When is narcissism associated with low empathy? A meta-analytic review

Abstract

Narcissism is commonly associated with low empathy, but empirical studies have used diverse methods, yielding mixed findings. The present meta-analysis examined the overall magnitude of the association between grandiose and vulnerable narcissism and affective and cognitive empathy (N = 32200). Grandiose narcissism was significantly negatively associated with self-reported cognitive (r = −0.085) and affective (r = −0.145) empathy. When empathy was measured behaviourally, grandiose narcissism was significantly associated only with affective empathy (r = −0.251) but not cognitive empathy (r = −0.052). Vulnerable narcissism was significantly negatively associated with self-reported cognitive and affective empathy (r = −0.179 and r = −0.105 respectively). The association between vulnerable narcissism and cognitive empathy measured behaviourally was not significant (r = −0.069). The association between narcissism and empathy is nuanced and depends on various conceptual and methodological factors.