Climbing up or falling down: Narcissism predicts physiological sensitivity to social status in children and their parents.

ABSTRACT: Children's narcissism may be rooted in sensitivity to social status (i.e., prominence, respect, and influence in a social group), and this sensitivity might be shared with parents. Testing this idea, a randomized experiment examined how children with high narcissism levels and their parents respond to gains and losses of social status. On a simulated social media platform, children (N = 123, ages 8-13) competed with fictitious peers for status and were randomly assigned to gain or lose status. Unbeknownst to children, parents viewed the course of the task. Children's and parents' affective reactions during the task were measured with facial electromyography, which detects spontaneous facial muscle activity linked to positive affect (i.e., zygomaticus major activity, involved in smiling) an

SUBMITTER: Grapsas S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8365742 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature