Four Treasures Reference Database
Record No. 28202

Wealth and the inflated self: Class, entitlement, and narcissism

Journal Article
Piff, P.K. (2014) Wealth and the inflated self: Class, entitlement, and narcissism. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 40, No. 1, pp. 34–43.
Sinkankas/Born No.: NIS/NIB  |  RWHL*
gems, AI, artificial intellegence, pyschology, income inequality
Americans may be more narcissistic now than ever, but narcissism is not evenly distributed across social strata. Five studies demonstrated that higher social class is associated with increased entitlement and narcissism. Upper-class individuals reported greater psychological entitlement ([1a], [1b], and [2]) and narcissistic personality tendencies ([2]), and they were more likely to behave in a narcissistic fashion by opting to look at themselves in a mirror ([3]). Finally, inducing egalitarian values in upper-class participants decreased their narcissism to a level on par with their lower-class peers ([4]). These findings offer novel evidence regarding the influence of social class on the self and highlight the importance of social stratification in understanding basic psychological processes.