Our versus their narcissist: Are narcissistic persons more popular in their ingroup than in a competing outgroup?

In this registered report (N = 423), we investigated in a competitive intergroup context to what extent the perception of targets scoring high in grandiose narcissism varies depending on whether they belong to one’s own group or to an opposing outgroup. In a laboratory study, members of newly formed groups had direct contact with another group and competed for scarce resources. Contrary to our hypothesis, perceivers did not ascribe targets scoring high in narcissistic admiration higher status when they belonged to their ingroup versus the outgroup. Also unexpectedly, they did not like targets scoring high in narcissistic rivalry better when they belonged to their ingroup. Instead, our findings indicate that narcissistic admiration was generally linked to more dominant-expressive behavior and that participants had a stronger inclination to interpret a specific behavior as aggressive when it was shown by a member of the outgroup, rather than a member of the ingroup.