Skip to main content
Search
Search
    Quick Search anywhere
    Quick search in Citations
Advanced Search
Skip main navigationClose Drawer MenuOpen Drawer Menu
Previous article
Next article
Original Article

“‘Cause We Are the Champions of the World”

National Narcissism and Group-Enhancing Historical Narratives

Published Online:January 20, 2023https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-9335/a000506

Abstract

Abstract. National narcissism is a defensive form of group identity that is contingent on external validation and involves unrealistic belief in the nation’s greatness. Those high in national narcissism are susceptible to ingroup-enhancing narratives. In two pre-registered studies, conducted in Poland (N = 1,134) and the United Kingdom (N = 501), we hypothesized and found that national narcissism predicts support for historical policies that emphasize the great achievements and past dominance of one’s own group. Furthermore, we found that the relationship between national narcissism and support for ingroup-enhancing historical policies can be accounted for by the perceived contribution of one’s own country to the world’s history. We discuss implications for research on collective narcissism and historical policies.

References

  • Adorno, T. W. (1963). Critical models: Interventions and catchwords. Columbia University Press. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Bertin, P., Nera, K., Hamer, K., Uhl-Haedicke, I., & Delouvée, S. (2021). Stand out of my sunlight: The mediating role of climate change conspiracy beliefs in the relationship between national collective narcissism and acceptance of climate science. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 24(5), 738–758. 10.1177/1368430221992114 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Biddlestone, M., Cichocka, A., Główczewski, M., & Cislak, A. (2022). Their own worst enemy? Collective narcissists are willing to conspire against their in-group. British Journal of Psychology, 113(4), 896–916. 10.1111/bjop.12569 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Bilewicz, M., Bulska, D., Babińska, M., Haska, A., & Winiewski, M. (2018). Marzec w lutym? Studium stosunku Polaków do Żydów i historii Holokaustu w kontekście debaty wokół ustawy o IPN [March in February? A study of Poles’ attitudes towards Jews and the history of the Holocaust in the context of the debate surrounding the Act on the Institute of National Remembrance]. Nauka, 2, 7–41. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Bocian, K., Cichocka, A., & Wojciszke, B. (2021). Moral tribalism: Moral judgments of actions supporting ingroup interests depend on collective narcissism. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 93, Article 104098. 10.1016/j.jesp.2020.104098 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Cameron, J. E. (2004). A three-factor model of social identity. Self and Identity, 3(3), 239–262. 10.1080/13576500444000047 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Cichocka, A. (2016). Understanding defensive and secure in-group positivity: The role of collective narcissism. European Review of Social Psychology, 27(1), 283–317. 10.1080/10463283.2016.1252530 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Cichocka, A., & Cislak, A. (2020). Nationalism as collective narcissism. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 34, 69–74. 10.1016/j.cobeha.2019.12.013 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Cichocka, A., Cislak, A., Gronfeldt, B., & Wojcik, A. D. (2021). Can ingroup love harm the ingroup? Collective narcissism and objectification of ingroup members. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 25(7), 1718–1738. 10.1177/13684302211038058 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Cichocka, A., Dhont, K., & Makwana, A. P. (2017). On self-love and outgroup hate: Opposite effects of narcissism on prejudice via social dominance orientation and right-wing authoritarianism: Narcissism, ideology, and prejudice. European Journal of Personality, 31(4), 366–384. 10.1002/per.2114 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Cichocka, A., Golec de Zavala, A., Marchlewska, M., Bilewicz, M., Jaworska, M., & Olechowski, M. (2018). Personal control decreases narcissistic but increases non-narcissistic in-group positivity. Journal of Personality, 86(3), 465–480. 10.1111/jopy.12328 First citation in articleCrossref, 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(3), 556–576. 10.1111/bjop.12158 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Cichocka, A., Sengupta, N., Cislak, A., Gronfeldt, B., Azevedo, F., & Boggio, P. S. (2022). Globalization is associated with lower levels of national narcissism: Evidence from 56 countries. Social Psychological and Personality Science. Advance online publication. 10.1177/19485506221103326 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Cislak, A., Cichocka, A., Wojcik, A. D., & Milfont, T. L. (2021). Words not deeds: National narcissism, national identification, and support for greenwashing versus genuine proenvironmental campaigns. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 74, Article 101576. 10.1016/j.jenvp.2021.101576 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Cislak, A., Marchlewska, M., Wojcik, A. D., Śliwiński, K., Molenda, Z., Szczepańska, D., & Cichocka, A. (2021). National narcissism and support for voluntary vaccination policy: The mediating role of vaccination conspiracy beliefs. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 24(5), 701–719. 10.1177/1368430220959451 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Cislak, A., Pyrczak, M., Mikiewicz, A., & Cichocka, A. (2020). Brexit and Polexit: Collective narcissism is associated with support for leaving the European Union. Social Psychological Bulletin, 15(1), 1–21. 10.32872/spb.2645 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Cislak, A., Wojcik, A. D., & Cichocka, A. (2018). Cutting the forest down to save your face: Narcissistic national identification predicts support for anti-conservation policies. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 59, 65–73. 10.1016/j.jenvp.2018.08.009 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Connerton, P. (2009). How modernity forgets? Cambridge University Press. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Connerton, P. (1989). How societies remember (Themes in the social sciences). Cambridge University Press. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Dyduch-Hazar, K., Mrozinski, B., Simão, C., & Golec de Zavala, A. (2019). Collective narcissism and in-group satisfaction predict different reactions to the past transgressions of the in-group. Polish Psychological Bulletin, 50(4), 316–325. 10.24425/ppb.2019.131004 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Eker, I., Cichocka, A., & Sibley, C. G. (2022). Investigating motivations underlying collective narcissism and in-group identification. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations. Advance online publication. 10.1177/13684302221081470 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Faul, F., Erdfelder, E., Buchner, A., & Lang, A. G. (2009). Statistical power analyses using G*Power 3.1: Tests for correlation and regression analyses. Behavior Research Methods, 41(4), 1149–1160. 10.3758/BRM.41.4.1149 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Federico, C., & Golec de Zavala, A. (2018). Collective narcissism and the 2016 US presidential vote. Public Opinion Quarterly, 82(1), 110–121. 10.1093/poq/nfx048 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Forgas, J. P., & Lantos, D. (2019). Understanding populism: Collective narcissism and the collapse of democracy in Hungary. In J. P. ForgasK. FiedlerW. Crano (Eds.), Applications of social psychology (pp. 267–291). Psychology Press. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Fromm, E. (1973). The anatomy of human destructiveness. Holt, Rinehart & Winston. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Fukuyama, F. (2018). Identity: The demand for dignity and the politics of resentment. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Gallucci, M. (2020). jAMM: jamovi Advanced Mediation Models [jamovi module]. https://jamovi-amm.github.io/ First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Gilovich, T. (1981). Seeing the past in the present: The effect of associations to familiar events on judgments and decisions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 40(5), 797–808. 10.1037/0022-3514.40.5.797 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Główczewski, M., Wojcik, A. D., Cichocka, A., & Cislak, A. (2022). “Cause we are the champions of the World”: National narcissism and group-enhancing historical narratives. https://osf.io/nqymg First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • 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(1), 16–28. 10.1111/j.1467-6494.2012.00779.x First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Golec de Zavala, A., Cichocka, A., Eidelson, R., & Jayawickreme, N. (2009). Collective narcissism and its social consequences. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97(6), 1074–1096. 10.1037/a0016904 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • 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(6), 1019–1039. 10.1037/a0032215 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Golec de Zavala, A., Federico, C. M., Sedikides, C., Guerra, R., Lantos, D., Mroziński, B., Cypryańska, M., & Baran, T. (2020). Low self-esteem predicts out-group derogation via collective narcissism, but this relationship is obscured by in-group satisfaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 119(3), 741–764. d10.1037/pspp0000260 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Golec de Zavala, A., Guerra, R., & Simão, C. (2017). The relationship between the Brexit Vote and individual predictors of prejudice: Collective narcissism, right wing authoritarianism, social dominance orientation. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, Article 2023. 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02023 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Górska, P., Marchlewska, M., Szczepańska, D., Molenda, Z., Michalski, P., & Furman, A. (2022). A vicious circle? Longitudinal relationships between different modes of in-group identity and COVID-19 conspiracy thinking. The Journal of Social Psychology. Advance online publication. 10.1080/00224545.2022.2111250 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Gronfeldt, B., Cichocka, A., Marchlewska, M., & Cislak, A. (2022). Illiberal politics and group-based needs for recognition and dominance. In A. SajóS. HolmesR. Uitz (Eds.), Routledge handbook of illiberalism (pp. 655–673). Routledge. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Gronfeldt, B., Cislak, A., Sternisko, A., Eker, I., & Cichocka, A. (2022). A small price to pay: National narcissism predicts readiness to sacrifice in-group members to defend the in-group’s image. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Advance online publication. 10.1177/01461672221074790 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Halbwachs, M. (1980). The collective memory. Harper & Row. First citation in articleGoogle 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]. [Doctoral dissertation]. https://depotuw.ceon.pl/handle/item/1648 First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Jost, J. T., Glaser, J., Kruglanski, A. W., & Sulloway, F. J. (2003). Political conservatism as motivated social cognition. Psychological Bulletin, 129(3), 339–375. 10.1037/0033-2909.129.3.339 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Judt, T. (2012). Thinking the twentieth century. Penguin Press. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Kazarovytska, F., & Imhoff, R. (2022). Too great to be guilty? Individuals high in collective narcissism demand closure regarding the past to attenuate collective guilt. European Journal of Social Psychology, 52(4), 748–771. 10.1002/ejsp.2850 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Klar, Y., & Bilewicz, M. (2017). From socially motivated lay historians to lay censors: Epistemic conformity and defensive group identification. Memory Studies, 10(3), 334–346. 10.1177/1750698017701616 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Leach, C. W., van Zomeren, M., Zebel, S., Vliek, M. L. W., Pennekamp, S. F., Doosje, B., Ouwerkerk, J. W., & 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(1), 144–165. 10.1037/0022-3514.95.1.144 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Liu, J. H., Goldstein-Hawes, R., Hilton, D., Huang, L.-L., Gastardo-Conaco, C., Dresler-Hawke, E., & Hidaka, Y. (2005). Social representations of events and people in world history across 12 cultures. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 36(2), 171–191. 10.1177/0022022104272900 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Lowenthal, D. (1985). The past is a foreign country. Cambridge University Press. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Marchlewska, M., Cichocka, A., Furman, A., & Cislak, A. (2022). Who respects the will of the people? Support for democracy is linked to high secure national identity but low national narcissism. The British Journal of Social Psychology, 61(2), 599–621. 10.1111/bjso.12499 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Marchlewska, M., Cichocka, A., Jaworska, M., Golec de Zavala, A., & Bilewicz, M. (2020). Superficial in-group love? Collective narcissism predicts in-group image defense, outgroup prejudice and lower in-group loyalty. British Journal of Social Psychology, 59(4), 857–875. 10.1111/bjso.12367 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Marchlewska, M., Cichocka, A., Panayiotou, O., Castellanos, K., & Batayneh, J. (2018). Populism as identity politics: Perceived in-group disadvantage, collective narcissism, and support for populism. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 9(2), 151–162. 10.1177/1948550617732393 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Mercury, F. (1977). We are the champions [Song recorded by Queen]. News of the World. EMI/Parlophone. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Nora, P. (1989). Between memory and history: Les Lieux de Mémoire. Representations, 26, 7–24. 10.2307/2928520. First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • J., PennebakerD., PaezB., Rim (Eds.) (1997). Collective memory of political events: Social psychological perspectives. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Putnam, A. L., Ross, M. Q., Soter, L. K., & Roediger, H. L. (2018). Collective narcissism: Americans exaggerate the role of their home state in appraising U.S. History. Psychological Science, 29(9), 1414–1422. 10.1177/0956797618772504 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Reicher, S. (2008). Making a past fit for the future: The political and ontological dimensions of historical continuity. In F. Sani (Ed.), Self continuity: Individual and collective perspectives (pp. 145–158). Psychology Press. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Roccas, S., Klar, Y., & Liviatan, I. (2006). The paradox of group-based guilt: Modes of national identification, conflict vehemence, and reactions to the in-group's moral violations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91(4), 698–711. 10.1037/0022-3514.91.4.698 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Ross, M., & Sicoly, F. (1979). Egocentric biases in availability and attribution. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37(3), 322–336. 10.1037/0022-3514.37.3.322 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Stanley, J. (2018). How fascism works: The politics of Us and Them. Random House. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Sternisko, A., Cichocka, A., Cislak, A., & Van Bavel, J. J. (2021). National Narcissism predicts the belief in and the dissemination of conspiracy theories during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from 56 countries. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Advance online publication. 10.1177/01461672211054947 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • TokFM (2021). March 20). Łuk triumfalny w Tomaszowie. Sasin: Będzie przyczyniał się do tego, że nie roztopimy się w magmie europejskiej [Triumphal Arch in Tomaszów. Sasin: It will help us not to melt into European magma]. https://www.tokfm.pl/Tokfm/7,103087,26903432,luk-triumfalny-w-tomaszowie-sasin-bedzie-przyczynial-sie-do.html First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1973). Availability: A heuristic for judging frequency and probability. Cognitive Psychology, 5(2), 207–232. 10.1016/0010-0285(73)90033-9 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Verkuyten, M., Kollar, R., Gale, J., & Yogeeswaran, K. (2022). Right-wing political orientation, national identification and the acceptance of immigrants and minorities. Personality and Individual Differences, 184, Article 111217. 10.1016/j.paid.2021.111217 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Wertsch, J. V. (1997). Narrative tools of history and identity. Culture & Psychology, 3(1), 5–20. 10.1177/1354067X9700300101 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Wężyk, K. (2014, April 18). Lepiej żyć w kraju, który nie potrzebuje bohaterów [Better to live in a country that doesn’t need heroes]. Wyborcza.pl. https://wyborcza.pl/magazyn/7,124059,15826445,lepiej-zyc-w-kraju-ktory-nie-potrzebuje-bohaterow.html First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Wojcik, A. D., & Lewicka, M. (in press). Between discovery and exploitation of history: Lay theories of history and their connections to national identity and interest in history. Memory Studies. 10.1177/17506980221134507 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar

  • Zaromb, F. M., Liu, J. H., Paez, D., Hanke, K., Putnam, A. L., & Roediger, H. L. (2018). We made history: Citizens of 35 countries overestimate their nation’s role in world history. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 7(4), 521–528. 10.1016/j.jarmac.2018.05.006 First citation in articleCrossref, Google Scholar