Narcissism and displaced aggression: Effects of positive, negative, and delayed feedback

Narcissism is related to direct aggression following negative evaluation or rejection and this link may be explained via the theory of threatened egotism. It is unclear whether narcissism is also related to displaced aggression (DA) – that is, aggression towards an innocent victim uninvolved in the initial provocation. In this study we examined the relation between narcissism and DA following positive, negative, or a delayed evaluation (i.e., evaluation following the completion of the reaction time task) of the participants’ writing skills by an “objective” computer assessment instrument. Participants were undergraduates who competed in a reaction time task against an opponent (i.e., a confederate). Initial provocation in this study was conceptualized as the evaluation feedback the participants received prior to competing in the reaction time task. DA was defined as bogus electric shocks administered by participants to their opponents (who were uninvolved in the prior evaluation) during the reaction time task prior to receiving any shocks from the opponent. Narcissism was significantly positively related to DA and this effect was stronger in the delayed condition than in the negative or positive feedback condition. These findings suggest that narcissistic individuals are likely to act aggressively towards innocent others under conditions where there is uncertainty with regard to potential damage to their self-perceptions of superiority.