Chapter 34
Narcissism and Brand Name Consumerism
Constantine Sedikides,
Sylwia Cisek,
Claire M. Hart,
Constantine Sedikides
Search for more papers by this authorSylwia Cisek
Search for more papers by this authorClaire M. Hart
Search for more papers by this authorConstantine Sedikides,
Sylwia Cisek,
Claire M. Hart,
Constantine Sedikides
Search for more papers by this authorSylwia Cisek
Search for more papers by this authorClaire M. Hart
Search for more papers by this authorBook Editor(s):W. Keith Campbell,
Joshua D. Miller,
W. Keith Campbell
Search for more papers by this authorJoshua D. Miller
Search for more papers by this authorSummary
The link between narcissism and brand name consumerism is explored. Brand name items are proposed to play a self-regulatory role for narcissists. Both grandiose and vulnerable forms of narcissism are discussed.
References
- Abelson, R. P. (1986). Beliefs are like possessions. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 16, 223–250.
- Alicke, M. D., & Sedikides, C. (2009). Self-enhancement and self-protection: What they are and what they do. European Review of Social Psychology, 20, 1–48.
- Banerjee, A., & Duflo, E. (2007). The economic lives of the poor. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 21, 141–167.
- Baumeister, R. F., & Vohs, K. D. (2001). Narcissism as addiction to esteem. Psychological Inquiry, 12, 206–210.
- Beaglehole, E. (1932). Property: A study in social psychology. New York, NY: Macmillan.
- Belk, R. W. (1985). Materialism: Trait aspects of living in the material world. Journal of Consumer Research, 13, 265–280.
- Belk, R. W. (1988). Possessions and the extended self. Journal of Consumer Research, 15, 139–168.
- Benson, A. (2000). I shop, therefore I am: Compulsive buying and the search for self. New York, NY: Aronson.
- Bogart, L. M., Benotsch, E. G., & Pavlovic, J. D. (2004). Feeling superior but threatened: The relationship of narcissism to social comparison. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 26, 35–44.
- Boldero, J., Hulbert, C., Lim, C. M. J., Wright, B., Aytekin, S., & Meaklim, H. (2007). The contributions of personality and self-esteem to overt and covert narcissism. Paper presented at the 10th Annual Conference of International Society for the Study of Personality Disorders, The Hague, The Netherlands.
-
Bosson, J. K.,
Lakey, C. E.,
Campbell, W. K.,
Zeigler-Hill, V.,
Jordan, C. H., &
Kernis, M. H.
(2008).
Untangling the links between narcissism and self-esteem: A theoretical and empirical review.
Social and Personality Psychology Compass,
2,
1415–1439.
10.1111/j.1751-9004.2008.00089.x Google Scholar
- Bosson, J. K., & Prewitt-Freilino, J. L. (2007). Overvalued and ashamed: Considering the roles of self-esteem and self-conscious emotions in covert narcissism. In J. L. Tracy, R. W. Robins, & J. P. Tangney (Eds.), The self-conscious emotions: Theory and research ( 2nd ed., pp. 407–425). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
- Bradlee, P. M., & Emmons, R. A. (1992). Locating narcissism within the interpersonal circumplex and the five-factor model. Personality and Individual Differences, 13, 821–830.
- Braun, O. L., & Wicklund, R. A. (1989). Psychological antecedents of conspicuous consumption. Journal of Economic Psychology, 10, 161–187.
- Burroughs, J. E., & Rindfleish, A. (2002). Materialism and well-being: A conflicting values perspective. Journal of Consumer Research, 29, 348–369.
- Campbell, W. K., Bosson, J. K., Goheen, T. W., Lakey, C. E., & Kernis, M. H. (2007). Do narcissists dislike themselves “deep down inside”? Psychological Science, 18, 227–229.
- Campbell, W. K., & Buffardi, L. E. (2008). The lure of the noisy ego: Narcissism as a social trap. In H. Wayment & J. Bauer (Eds.), Quieting the ego: Psychological benefits of transcending egotism (pp. 23–42). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
- Campbell, W. K., & Foster, J. D. (2007). The narcissistic self: Background, an extended agency model, and ongoing controversies. In C. Sedikides & S. Spencer (Eds.), Frontiers in social psychology: The self (pp. 115–138). Philadelphia, PA: Psychology Press.
- Campbell, W. K., Rudich, E., & Sedikides, C. (2002). Narcissism, self-esteem, and the positivity of self-views: Two portraits of self-love. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28, 358–368.
- Chang, L., & Arkin, R. M. (2002). Materialism as an attempt to cope with uncertainty. Psychology & Marketing, 19, 389–406.
- Chaplin, L. N., & John, D. R. (2007). Growing up in a material world: Age differences in materialism in children and adolescents. Journal of Consumer Research, 34, 480–493.
- Christopher, A. N., & Schlenker, B. R. (2000). The impact of perceived material wealth and perceiver personality on first impressions. Journal of Economic Psychology, 21, 1–19.
- Cohen, P., & Cohen, J. (1996). Life values and adolescent mental health. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
- Cryder, C. E., Lerner, J. S., Cross, J. J., & Dahl, R. E. (2008). Misery is not miserly: Sad and self-focused individuals spend more. Psychological Science, 19, 525–530.
-
Csikszentmihalyi, M., &
Rochberg-Halton, E.
(1981).
The meaning of things: Domestic symbols and the self.
Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
10.1017/CBO9781139167611 Google Scholar
- Davis, C., Claridge, G., & Cerullo, D. (1997). Personality factors and weight preoccupation: A continuum approach to the association between eating disorders and personality disorders. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 31, 467–480.
- Dittmar, H. (1991). Meanings of material possessions as reflections of identity. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 6, 165–186.
- Dittmar, H., & Drury, J. (2000). Self-image—Is it in the bag? Journal of Economic Psychology, 21, 106–145.
- Dixon, S. C., & Street, J. W. (1975). The distinction between self and non-self in children and adolescents. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 127, 157–162.
- Dunning, D. (2007). Self-image motives and consumer behaviour: How sacrosanct self-beliefs sway preferences in the marketplace. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 17, 237–249.
- Ellis, L. (1985). On the rudiments of possessions and property. Social Science Information, 24, 113–143.
- Emmons, R. A. (1987). Narcissism: Theory and measurement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 11–17.
- Finkel, E. J., Campbell, W. K., Kumashiro, M., & Rusbult, C. E. (2009). The metamorphosis of narcissus: Communal activation promotes relationship commitment among narcissists. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 35, 1271–1284.
- Foster, J. D., Misra, T. A., & Reidy, D. E. (2009). Narcissists are approach-oriented toward their money and their friends. Journal of Research in Personality, 43, 764–769.
- Foster, J. M., & Trimm, R. F., IV. (2008). On being eager and uninhibited: Narcissism and approach-avoidance motivation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 1004–1017.
- Fournier, S., & Richins, M. L. (1991). Some theoretical and popular notions concerning materialism. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 6, 403–414.
- Freud, S. (1914/1957). On narcissism: An introduction. In J. Strachey (Ed. and Trans.), The standard edition of the complete psychological words of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 16, pp. 67–102). London, England: Hogarth Press.
- Fromm, E. (1976). To have or to be? New York, NY: Harper & Row.
- Gebauer, J. E., & Sedikides, C. (2010). Narcissism and resilience. Unpublished manuscript, University of Southampton.
- Ger, G., & Belk, R. W. (1996). Cross-cultural differences in materialism. Journal of Economic Psychology, 1, 55–77.
- Gregg, A. P., & Sedikides, C. (2010). Narcissistic fragility: Rethinking its links to explicit and implicit self-esteem. Self and Identity, 9, 142–161.
- Holtzman, N. S., & Strube, M. J. (2010). Narcissism and attractiveness. Journal of Research in Personality, 44, 133–136.
- Horton, R. S., & Sedikides, C. (2009). Narcissistic responding to ego threat: When the status of the evaluator matters. Journal of Personality, 77, 1493–1525.
- James, W. (1890). The principles of psychology (Vol. 1). New York, NY: Henry-Holt.
- Jordan, C. H., Spencer, S. J., Zanna, M. P., Hoshino-Browne, E., & Correll, J. (2003). Implicit self-esteem, explicit self-esteem and defensiveness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 969–978.
-
Kasser, T.
(2002).
The high price of materialism.
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
10.7551/mitpress/3501.001.0001 Google Scholar
- Kasser, T., & Kasser, V. G. (2001). The dreams of people high and low in materialism. Journal of Economic Psychology, 22, 693–719.
- Kasser, T., & Ryan, R. M. (1993). A dark side of the American dream: Correlates of financial success as a central life aspiration. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 410–422.
- Kasser, T., & Ryan, R. M. (1996). Further examining American dream: Differential correlates of intrinsic and extrinsic goals. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22, 280–287.
- Kasser, T., & Sheldon, K. M. (2000). Of wealth and death: Materialism, mortality salience, and consumption behaviour. Psychological Science, 11, 352–355.
- Kernberg, O. (1975). Borderline conditions and pathological narcissism. New York, NY: Jason Aronson.
- Kohut, H. (1976). The restoration of the self. New York, NY: International Universities Press.
- Konrath, S., Bushman, B. J., & Campbell, K. W. (2006). Attenuating the link between threatened egotism and aggression. Psychological Science, 17, 995–1001.
- Kressman, F., Sirgy, J. M., Herman, A., Huber, S., & Lee, D. J. (2006). Direct and indirect effects of self-image congruence on brand loyalty. Journal of Business Research, 59, 955–964.
- Lowen, A. (2004). Narcissism: Denial of the true self. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.
- McCarthy, E. D. (1984). Toward a sociology of the physical world: George Herbert Mead on physical objects. In N. K. Denzen (Ed.), Studies in symbolic interactionism (pp. 105–121). Greenwich, CT: JAI.
- Miller, J. D., & Campbell, W. K. (2008). Comparing clinical and social-personality conceptualizations of narcissism. Journal of Personality, 76, 450–476.
- Miller, J. D., Campbell, W. K., Young, D. L., Lakey, C. E., Reidy, D. E., Zeichner, A., & Goodie, A. S. (2009). Examining the relations among narcissism, impulsivity, and self-defeating behaviors. Journal of Personality, 77, 761–793.
- Miller, J. D., Dir, A., Gentile, B., Wilson, L., Pryor, L. R., & Campbell, W. K. (2010). Searching for a vulnerable dark triad: Comparing factor 2 psychopathology, vulnerable narcissism, and borderline personality disorder. Journal of Personality, 78, 1529–1564.
- Morf, C. C., Davidov, M., & Ansara, D. (2010). Strategic regulation of desired identity images in response to opportunities and threats: Effects of audience characteristics on narcissistic self-presentation. Manuscript submitted for publication.
- Morf, C. C., Horvath, S., & Torchetti, L. (2011). Narcissism: Tales of a (successful?) self-enhancer. In M. D. Alicke & C. Sedikides (Eds.), The handbook of self-enhancement and self-protection (pp. 399–424). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
- Morf, C. C., Horvath, S., & Zimmermann, T. (2010). In the mind of a male narcissist: Worthlessness primes aggression. Manuscript submitted for publication.
- Morf, C. C., & Rhodewalt, F. (2001). Unraveling the paradoxes of narcissism: A dynamic self-regulatory processing model. Psychological Inquiry, 12, 177–196.
-
O'Shaughnessy, J., &
O'Shaughnessy, N. J.
(2002).
Marketing, the consumer society and hedonism.
European Journal of Marketing,
36,
524–547.
10.1108/03090560210422871 Google Scholar
- Passas, N. (1997). Anomie, reference groups, and relative deprivation. In N. Passas & R. Agnew (Eds.), The future of anomie theory. Boston, MA: Northeastern University Press.
- Raskin, R., & Terry, H. (1988). A principal-component analysis of the narcissistic personality inventory and further evidence of its construct validity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 890–902.
- Reidy, D. E., Zeichner, A., Foster, J. D., & Martinez, M. A. (2008). Effects of narcissistic entitlement and exploitativeness on human physical aggression. Personality and Individual Differences, 44, 865–875.
- Rhodewalt, F., Madrian, J. C., & Cheney, S. (1998). Narcissism, self-knowledge organization, and emotional reactivity: The effect of daily experiences on self-esteem and affect. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24, 75–87.
- Richins, M. L. (1994). Special possessions and the expression of material values. Journal of Consumer Research, 21, 522–533.
- Richins, M., & Dawson, S. (1992). Materialism as a consumer value: Measure development and validation. Journal of Consumer Research, 19, 303–316.
- Roberts, B. W., & Robins, R. W. (2000). Broad dispositions, broad aspirations: The intersection of the big five dimensions and major life goals. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 26, 1284–1296.
- Rokeach, M. (1973). The nature of human values. New York, NY: Free Press.
- Rose, P. (2007). Mediators of the association between narcissism and compulsive buying: The roles of materialism and impulse control. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 21, 576–581.
- Rosenthal, S. A. (2005). The fine line between confidence and arrogance: Investigating the relationship of self-esteem to narcissism. Dissertation Abstracts International, 66 (05), 2868B. (UMI No. 3174022).
- Ryan, R. M. (1993). Agency and organization: Intrinsic motivation, autonomy, and the self in psychological development. In J. Jacobs (Ed.), Nebraska symposium on motivation (Vol. 40, pp. 1–56). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
- Sartre, J.-P. (1943/1958). Being and nothingness: An essay on phenomenological ontology ( H. E. Barnes, Trans.). London, England: Routledge.
- Schroeder, J. E., & Dugal, S. S. (1995). Psychological correlates of the materialism construct. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 10, 243–253.
- Schwartz, B. (1994). The costs of freedom: How market freedom erodes the best things in life. New York, NY: Norton.
- Sedikides, C., Campbell, W. K., Reeder, G., Elliot, A. J., & Gregg, A. P. (2002). Do others bring out the worst in narcissists? The “Others Exist for Me” illusion. In Y. Kashima, M. Foddy, & M. Platow (Eds.), Self and identity: Personal, social, and symbolic (pp. 103–123). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
- Sedikides, C., & Gregg, A. P. (2001). Narcissists and feedback: Motivational surfeits and motivational deficits. Psychological Inquiry, 12, 237–239.
- Sedikides, C., & Gregg, A. P. (2008). Self-enhancement: Food for thought. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 3, 102–116.
- Sedikides, C., Gregg, A. P., Cisek, S., & Hart, C. M. (2007). The I that buys: Narcissists as consumers. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 17, 254–257.
- Sedikides, C., Rudich, E. A., Gregg, A. P., Kumashiro, M., & Rusbult, C. (2004). Are normal narcissists psychologically healthy?: Self-esteem matters. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87, 400–416.
- Sirgy, J. (1982). Self-concept in consumer behavior: A critical review. Journal of Consumer Research, 9, 287–300.
- Sivanathan, N., & Pettit, N. C. (2010). Protecting the self through consumption: Status goods as affirmational commodities. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46, 564–570.
- Solomon, M. R. (1983). The role of products as social stimuli: A symbolic interactionist perspective. Journal of Consumer Research, 10, 319–329.
- Thomaes, S., Bushman, B. J., de Castro, B. O., Cohen, G. L., & Denissen, J. J. A. (2009). Reducing narcissistic aggression by buttressing self-esteem. Psychological Science, 20, 1536–1542.
- Tuan, Y.-F. (1980). The significance of the artifact. Geographical Review, 70, 462–472.
- Vazire, S., & Funder, D. C. (2006). Impulsivity and the self-defeating behavior of narcissists. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 10, 154–165.
- Vazire, S., Naumann, L. P., Rentfrow, P. J., & Gosling, S. D. (2008). Portrait of a narcissist: Manifestations of narcissism in physical appearance. Journal of Research in Personality, 42, 1439–1447.
- Veblon, T. (1899). The theory of the leisure class. New York, NY: Macmillan.
- Vigneron, F., & Johnson, L. W. (1999). A review and a conceptual framework of prestige-seeking consumer behavior. Academy of Marketing Science Review, 1, 1–23.
- Vohs, K. D., Mead, N. L., & Goode, M. R. (2006). The psychological consequences of money. Science, 314, 1154–1156.
- Wallace, H. M., & Baumeister, R. F. (2002). The performance of narcissists rises and falls with perceived opportunity for glory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, 819–834.
- Wicklund, R. A., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (1982). Symbolic self-completion. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
-
Yurchisin, J., &
Johnson, K.K.P.
(2004).
Compulsive buying behaviour and its relationship to perceived social status associated with buying, materialism, self-esteem, and apparel-product involvement.
Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal,
32,
291–314.
10.1177/1077727X03261178 Google Scholar
- Zeigler-Hill, V. (2006). Discrepancies between implicit and explicit self-esteem: Implications for narcissism and self-esteem instability. Journal of Research in Personality, 74, 119–143.
- Zeigler-Hill, V., & Myers, E. M. (2008). The fragile self-esteem of narcissists. In J. C. Hagen & E. I. Jensen (Eds.), Personality disorders: New research (pp. 69–88). Hauppauge, NY: Nova.
- Zeigler-Hill, V., Myers, E. M., & Clark, C. B. (2010). Narcissism and self-esteem reactivity: The role of negative achievement events. Journal of Research in Personality, 44, 285–292.
- Zhang, Y., & Schrum, L. J. (2009). The influence of self-construal on impulsive consumption. Journal of Consumer Research, 35, 838–850.
- Zuckerman, M., & O'Loughlin, R. E. (2009). Narcissism and well-being: A longitudinal perspective. European Journal of Social Psychology, 39, 957–972.
