Understanding defensive and secure in-group positivity: The role of collective narcissism

By A. Cichocka. 2016

195 citations recorded by the source corpus.

ABSTRACT Integrating psychoanalytic ideas of group idealisation with social identity and categorisation theories, this article discusses the distinction between secure and defensive in-group positivity. Narcissistic in-group positivity captures a belief in in-group greatness that is contingent on external validation. It reflects defensive in-group positivity, insofar as it stems from the frustration of individual needs, and predicts increased sensitivity to threats as well as undesirable consequences for out-groups and the in-group. Secure in-group positivity—that is, in-group positivity without the narcissistic component—is a confidently held positive evaluation of one’s in-group that is independent of the recognition of the group in the eyes of others. It stems from the satisfaction of individual needs, is resilient to threats and has positive consequences for the in-group and out-groups. I review evidence for these two distinct ways people relate to their social groups and discuss theoretical and practical implications for understanding intra- and intergroup relations.

Subfields: Clinical Psychology, Social Psychology, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/b8e668f3e7484338dab47167598a3f50c65f77f4

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In Clinical Psychology

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Citations in the corpus

The Racial and Economic Context of Trump Support (2018, background): “Trump support has also been shown to correlate with collective narcissism (Federico & de Zavala, 2017) or a faith in the unparalleled greatness of one’s group (Cichocka, 2016; de Zavala, Cichocka, Eidelson, & Jayawickreme, 2009).”
Collective Narcissism: Political Consequences of Investing Self‐Worth in the Ingroup’s Image (2019, background): “Thus, collective narcissism is not in itself a construal of social identity (cf. Klar & Bilewicz, 2017) or ingroup identification (cf. Cichocka, 2016).”
Populism as Identity Politics (2018, background): “Research demonstrates that both group relative deprivation (e.g., Pettigrew & Meertens, 1995) and collective narcissism (see Cichocka, 2016, for a review) tend to predict negative intergroup attitudes.”