Poland sample: We will rescue Italy, but we dislike the European Union... Collective narcissism and the COVID-19 threat

We will rescue Italy, but we dislike the European Union: Collective narcissism and the COVID-19 threat. Magdalena Żemojtel-Piotrowska et al. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, April 15, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1177/13684302211002923

Abstract: Collective narcissists are hostile towards outgroup members, especially in response to threats against the ingroup. In the current study (N = 662; Polish community sample), we examined the associations between collective narcissism and intergroup relations using the agency–communion model of collective narcissism during the initial weeks of the COVID-19 threat in Poland. Assuming the COVID-19 threat is agentic (i.e., related to biological and economic danger), we expected it to be unrelated to collective narcissism’s communal aspect. We also expected that collective narcissists would enhance their ingroup image to modify the effects of the COVID-19 threat on intergroup relations. In general, collective narcissism was related to less favorable attitudes toward the European Union, more favorable attitudes toward China, and a willingness to help Italians. The agentic aspect of narcissism was unrelated to intergroup prosocialness, while the communal aspect of narcissism was unrelated to attitudes toward the European Union. The COVID threat suppressed unfavorable attitudes towards the European Union among collective narcissists. Therefore, the COVID threat has limited yet unexpected effects on attitudes toward outgroups among collective narcissists.

Keywords: agency–communion model, collective narcissism, coronavirus, intergroup relations, threat

Discussion

We examined how collective narcissists perceive two possible threatening outgroups in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, looking into the general effects of collective narcissism and its agentic and communal aspects. We also examined how collective narcissists express their willingness to help outgroup victims of the pandemic. We based our predictions on the distinction between agentic and communal ingroup enhancement, resulting in higher sensitivity of agentic collective narcissists toward an agentic threat, and higher prosocialness and positive attitudes toward nonthreatening outgroups among communal collective narcissists (Żemojtel-Piotrowska et al., in press). Following intergroup threat theory (Stephan et al., 2009), we assumed that the pandemic was an example of a realistic threat pertaining to the agentic domain (Ybarra et al., 2008). Our study provided further evidence of the utility of splitting collective narcissism into agentic and communal forms, indicating that agentic (and not communal) collective narcissism is related to higher sensitivity toward realistic agentic threats. We did so using a real-life situation, the COVID-19 pandemic, to test our assumptions on a general Polish sample.

We found that collective narcissism (in general and in their agentic form) was related to less favorable attitudes towards the EU, confirming previous findings (Cisłak et al., 2020; Guerra et al., 2017). Higher levels of collective narcissism (i.e., in general and in its communal form) were related to more positive attitudes toward China. Only communal collective narcissism was related to more prosocialness toward Italians. Consistent with our assumption about the agentic nature of the COVID-19 threat, the communal aspect of narcissism was unrelated to higher perceived threat of the virus. People perceiving the coronavirus as a threat also perceived the EU more favorably, and tended to perceive China less favorably. Therefore, the only relationship between collective narcissism and attitudes toward the EU was mediated by perceived threat. Negative attitudes expressed by collective narcissists towards the EU were suppressed by individual differences in perceived threat of the virus. However, this suppression was unrelated to the agentic and the communal aspects of collective narcissism. Collective narcissism was positively related to both outgroup hostility and intergroup prosocialness. However, negative attitudes towards the EU were unrelated to the communal aspect of collective narcissism. In contrast, intergroup prosocialness toward Italians and favorable attitudes toward China were unrelated to collective narcissism’s agentic aspect. Therefore, collective narcissists may use communal and agentic means of ingroup enhancement, but only agentic motives underlying global collective narcissism are evoked by COVID-19.

Our study revealed paradoxical effects of collective narcissism on intergroup relations. Collective narcissism is predominantly agentic (Żemojtel-Piotrowska et al., in press) and, for this reason, agentic threats should not affect intergroup relations in the communal domain. Collective narcissism might be accompanied by ambivalent attitudes toward the EU, as the bloc may be perceived by Polish people as a threat to their national interests and independence (Guerra et al., 2017); yet, at the same time, the EU could serve as an ally in the joint battle against the COVID-19 and other global threats. It is plausible that the pandemic evoked some kind of “common enemy” effect, followed by a recategorization of the EU from outgroup to ingroup (Flade et al., 2019). Our study suggests that perceived threat from COVID-19 did not affect attitudes toward China, probably reflecting its ambivalent perception as both victim and to blame for the pandemic. Lastly, Italians were probably perceived by communal collective narcissists as members of an outgroup because national narcissism operates on national identification (Golec de Zavala et al., 2009), making all non-Poles (in our case) outgroup members. Helping outgroup members could satisfy the communal collective narcissist’s need for external validation through enacting ingroup moral virtues like globalism, caring for the ill, and helping the less fortunate.

Direct effects of collective narcissism on attitudes toward outgroups were much stronger than (mostly nonsignificant and weak) indirect ones, suggesting that the COVID-related threat had limited effect on how (Polish) collective narcissists perceive outgroups. Such a result suggests that the core of collective narcissism could be sensitive to threats, while its two aspects (i.e., agentic and communal) are manifestations of ingroup enhancement insensitive to threats. Therefore, our study points to the complex nature of collective narcissism as a blend of vulnerability and grandiosity (Golec de Zavala et al., 2019; Sedikides, 2020).

Limitations and Future Directions

Our study was conducted on a culturally homogenous sample in a relatively affluent society that had not been seriously affected by the pandemic at the time of data collection (< .02% of the Polish population [< 38 million people] as of April 15, 2020). While we collected data over 3 weeks, considering that infection rates across these weeks were relatively stable (i.e., Poland experienced no surge in infection rates over this period), it is reasonable to assume that there was cross-weekly equivalence in our measurements.⁵ Despite experimental studies suggesting that collective narcissism could increase in response to threat (Golec de Zavala et al., 2019), our study aimed to detect collective narcissism’s consequences for intergroup relations. However, in follow-up studies, the mutual effects of threat and collective narcissism should be controlled for.

In general, attitudes toward the EU were more favorable than toward China (see Table 1), confirming the study’s ecological validity. Our participants reported relatively high levels of perceived threat, yet the threat of COVID-19 appears to have had only a negligible effect on collective narcissists’ attitudes toward outgroups. Collective narcissists merely manifested less favorable attitudes toward the EU and more favorable ones toward China, even though collective narcissists experience threat due to agentic motives. While the effects detected in our study were small, they resemble previous findings (Golec de Zavala et al., 2009, 2016).

In addition, our study was limited by its correlational design. Subsequent research might adopt quasi-experimental or experimental methods to better determine the causal effects of the COVID-19 threat on attitudes towards outgroups, and the potential moderating/mediating role of agentic and communal collective narcissism. Further studies could elaborate more on other possible mediators and factors relevant to the link between collective narcissism and attitudes toward outgroups, such as ingroup enhancement (i.e., agentic/communal), social desirability, or cultural distance from outgroups.