Abstract
This chapter, like each chapter in the edited book, focuses on narcissism (arrogance, exploitativeness, self-admiration, etc.). My goal is to entertain and evaluate the possibility that narcissism evolved. It is important to point out that, by way of background, just because something is morally suspect does not mean that it didn’t evolve; indeed, bad things can evolve. But despite narcissism being heritable, there is no direct evidence that narcissism is caused by specific genes, indicating that the evolutionary mechanisms are unknown. Through which pathways—such as mating pathways—does narcissism get passed onto the next generation? Narcissism appears to be positively correlated with short-term mating (e.g., promiscuity), suggesting that narcissism gets pushed into subsequent generations via promiscuous activity. The idea that narcissism evolved via short-term mating, however, is currently questionable, mainly because narcissists are not physically attractive at the unadorned level; in theory, narcissists should be attractive at the unadorned level because short-term mating situations select for raw attractiveness. All told, the prospect of narcissism having evolved is in a precarious position as of this writing. Several gaps in the literature lead to a call for more molecular genetic research and collaborative, large-scale behavioral research.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Barkow, J. H., Cosmides, L., & Tooby, J. (1995). The adapted mind: Evolutionary psychology and the generation of culture. New York: Oxford University Press.
Baumeister, R. F., Vohs, K. D., & Funder, D. C. (2007). Psychology as the science of self-reports and finger movements whatever happened to actual behavior? Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2, 396–403. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6916.2007.00051.x
Buss, D. M. (1995). Evolutionary psychology: A new paradigm for psychological science. Psychological Inquiry, 6, 1–30. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327965pli0601_1
Buss, D. M. (2009). How can evolutionary psychology successfully explain personality and individual differences? Perspectives on Psychological Science, 4, 359–366.
Buss, D. M., & Shackelford, T. K. (1997). Susceptibility to infidelity in the first year of marriage. Journal of Research in Personality, 31, 193–221.
Byers, J. A., & Waits, L. (2006). Good genes sexual selection in nature. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 103, 16343–16345. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0608184103
Campbell, W. K., Bush, C. P., Brunell, A. B., & Shelton, J. (2005). Understanding the social costs of narcissism: The case of the tragedy of the commons. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 1358–1368. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167205274855
Carter, G. L., Campbell, A. C., & Muncer, S. (2014). The Dark Triad: Beyond a ‘male’ mating strategy. Personality and Individual Differences, 56, 159–164. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2013.09.001
Cheng, J. T., Tracy, J. L., & Henrich, J. (2010). Pride, personality, and the evolutionary foundations of human social status. Evolution and Human Behavior, 31, 334–347. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2010.02.004
Coolidge, F. L., Thede, L. L., & Jang, K. L. (2001). Heritability of personality disorders in childhood: A preliminary investigation. Journal of Personality Disorders, 15, 33–40. https://doi.org/10.1521/pedi.15.1.33.18645
Coolidge, F. L., Thede, L. L., & Jang, K. L. (2004). Are personality disorders psychological manifestations of executive function deficits? Bivariate heritability evidence from a twin study. Behavior Genetics, 34, 75–84. https://doi.org/10.1023/b:bege.0000009486.97375.53
Cronin, H. (1993). The ant and the peacock: Altruism and sexual selection from Darwin to today. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Darwin, C. (1871). The descent of man and selection in relation to sex. New York: D. Appleton and Company.
De Moor, M. H., Costa, P. T., Terracciano, A., Krueger, R. F., De Geus, E. J., Toshiko, T., et al. (2012). Meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for personality. Molecular Psychiatry, 17, 337–349. https://doi.org/10.1038/mp.2010.128
Dufner, M., Rauthmann, J. F., Czarna, A. Z., & Denissen, J. J. A. (2013). Are narcissists sexy? Zeroing in on the effect of narcissism on short-term mate appeal. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 39, 870–882. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167213483580
Egan, V., & McCorkindale, C. (2007). Narcissism, vanity, personality and mating effort. Personality and Individual Differences, 43, 2105–2115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2007.06.034
Emmons, R. A. (1984). Factor analysis and construct validity of the narcissistic personality inventory. Journal of Personality Assessment, 48, 291–300.
Foster, J. D., Reidy, D. E., Misra, T. A., & Goff, J. S. (2011). Narcissism and stock market investing: Correlates and consequences of cocksure investing. Personality and Individual Differences, 50, 816–821. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2011.01.002
Foster, J. D., Shenesey, J. W., & Goff, J. S. (2009). Why do narcissists take more risks? Testing the roles of perceived risks and benefits of risky behaviors. Personality and Individual Differences, 47, 885–889. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2009.07.008
Foster, J. D., Shrira, I., & Campbell, W. K. (2006). Theoretical models of narcissism, sexuality, and relationship commitment. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 23, 367–386. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407506064204
Foster, J. D., & Trimm, R. F. (2008). On being eager and uninhibited: Narcissism and approach-avoidance motivation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 1004–1017. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167208316688
Gangestad, S. W. (2000). Human sexual selection, good genes, and special design. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 907, 50–61.
Gangestad, S. W., Garver-Apgar, C. E., Simpson, J. A., & Cousins, A. J. (2007). Changes in women's mate preferences across the ovulatory cycle. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92, 151. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.92.1.151
Hamilton, W. D., & Zuk, M. (1982). Heritable true fitness and bright birds: A role for parasites? Science, 218, 384–387.
Harford, T. C., Chen, C. M., Saha, T. D., Smith, S. M., Ruan, W. J., & Grant, B. F. (2013). DSM-IV personality disorders and associations with externalizing and internalizing disorders: Results from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 47, 1708–1716. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2013.07.016
Holtzman, N. S. (2011). Facing a psychopath: Detecting the dark triad from emotionally-neutral faces, using prototypes from the Personality Faceaurus. Journal of Research in Personality, 45, 648–654. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2011.09.002
Holtzman, N. S., Augustine, A. A., & Senne, A. L. (2011). Are pro-social or socially aversive people more physically symmetrical? Symmetry in relation to over 200 personality variables. Journal of Research in Personality, 45, 687–691. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2011.08.003
Holtzman, N. S., & Donnellan, M. B. (2015). The roots of Narcissus: Old and new models of the evolution of narcissism. In V. Zeigler-Hill, L. L. M. Welling, & T. K. Shackelford (Eds.), Evolutionary perspectives on social psychology (pp. 479–489). New York: Springer.
Holtzman, N. S., & Donnellan, M. B. (2017). A simulator of the degree to which random responding leads to biases in the correlations between two individual differences. Personality and Individual Differences, 114, 187–192. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2017.04.013
Holtzman, N. S., & Strube, M. J. (2010). Narcissism and attractiveness. Journal of Research in Personality, 44, 133–136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2009.10.004
Holtzman, N. S., & Strube, M. J. (2011). The intertwined evolution of narcissism and short-term mating: An emerging hypothesis. In W. K. Campbell & J. D. Miller (Eds.), The handbook of narcissism and narcissistic personality disorder: Theoretical approaches, empirical findings and treatments (pp. 210–220). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Holtzman, N. S., & Strube, M. J. (2013a). Above and beyond short-term mating, long-term mating is uniquely tied to human personality. Evolutionary Psychology, 11, 1101–1129.
Holtzman, N. S., & Strube, M. J. (2013b). Dark personalities tend to create a physically attractive veneer. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 4, 461–467. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550612461284
Holtzman, N. S., Vazire, S., & Mehl, M. R. (2010). Sounds like a narcissist: Behavioral manifestations of narcissism in everyday life. Journal of Research in Personality, 44, 478–484. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2010.06.001
Huang, J. L., Liu, M., & Bowling, N. A. (2015). Insufficient effort responding: Examining an insidious confound in survey data. Journal of Applied Psychology, 100, 828. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0038510
Jackson, J. J., Hill, P. L., & Roberts, B. W. (2011). Sociogenomic theory as an answer to the heritability problem. European Journal of Personality, 25, 274–276.
Jauk, E., Neubauer, A. C., Mairunteregger, T., Pemp, S., Sieber, K. P., & Rauthmann, J. F. (2016). How alluring are dark personalities? The dark triad and attractiveness in speed dating. European Journal of Personality, 30, 125–138. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.2040
Johnson, D. D. P., & Fowler, J. H. (2011). The evolution of overconfidence. Nature, 477, 317–320. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10384
Johnson, W., Penke, L., & Spinath, F. M. (2011). Heritability in the era of molecular genetics: Some thoughts for understanding genetic influences on behavioural traits. European Journal of Personality, 25, 254–266. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.836
Jonason, P. K., Li, N. P., Webster, G. D., & Schmitt, D. P. (2009). The dark triad: Facilitating a short-term mating strategy in men. European Journal of Personality, 23, 5–18. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.698
Jonason, P. K., Valentine, K. A., Li, N. P., & Harbeson, C. L. (2011). Mate-selection and the Dark Triad: Facilitating a short-term mating strategy and creating a volatile environment. [Article]. Personality and Individual Differences, 51, 759–763. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2011.06.025
Jones, D. N., & de Roos, M. S. (2016). Differential reproductive behavior patterns among the Dark Triad. Evolutionary Psychological Science, 3, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40806-016-0070-8
Kuhnen, C. M., & Chiao, J. Y. (2009). Genetic determinants of financial risk taking. PLoS One, 4, e4362. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0004362
Li, N. P., & Kenrick, D. T. (2006). Sex similarities and differences in preferences for short-term mates: What, whether, and why. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90, 468–489. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.90.3.468
Livesley, W. J., Jang, K. L., Jackson, D. N., & Vernon, P. A. (1993). Genetic and environmental contributions to dimensions of personality-disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 150, 1826–1831.
Lukaszewski, A. W. (2011). The concept of ‘reactive heritability’: How heritable personality variation may arise from a universal human nature. European Journal of Personality, 25, 277–278.
Lukaszewski, A. W., & Roney, J. R. (2011). The origins of extraversion: Joint effects of facultative calibration and genetic polymorphism. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37, 409–421. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167210397209
Lukaszewski, A. W., & Roney, J. R. (2015). Reactive heritability of extraversion: Where do we stand? Evolution and Human Behavior, 36, 420–422. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2015.04.001
Luo, Y. L. L., Cai, H. J., & Song, H. R. (2014). A behavioral genetic study of intrapersonal and interpersonal dimensions of narcissism. PLoS One, 9, e93403. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0093403
Lyons, M., & Simeonov, L. (2016). The undesirable Dark Triad? Women dislike Dark Triad male faces across different mating context and socio-ecological conditions. Personality and Individual Differences, 90, 338–341. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2015.11.047
Mealey, L. (1995). The sociobiology of sociopathy: An integrated evolutionary model. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 18, 523–541.
Paulhus, D. L. (1998). Interpersonal and intrapsychic adaptiveness of trait self-enhancement: A mixed blessing? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 1197–1208. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.74.5.1197
Paulhus, D. L. (2001). Normal narcissism: Two minimalist accounts. Psychological Inquiry, 12, 228–230.
Paulhus, D. L., & Williams, K. M. (2002). The Dark Triad of personality: Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. Journal of Research in Personality, 36, 556–563 Pii s0092-6566(02)00505-610.1016/s0092-6566(02)00505-6.
Penke, L., Denissen, J. J. A., & Miller, G. F. (2007). The evolutionary genetics of personality. European Journal of Personality, 21, 549–587. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.629
Raskin, R., & Terry, H. (1988). A principal-components analysis of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory and further evidence of its construct validity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 890–902. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.54.5.890
Rauthmann, J. F., & Kolar, G. P. (2012). How “dark” are the Dark Triad traits? Examining the perceived darkness of narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. Personality and Individual Differences, 53, 884–889. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2012.06.020
Rautiainen, M. R., Paunio, T., Repo-Tiihonen, E., Virkkunen, M., Ollila, H. M., Sulkava, S., et al. (2016). Genome-wide association study of antisocial personality disorder. Translational Psychiatry, 6, e883. https://doi.org/10.1038/tp.2016.155
Reise, S. P., & Wright, T. M. (1996). Personality traits, cluster B personality disorders, and sociosexuality. Journal of Research in Personality, 30, 128–136. https://doi.org/10.1006/jrpe.1996.0009
Rhodes, G. (2006). The evolutionary psychology of facial beauty. Annual Review of Psychology, 57, 199–226. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.57.102904.190208
Sadeh, N., Javdani, S., Jackson, J. J., Reynolds, E. K., Potenza, M. N., Gelernter, J., et al. (2010). Serotonin transporter gene associations with psychopathic traits in youth vary as a function of socioeconomic resources. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 119, 604–609. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019709
Schmitt, D. P. (2017). Narcissism and the strategic pursuit of short-term mating: Universal links across 11 world regions of the International Sexuality Description Project-2. Psychological Topics, 26, 89–137.
Sedikides, C., Gregg, A. P., Cisek, S., & Hart, C. M. (2007). The I that buys: Narcissists as consumers. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 17, 254–257. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1057-7408(07)70035-9
Sleep, C. E., Lynam, D. R., Hyatt, C. S., & Miller, J. D. (in press). Perils of partialing redux: The case of the Dark Triad. Journal of Abnormal Psychology.
Thornhill, R., & Gangestad, S. W. (1994). Human fluctuating asymmetry and sexual behavior. Psychological Science, 5, 297–302.
Tooby, J., & Cosmides, L. (1990). On the universality of human-nature and the uniqueness of the individual – the role of genetics and adaptation. Journal of Personality, 58, 17–67. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.1990.tb00907.x
Trivers, R. L. (1972). Parental investment and sexual selection. In B. Campbell (Ed.), Sexual selection and the descent of man 1871–1971 (pp. 136–179). Chicago: Aldine.
Vazire, S., Naumann, L. P., Rentfrow, P. J., & Gosling, S. D. (2008). Portrait of a narcissist: Manifestations of narcissism in physical appearance. Journal of Research in Personality, 42, 1439–1447. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2008.06.007
Vernon, P. A., Villani, V. C., Vickers, L. C., & Harris, J. A. (2008). A behavioral genetic investigation of the Dark Triad and the Big 5. Personality and Individual Differences, 44, 445–452. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2007.09.007
Wilson, E. O. (1975). Sociobiology: The new synthesis. Cambridge, MA: Harvard.
Wurst, S. N., Gerlach, T. M., Dufner, M., Rauthmann, J. F., Grosz, M. P., Kuuefner, A. C. P., et al. (2017). Narcissism and romantic relationships: The differential impact of narcissistic admiration and rivalry. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 112, 280–306. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000113
Acknowledgments
I would like to express gratitude to Kent D. Bodily, Joshua Foster, Tony Hermann, Chad Posick, and D. Jason Slone for their insightful comments on a previous draft of this chapter.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Holtzman, N.S. (2018). Did Narcissism Evolve?. In: Hermann, A., Brunell, A., Foster, J. (eds) Handbook of Trait Narcissism. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92171-6_19
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92171-6_19
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-92170-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-92171-6
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)