Narcissistic Leadership in Children

• In Event: 3-055 - The Developing Self: New Findings on its Social Origins and Functions

Integrative Statement

Introduction: The past decades have witnessed a global rise of narcissistic leaders, who have grandiose views of themselves and crave the respect of their followers (Watts et al., 2013). However, the developmental emergence of narcissistic leadership is unknown. Our study, for the first time, examined narcissistic leadership in childhood, when narcissism first emerges. Building on evolutionary theories of self-deception (Trivers, 1976) and implicit leader theory (Lord & Maher, 1991), we hypothesized that narcissistic children would radiate an image of an effective leader, even when they lacked actual leadership skills. We tested our hypothesis in a randomized experiment within an ecologically valid group task.
Method: In a sample of 332 children (ages 7-14) recruited in the Netherlands, we first assessed children’s narcissism levels and the extent to which children were perceived by their classmates as true leaders. Narcissism was conceptualized as an everyday personality trait and indexed using the 10-item Childhood Narcissism Scale (e.g., “I am a very special person;” Thomaes et al., 2008). We then assigned children to 3-person groups and gave them a hidden profile task (i.e., a group task in which information was distributed among group members so that the optimal decision remained hidden unless group members thoroughly pooled their unique knowledge). One child was randomly assigned to be the leader, who was responsible for the group decision. Afterwards, group members rated the leader’s authority and effectiveness. Group interactions were videotaped; independent coders assessed the leader’s information sharing and leadership behaviors.
Results: Narcissistic children were perceived by their classmates as true leaders, r = .21, p < .001. When assigned a leadership role, narcissistic children perceived themselves as authoritarian and effective leaders, r = .25, p = .010, and r = .20, p = .042, respectively. In that context, however, their followers did not perceive them as authoritarian or effective leaders, ps > .306. Importantly, narcissistic leaders did not display more leadership behaviors, did not share more unique information with their group members, and did not lead their group to select the ideal decision more often, ps > .492.
Discussion: From a young age, narcissists see themselves as excellent leaders, are seen by others as excellent leaders, but lack the actual leadership skills to substantiate these perceptions. These findings shed new light on the adaptiveness of narcissism. By radiating an image of an excellent leader, narcissistic children may be able to convince others to provide them with resources (e.g., leadership positions) that otherwise might be unavailable to them. Thus, narcissism may help children make favorable impressions on others and thus acquire social status within their groups. Contrary to what has been found in narcissistic adults (Nevicka et al., 2011), narcissistic children did not hamper group performance, which suggests that timely intervention may prevent the toxic effects of narcissistic leadership.

Authors

• Eddie Brummelman, University of Amsterdam
  Presenting Author

• Barbara Nevicka, University of Amsterdam
  Non-Presenting Author