Narcissists are drawn to a particular kind of news story, psychologists find
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A new study published in the Journal of Research in Personality suggests that individuals high in antagonistic narcissism are more likely to gravitate toward antisocial news content while showing less interest in stories about prosocial behavior. This tendency appears to be related to lower levels of empathy and a greater need for intense stimulation, traits commonly linked with antagonistic forms of narcissism. The findings point to a psychological pattern in how narcissistic individuals consume social information.
Narcissistic individuals tend to display a grandiose view of themselves, a preoccupation with status, and low regard for others. Much prior research has explored how narcissists behave in interpersonal situations—as the central actors or “protagonists”—often revealing a pattern of manipulative or hostile behavior. But social life also includes observing others, such as through news and media.
This study focused on what narcissists prefer to observe, particularly in terms of prosocial (helping) versus antisocial (harming) behavior in others. Prior work had already shown that narcissists often respond more favorably to antisocial behavior in others and evaluate prosocial individuals more negatively. What remained unknown was whether this pattern began even earlier in the information-processing pipeline: in the initial act of choosing what to pay attention to.
The researchers proposed that narcissists, especially those high in antagonistic traits such as arrogance and aggression, may prefer antisocial news content that reflects their own worldview. Drawing on person-environment fit theory, they suggested that individuals are drawn to environments and information that align with their own traits and values. In this case, narcissistic individuals may experience a better fit with antisocial content and a poorer fit with prosocial material.
“Broadly, my research is motivated by an interest in how narcissistic individuals engage with the communal side of social life — aspects such as cooperation, morality, and kindness,” said study author Jiafang Chen of the University of Amsterdam.
“This angle has received much less attention compared to the traditional focus on power, achievement, and social status. I believe that examining the communal dimension offers fresh insights into how narcissists shape their social environments, especially since they often end up in leadership positions and serve as role models. A natural starting point is to examine how narcissistic individuals are drawn to different kinds of social information in daily life, which both reflects who they are and reinforces their behavioral patterns.”
The research involved two main studies and a set of pilot studies to design the news headline task. First, the team created and tested news headlines classified as antisocial, prosocial, or neutral. They made sure these headlines differed in perceived social impact but were equally interesting and exciting to read. This allowed them to isolate the effects of narcissistic traits on content preference without confounding factors like novelty or shock value.
For instance, antisocial headlines included: “Supervisor sexually harasses multiple interns” and “Mother and daughter throw stones at sleeping animals in a zoo.” Prosocial headlines featured examples like “Steep increase in blood donors” and “Passerby helps fallen blind person get up.” Neutral headlines included more observational or factual events, such as “First passengers try high-speed vacuum pods” or “250 million users active on Snapchat each day.”
In the first main study, 253 participants completed a narcissism questionnaire and then chose ten out of thirty news headlines they would like to read. The headlines were evenly distributed among the antisocial, prosocial, and neutral categories. The researchers found that people with higher levels of antagonistic narcissism were more likely to pick antisocial headlines and less likely to select prosocial ones, compared to those lower in antagonistic narcissism.
The second study replicated these findings in a separate sample of 294 participants. This time, the researchers also measured three possible underlying traits that could explain the narcissists’ choices: their social motives, their capacity for empathy, and their level of sensation seeking. The idea was that narcissists might choose antisocial information not simply because they enjoy it, but because it better fits with their internal traits.
The findings showed that narcissistic individuals were less empathetic and more likely to seek intense, novel experiences—both of which were linked to a stronger preference for antisocial content and a weaker interest in prosocial content. Importantly, these two traits (low empathy and high sensation seeking) statistically accounted for the relationship between narcissism and information preference.
Content retrieved from: https://www.psypost.org/narcissists-are-drawn-to-a-particular-kind-of-news-story-psychologists-find/.
