Narcissistic for the People: Narcissists and Non-narcissists Disagree about How to Make a Good Impression

We theorized that the self-promotion of a narcissist arises, in part, from greater endorsement of self-promotion as an effective means to make a good impression. Furthermore, we suspected that this endorsement follows from narcissists' stronger expectations that an agentic image is instrumental to making a good impression. To test these ideas, participants in the present study completed an index of narcissism along with measures of beliefs about whether demonstrating agentic traits and engaging in self-promotion produce a good impression on others. Lastly, participants completed two indices of their own self-promotion behavior. A latent regression revealed that narcissism was positively associated with the belief that agentic traits are instrumental to making a good impression, which, in turn, predicted endorsement of self-promotion as a means to make a good impression. This enhanced endorsement of self-promotion in turn predicted participants' tendency to self-promote. The evidence here suggests how narcissists' self-promotion can originate from well-intentioned attempts to make a positive impression.