f9-4672-a6ff-af74f3cff13d
Leunissen, Joost M.
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Nevicka, Barbara
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Sedikides, Constantine
9d45e66d-75bb-44de-87d7-21fd553812c2
Foster, Joshua D.
be43ca58-c2f9-4672-a6ff-af74f3cff13d
Leunissen, Joost M.
a876e4c4-c5a8-4b2a-8f6e-fd455f4f693c
Nevicka, Barbara
4123a863-7482-40e1-8424-b511126fd9a4
Sedikides, Constantine
9d45e66d-75bb-44de-87d7-21fd553812c2
Foster, Joshua D., Leunissen, Joost M., Nevicka, Barbara and Sedikides, Constantine
(2025)
Silver tongues, plastic pens: modality-dependent persuasiveness in narcissists.
Journal of Research in Personality.
(In Press)
Abstract
Grandiose narcissists claim to be highly persuasive, and they possess characteristics (e.g., charisma, confidence) that might make them so. We report four studies that put their claims to the test. One study focused on spoken persuasion and three on written persuasion (N = 872 speakers/writers and 987 targets who rated persuasiveness). In all four studies, narcissistic speakers/writers claimed that their speeches/essays would be persuasive. However, whereas targets rated their speeches as relatively persuasive (Study 1), they rated their essays as relatively unpersuasive (Studies 2A–C). Differences between study samples and methods preclude direct comparisons between communication modalities. Nevertheless, the results offer a proof of concept that narcissists may not be as persuasive as they think they are, especially when writing. (120 words)
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Foster et al., in press, JRP
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Accepted/In Press date: 19 August 2025
Keywords:
Narcissism, persuasion, communication modality, written modality, , spoken modality
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Local EPrints ID: 505417
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/505417
ISSN: 0092-6566
PURE UUID: 757c1b2f-f343-432a-b725-3365e14c79b1
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Date deposited: 08 Oct 2025 16:31
Last modified: 09 Oct 2025 01:38
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Contributors
Author:
Joshua D. Foster
Author:
Joost M. Leunissen
Author:
Barbara Nevicka
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