A recent study conducted in Australia found that highly intelligent grandiose narcissists (whose intelligence quotient is above 115 or 120) are less likely to display narcissistic rivalry. The study, which was published in Personality and Individual Differences, revealed that the link between narcissistic admiration and narcissistic rivalry weakens significantly among those with higher intelligence.
Grandiose narcissism is a personality trait associated with individuals who have an inflated sense of self-importance, a strong need for admiration, and a tendency to exaggerate their own abilities and achievements. People with grandiose narcissism often exhibit a sense of entitlement, a desire for power and control, and a lack of empathy towards others.
This trait can be divided into two components: narcissistic admiration and narcissistic rivalry. Narcissistic admiration involves an excessive self-centered desire to be admired by others. It encompasses a deep yearning for constant praise, recognition, and validation of one’s perceived superiority and uniqueness. It is often driven by an inflated sense of self-importance and the need for external validation. On the other hand, narcissistic rivalry entails a need to devalue others, a desire to witness their failures, and aggression towards them.
Both of these tendencies contribute to maintaining and reinforcing the individual’s grandiose self-perception, but they operate in slightly different ways. While narcissistic admiration leads individuals to overestimate their intelligence, narcissistic rivalry makes them less forgiving towards others.
Furthermore, narcissistic admiration is the default behavior of grandiose narcissists, whereas narcissistic rivalry tends to be triggered reactively when their grandiose self-perception is threatened—for example, when someone outperforms them or when the narcissist fails in their endeavors. This is why researchers suggest that narcissistic rivalry may be more evident in grandiose narcissists with a history of failures.
Study authors Gilles E. Gignac and Marcin Zajenkowski note that grandiose narcissists who are less intelligent might be more likely to fail in what they do, making them in turn more prone to narcissistic rivalry. They reasoned that, if that is the case, the association between narcissistic admiration (the default mode of behavior of grandiose narcissists) and narcissistic rivalry will be much stronger in less intelligent individuals than in intelligent (and thus more successful) ones.
The researchers conducted an online survey with 363 Australian undergraduate students and an additional 59 adults from the general community, with 58% of the participants being female. The average age of the participants was 20, ranging from 17 to 35. The survey included assessments of grandiose narcissism and intelligence, as well as self-assessments of intelligence.
Participants completed assessments of grandiose narcissism (the Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire) and three different assessments of intelligence (the Paper Folding test, the Baddeley 3-min reasoning test, and the Synonym Test). Participants also provided self-assessments of their intelligence (the Self-Report Intelligence Questionnaire and a rating scale where they indicated how high their intelligence is compared to the general population).
Results showed that, on the whole group, participants who showed higher narcissistic admiration also tended to show higher narcissistic rivalry. More intelligent participants also tended to estimate their own intelligence as higher. Participants with higher levels of narcissistic admiration tended to estimate their own intelligence as higher, although they tended to have poorer scores on intelligence tests.
Participants with more pronounced narcissistic rivalry both tended to score lower on intelligence tests and estimated their own intelligence as lower. Additional analysis showed that the association between narcissistic rivalry and admiration was greatly diminished in participants with higher intelligence levels.
“Narcissistic admiration and rivalry undoubtedly correlate positively and appreciably. However, assuming an admiration ➔ rivalry developmental point of view, higher levels of objective intelligence, possibly through an awareness of the futility of narcissistic rivalry behaviors and, correspondingly, through greater life achievements may help mitigate the development of narcissistic rivalry in grandiose narcissists,” the study authors concluded.
The study provides a valuable contribution to the scientific understanding of narcissism. However, it also has limitations that need to be taken into account. Notably, the sample consisted of young people. Studies on older age group might not yield the same results. Additionally, the study design does not allow any cause-and-effect conclusions to be made.
The paper, “Intelligent grandiose narcissists are less likely to exhibit narcissistic rivalry”, was authored by Gilles E. Gignac and Marcin Zajenkowski.