APA Citation
Golec de Zavala, A., & Lantos, D. (2020). Collective Narcissism and Its Social Consequences: The Bad and the Ugly. *Current Directions in Psychological Science*, 29(3), 273-278. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721420917703
Summary
This comprehensive review examines collective narcissism—the belief that one's group is exceptional but underappreciated by others—and its destructive social consequences. The research demonstrates how collective narcissism drives intergroup hostility, prejudice, and support for authoritarian leaders. Unlike healthy group pride, collective narcissism is characterized by defensive grandiosity, victimhood narratives, and aggressive retaliation against perceived threats. The authors show how this phenomenon manifests in political movements, nationalism, and social divisions worldwide.
Why This Matters for Survivors
Understanding collective narcissism helps survivors recognize the broader patterns of narcissistic behavior in groups, organizations, and political movements. Many survivors encountered narcissistic dynamics not just in personal relationships but in families, workplaces, or communities that exhibited collective narcissistic traits. This research validates experiences of being scapegoated by narcissistic groups and provides insight into how narcissistic leaders mobilize followers through shared grandiosity and victimhood narratives.
What This Research Establishes
Collective narcissism drives destructive intergroup behavior through shared beliefs of group superiority combined with perceived underappreciation, leading to defensive hostility toward other groups and criticism.
Group-level narcissistic dynamics mirror individual patterns including grandiose self-perception, entitlement, lack of empathy, and aggressive responses to threats to the group’s inflated self-image.
Narcissistic leaders exploit collective narcissistic tendencies by promising to restore the group’s “deserved” status while providing external enemies to blame for the group’s problems and shortcomings.
Collective narcissism predicts support for authoritarianism and extreme political movements worldwide, as it creates vulnerability to leaders who validate the group’s grandiose self-perception and victimhood narratives.
Why This Matters for Survivors
Many survivors recognize these patterns from their own experiences with narcissistic families, organizations, or communities. Understanding collective narcissism validates your experience if you were scapegoated by a group that couldn’t tolerate challenges to its grandiose self-image. You may have witnessed how family members or colleagues rallied around a narcissistic narrative while targeting anyone who threatened that illusion.
This research explains why speaking truth to narcissistic groups often results in being attacked or expelled. Your experience of being blamed, ostracized, or punished for questioning group dynamics reflects the defensive nature of collective narcissism. The group’s reaction wasn’t about your behavior—it was about protecting their shared grandiose identity.
Understanding these dynamics helps you recognize similar patterns in new environments. You can now identify warning signs of collectively narcissistic groups before becoming deeply involved, protecting yourself from repeated victimization by toxic group dynamics.
The research also validates the broader social patterns you may have observed, showing that narcissistic dynamics operate at every level of human organization. Your personal healing journey contributes to understanding these larger social phenomena that affect entire communities and nations.
Clinical Implications
Therapists working with survivors should assess for exposure to collectively narcissistic environments beyond individual relationships. Many clients experienced narcissistic abuse within families, religious organizations, workplaces, or communities that exhibited group-level narcissistic traits, compounding their individual trauma experiences.
Treatment should address how collective narcissism creates complex trauma through multiple perpetrators and systems. Survivors may struggle with loyalty conflicts, identity confusion, and difficulty trusting their perceptions when entire groups gaslighted them or participated in scapegoating dynamics.
Clinicians should help clients understand how collective narcissism exploits normal human needs for belonging and group identity. This reduces self-blame and helps survivors develop healthy skepticism toward groups that demand absolute loyalty or claim special status while demonizing outsiders.
Family therapy approaches should consider how collective narcissism operates in family systems, where shared grandiose narratives protect the family image while individual members are sacrificed to maintain group cohesion. Breaking these patterns requires addressing both individual and systemic narcissistic dynamics.
How This Research Is Used in the Book
This research provides crucial context for understanding how narcissistic dynamics extend beyond individual relationships to affect entire social systems. Chapter 15 explores how survivors often encounter narcissistic patterns in multiple contexts—families, organizations, and communities—that mirror the collective narcissism described in this research.
“When we understand collective narcissism, we see that the patterns we experienced in our personal relationships with narcissists reflect broader social dynamics. The same mechanisms of grandiose self-perception, defensive hostility, and scapegoating operate whether we’re dealing with one narcissistic person or an entire narcissistic system. This knowledge helps us recognize these patterns early and protect ourselves from being drawn into groups that will recreate our original trauma.”
Historical Context
This 2020 review appeared during a period of unprecedented global political upheaval, with populist movements gaining power worldwide and traditional democratic institutions under strain. The research provided crucial psychological insight into the mechanisms driving these social changes, connecting individual narcissistic dynamics to broader patterns of authoritarianism and intergroup conflict. The timing was particularly significant as it offered scientific understanding of phenomena many people were witnessing but struggling to comprehend.
Further Reading
• Golec de Zavala, A. (2019). Collective narcissism and in-group satisfaction are associated with different emotional profiles and psychological wellbeing. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 203.
• Federico, C. M., & de Zavala, A. G. (2018). Collective narcissism and the 2016 United States presidential vote. Public Opinion Quarterly, 82(1), 110-121.
• Cichocka, A. (2016). Understanding defensive and secure in-group positivity: The role of collective narcissism. European Review of Social Psychology, 27(1), 283-317.
About the Author
Agnieszka Golec de Zavala is a Professor of Social Psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London, and leading researcher on collective narcissism and intergroup relations. Her groundbreaking work has established the theoretical framework for understanding how group-level narcissism drives social conflict and authoritarianism.
Dorottya Lantos is a research psychologist specializing in political psychology and group dynamics. Her collaborative work focuses on the psychological mechanisms underlying populist movements and collective identity threats.
Historical Context
Published during the rise of global populist movements and increasing political polarization, this 2020 review synthesized decades of research on collective narcissism. The timing was particularly significant as societies worldwide grappled with nationalism, authoritarianism, and intergroup hostility that the research directly explained and predicted.
Frequently Asked Questions
Collective narcissism is the belief that one's group is exceptional but underappreciated by others, leading to defensive hostility. Unlike healthy group pride, it involves victimhood narratives and aggressive retaliation against perceived threats.
Narcissistic families often exhibit collective narcissism through shared grandiose beliefs, scapegoating of members who threaten the family image, and defensive reactions to outside criticism or accountability.
Yes, organizations, religious groups, communities, and nations can develop collectively narcissistic cultures characterized by grandiose self-image, entitlement, and hostility toward outsiders or critics.
Narcissistic leaders appeal to followers' need for group superiority and provide enemies to blame for the group's problems, offering simple solutions that protect the group's grandiose self-image.
Warning signs include excessive group superiority claims, intolerance of criticism, scapegoating of dissenting members, victimhood narratives, and demands for absolute loyalty to group identity.
Collective narcissism leads to intergroup hostility, prejudice, support for aggressive policies, reduced empathy for outgroups, and vulnerability to authoritarian leadership.
Collective narcissism predicts support for populist movements, extreme nationalism, Brexit-type decisions, and authoritarian leaders who promise to restore the group's 'deserved' status.
Research suggests that promoting genuine achievements, reducing threat perceptions, encouraging empathy, and challenging victimhood narratives can help reduce collectively narcissistic attitudes.