Populists combine anti-elitism with a conviction that they hold a superior vision of what it means to be a true citizen of their nation. We expected support for populism to be associated with national collective narcissism—an unrealistic belief in the greatness of the national group, which should increase in response to perceived in-group disadvantage. In Study 1 (Polish participants; n = 1,007), national collective narcissism predicted support for the populist Law and Justice party. In the experimental Study 2 (British participants; n = 497), perceived long-term in-group disadvantage led to greater support for Brexit and this relationship was accounted for by national collective narcissism. In Study 3 (American participants; n = 403), group relative deprivation predicted support for Donald Trump and this relationship was accounted for by national collective narcissism. These associations were present even when we controlled for conventional national identification. We discuss implications of the link between collective narcissism and support for populism.

References

Adorno, T . ( 1998 ). Critical models: Interventions and catchwords. New York, NY : Columbia University Press . (Original work published 1963)

Google Scholar

Blanchar, J. C., Eidelman, S. ( 2013 ). Perceived system longevity increases system justification and the legitimacy of inequality . European Journal of Social Psychology, 43, 238 – 245 . doi:10.1002/ejsp.1960

Google Scholar ISI

Bullock, J. G., Green, D. P., Ha, S. E. ( 2010 ). Yes, but what’s the mechanism? (Don’t expect an easy answer) . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98, 550 – 558 . doi:10.1037/a0018933

Google Scholar Medline | ISI

Cameron, J. E. ( 2004 ). A three-factor model of social identity . Self and Identity, 3, 239 – 262 . doi:10.1080/13576500444000047

Google Scholar ISI

Cichocka, A. ( 2016 ). Understanding defensive and secure in-group positivity: The role of collective narcissism . European Review of Social Psychology, 27, 283 – 317 . doi:10.1080/10463283.2016.1252530

Google Scholar ISI

Cichocka, A., Dhont, K., Makwana, A. ( 2017 ). On self-love and outgroup hate: Opposite effects of narcissism on prejudice via social dominance orientation and right-wing authoritarianism . European Journal of Personality, 31, 366 – 384 . doi: 10.1002/per.2114

Google Scholar Medline | ISI

Cichocka, A., Golec de Zavala, A., Marchlewska, M., Bilewicz, M., Jaworska, M., Olechowski, M. (In Press). Personal control decreases narcissistic but increases non-narcissistic in-group positivity . Journal of Personality. doi:10.1111/jopy.123281025

Google Scholar

Cichocka, A., Górska, P., Jost, J. T., Sutton, R., Bilewicz, M. (in press). What inverted U can do for your country: A curvilinear relationship between confidence in the social system and political engagement . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. doi: 10.1037/pspp0000168.

Google Scholar

Cichocka, A., Marchlewska, M., Golec de Zavala, A., Olechowski, M. ( 2016 ). ‘They will not control us’: Ingroup positivity and belief in intergroup conspiracies . British Journal of Psychology, 107, 556 – 576 . doi:10.1111/bjop.12158

Google Scholar Medline | ISI

Cohen, J. ( 1988 ). Statistical power analysis for the behavioural sciences. Hillside, NJ : Lawrence Earlbaum Associates .

Google Scholar

Cramer, K. J. ( 2016 ). The politics of resentment: Rural consciousness in Wisconsin and the rise of Scott Walker. Chicago, IL : University of Chicago Press .

Google Scholar

Dixon, J., Levine, M., Reicher, S., Durrheim, K. ( 2012 ). Beyond prejudice: Are negative evaluations the problem and is getting us to like one another more the solution? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 35, 411 – 425 . doi:10.1017/S0140525X11002214

Google Scholar Medline | ISI

Doosje, B., Loseman, A., Bos, K. ( 2013 ). Determinants of radicalization of Islamic youth in the Netherlands: Personal uncertainty, perceived injustice, and perceived group threat . Journal of Social Issues, 69, 586 – 604 . doi:10.1111/josi.12030

Google Scholar ISI

Farage, N. ( 2016 , 6 20 ). Nigel Farage: Why you should vote for Brexit this Thursday . Independent. Retrieved from http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/eu-referendum-brexit-nigel-farage-on-why-you-should-vote-to-leave-a7091021.html

Google Scholar

Fromm, E. ( 1973 ). The anatomy of human destructiveness. London, England : Pimlico/Random House .

Google Scholar

Golec de Zavala, A. ( 2010 ). Negative evaluation of the group increases collective narcissism and intergroup hostility under intergroup threat (Working Paper). London, England : British Academy .

Google Scholar

Golec de Zavala, A. ( 2011 ). Collective narcissism and intergroup hostility: The dark side of ‘in-group love’ . Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 5, 309 – 320 . doi:10.1111/j.1751-9004.2011.00351.x

Google Scholar

Golec de Zavala, A., Cichocka, A. ( 2012 ). Collective narcissism and anti-Semitism in Poland . Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 15, 213 – 229 . doi:10.1177/1368430211420891

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

Golec de Zavala, A., Cichocka, A., Bilewicz, M. ( 2013 ). The paradox of in-group love: Differentiating collective narcissism advances understanding of the relationship between in-group and out-group attitudes . Journal of Personality, 81, 16 – 28 . doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.2012.00779.x

Google Scholar Medline | ISI

Golec de Zavala, A., Cichocka, A., Iskra-Golec, I. ( 2013 ). Collective narcissism moderates the effect of in-group image threat on intergroup hostility . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 104, 1019 – 1039 . doi:10.1037/a0032215

Google Scholar Medline | ISI

Golec de Zavala, A., Cichocka, A., Eidelson, R., Jayawickreme, N. ( 2009 ). Collective narcissism and its social consequences . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97, 1074 – 1096 . doi:10.1037/a0016904

Google Scholar Medline | ISI

Górska, P., Bilewicz, M. ( 2017 ). Opposing effects of secure and narcissistic in-group identification on non-normative collective action . Manuscript in preparation.

Google Scholar

Hayes, A. F. ( 2013 ). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach. New York, NY : Guilford Press .

Google Scholar

Hernandez, E., Kriesi, H. ( 2015 ). The electoral consequences of the financial and economic crisis in Europe . European Journal of Political Research, 55, 203 – 224 . doi:10.1111/1475-6765.12122

Google Scholar ISI

Jacobs, B. ( 2016 , 9 13 ). Fresh violence at Trump rally as supporter allegedly punches protester. The Guardian . Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/uk

Google Scholar

Jaworska, M. ( 2016 ). Czym jest dojrzała identyfikacja z grupą? W poszukiwaniu komponentów identyfikacji grupowej mających pozytywne konsekwencje dla grupy własnej i relacji międzygrupowych [What is secure in-group identification? Looking for in-group identification components that lead to in-group’s benefit and positive inter-group relations]. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Warsaw, Poland.

Google Scholar

Kazin, M. ( 2016 ). How can Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders both be ‘Populist’? New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/27/magazine/how-can-donald-trump-and-bernie-sanders-both-be-populist.html

Google Scholar

Kellner, D. ( 2016 ). American nightmare: Donald Trump, media spectacle, and authoritarian populism (Vol. 117). New York, NY : Springer .

Google Scholar

Kosterman, R., Feshbach, S. ( 1989 ). Toward a measure of patriotic and nationalistic attitudes . Political Psychology, 10, 257 – 274 . doi:10.2307/3791647

Google Scholar ISI

Leach, C. W., Van Zomeren, M., Zebel, S., Vliek, M. L., Pennekamp, S. F., Doosje, B.…Spears, R. ( 2008 ). Group-level self-definition and self-investment: A hierarchical (multicomponent) model of in-group identification . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95, 144 – 165 . doi:10.1037/0022-3514.95.1.144

Google Scholar Medline | ISI

Luhtanen, R., Crocker, J. ( 1992 ). A collective self-esteem scale: Self-evaluation of one’s social identity . Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 18, 302 – 318 . doi:10.1177/0146167292183006

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

Lyons, P. A., Coursey, L. E., Kenworthy, J. B. ( 2013 ). National identity and group narcissism as predictors of intergroup attitudes toward undocumented Latino immigrants in the United States . Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 35, 323 – 335 . doi:10.1177/0739986313488090

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

Lyons, P. A., Kenworthy, J., Popan, J. ( 2010 ). Ingroup identification and group-level narcissism as predictors of U.S. citizens’ attitudes and behavior toward Arab immigrants . Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36, 1267 – 1280 . doi:10.1177/0146167210380604

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

MacKinnon, D. P., Krull, J. L., Lockwood, C. M. ( 2000 ). Equivalence of the mediation, confounding and suppression effect . Prevention Science, 1, 173 – 181 . doi:10.1023/A:1026595011371

Google Scholar Medline

Mols, F., Jetten, J. ( 2016 ). Explaining the appeal of populist right-wing parties in times of economic prosperity . Political Psychology, 37, 275 – 292 . doi:10.1111/pops.12258

Google Scholar ISI

Müller, J. W. ( 2016 ). What is populism? Philadelphia, PA : University of Pennsylvania Press .

Google Scholar

Pettigrew, T. F. ( 2017 ). Social psychological perspectives on Trump supporters . Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 5, 107 – 116 . doi:10.5964/jspp.v5i1.750

Google Scholar

Pettigrew, T. F., Christ, O., Wagner, U., Meertens, R. W., Van Dick, R., Zick, A. ( 2008 ). Relative deprivation and intergroup prejudice . Journal of Social Issues, 64, 385 – 401 . doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.2008.00567.x

Google Scholar ISI

Pettigrew, T. F., Meertens, R. W. ( 1995 ). Subtle and blatant prejudice in Western Europe . European Journal of Social Psychology, 25, 57 – 75 . doi:10.1002/ejsp.2420250106

Google Scholar ISI

Rogerson, P. A. ( 2001 ). Statistical Methods for Geography. London : SAGE .

Google Scholar

Rothwell, J. T., Diego-Rosell, P. ( 2016 ). Explaining nationalist political views: The case of Donald Trump. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2822059

Google Scholar

Runciman, W. G. ( 1966 ). Relative deprivation and social justice: A study of attitudes to social inequality in Twentieth-century England. Berkeley : University of California .

Google Scholar

Sides, J., Tesler, M. ( 2016 ). How political science helps explain the rise of Trump (part 3): It’s the economy, stupid . Monkey Cage, The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/

Google Scholar

Van Zomeren, M., Postmes, T., Spears, R. ( 2008 ). Toward an integrative social identity model of collective action: A quantitative research synthesis of three socio-psychological perspectives . Psychological Bulletin, 134, 504 . doi:10.1037/0033-2909.134.4.504

Google Scholar Medline | ISI

Walker, I., Pettigrew, T. F. ( 1984 ). Relative deprivation theory: An overview and conceptual critique . British Journal of Social Psychology, 23, 301 – 310 . doi:10.1111/j.2044-8309.1984.tb00645.x

Google Scholar ISI