Grandiose narcissists tend to show reduced neural sensitivity to errors

Two studies of students in the U.K. revealed that individuals with pronounced grandiose narcissism traits tended to show blunted neural activity in response to errors. It is possible that this is the mechanism through which narcissists resist correcting themselves, bolstering their positive self-views. The paper was published in the Journal of Personality.

Narcissism is a personality trait characterized by grandiosity, a strong need for admiration, and a tendency toward self-centeredness. Two major forms of narcissism are grandiose and vulnerable narcissism. Grandiose narcissism is marked by confidence, extraversion, and exhibitionism, whereas vulnerable narcissism involves defensiveness, insecurity, and hypersensitivity to criticism.

Individuals high in narcissism tend to be very interested in seeking status and recognition. They often appear charismatic and competent to others. However, they tend to struggle with empathy and prioritize personal gain over collective welfare. Because of this internal contrast, narcissism is linked to both short-term social success and long-term relational instability.

In leadership contexts, narcissistic individuals may make bold, visionary decisions but also take excessive risks. Theoretical models suggest that narcissists either mask underlying insecurity or maintain a robust self-view through cognitive distortions and avoidance of negative feedback.

Lead author Esther M. Robins and her colleagues wanted to examine the association between narcissism—particularly grandiose agentic narcissism—and error-related negativity (ERN). ERN is a neural marker of error-processing detectable using electroencephalography (EEG). It is a rapid negative deflection in the EEG signal that occurs approximately 50 milliseconds after an individual makes an error. It reflects early neuronal processes of error detection generated in the anterior cingulate cortex region of the brain. To investigate this, the researchers conducted two studies.

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The first study included a final analyzed sample of 144 undergraduate students from the University of Southampton (approximately 81% of whom were women). The students completed the Eriksen Flanker Task while an EEG device recorded their brain activity. Afterward, they completed an assessment of narcissism (the Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire). The Eriksen Flanker Task is a cognitive task in which participants respond to a target stimulus while ignoring surrounding distractor stimuli (flankers). It is commonly used to measure selective attention, response conflict, and cognitive control.

The second study replicated the procedure of the first, with the addition that students received feedback after each trial telling them whether their response was correct or incorrect. This allowed the study authors to test whether the blunted neural response to errors found in the previous study extends to situations in which performance failures are clearly signaled by external sources.

In this setup, there were two conditions: students were told that their feedback was either being signaled by two researchers in another room or that it was computer-generated. While 120 undergraduate students from the University of Southampton were initially recruited, the final analyzed sample consisted of 50 participants (80% female), as a number of participants had to be excluded for not making enough errors to record a reliable EEG signal.

Results of the first study showed that error-related negativity responses were clearly detectable and markedly stronger when participants were incorrect than when their answer was correct. They were strongest over the Fz electrode location (i.e., over the frontal midline of the scalp). Individuals with more pronounced grandiose narcissism tended to show a weaker (less negative) error-related negativity response. This indicated that these individuals’ early neural response to errors was blunted.

Results of the second study conceptually replicated the findings of the first. Even with explicit external feedback, individuals with more pronounced narcissism tended to show less negative (weaker) error-related negativity responses. This association was evident for both the admiration and rivalry facets of grandiose narcissism, though the effect was stronger for the admiration facet.

“Higher admiration and rivalry narcissism were associated with a blunted (less negative) error-related negativity. The results are consistent with the metacognitive model of narcissism, showing that grandiose narcissists exhibit reduced neural sensitivity to errors. These findings highlight a potential mechanism through which narcissists resist self-corrective learning, bolstering their positive self-views. Blunted error processing may influence decision-making and behavior across contexts,” the study authors concluded.

The study contributes to the scientific understanding of the neural underpinnings of narcissism. However, it should be noted that the study was conducted solely on predominantly white, British university students. Results in other demographic, cultural, and age groups may differ.

The paper, “Narcissism Is Associated With Blunted Error-Related Brain Activity,” was authored by Esther M. Robins, Zhiwei Zhou, Chengli Huang, Douglas J. Angus, Constantine Sedikides, and Nicholas J. Kelley.