A case of mistaken identity: Miscategorisation of the ingroup as a historically rivalrous outgroup triggers collective narcissism

Abstract

Collective narcissism’s links with intergroup relations, such as intergroup hostility, are well established, but less is known about the intergroup conditions that trigger it. We experimentally examined whether categorisation threat—operationalised as mistaking the ingroup for a historically rivalrous outgroup, thus undermining the ingroup’s uniqueness—heightens collective narcissism, and whether this, in turn, escalates hostility toward the pertinent outgroup through collective narcissism. Additionally, we compared collective narcissism to another form of ingroup positivity: ingroup satisfaction. We conducted four experiments (N = 1,537) manipulating categorisation threat in two national contexts (Poland, Portugal), and carried out an internal meta-analysis. As hypothesised, the findings revealed an increase in collective narcissism, as well as a positive indirect effect of categorisation threat on outgroup hostility mediated by collective narcissism, but not by ingroup satisfaction. This research establishes categorisation threat as a robust trigger of collective narcissism.