Do Narcissists Benefit from Materialistic Pursuits? Examining the Relation between Narcissistic Tendencies, Extrinsic Goals, and Well-Being

Abstract

Past research consistently finds that the pursuit of extrinsic goals detracts from our happiness and well-being, and instead contributes to ill-being. Despite the robustness of this finding, recent research suggests that people with narcissistic tendencies are more likely to derive meaning from extrinsic goals. We conducted a high-powered (n = 576) pre-registered study to examine whether exhibiting higher narcissistic tendencies relates to perceiving materialistic pursuits as being more meaningful and how this in turn influences well-being. Results indicate that having greater narcissistic tendencies was positively associated with perceiving extrinsic goals as being more meaningful, which in turn negatively predicted subjective and eudaimonic well-being, and positively predicted depression. Overall, while it may be the case that people with narcissistic tendencies gain some hedonic benefits from materialistic pursuits, the pursuit of extrinsic goals is negatively related to well-being, as consistent with self-determination theory. All study materials, pre-registration, data, and code can be found at osf.io/8629d.