The Strategic Helper: Narcissism and Prosocial Motives and Behaviors

Sara Konrath, Meng Han Ho, Sasha Zarins

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

98 Scopus citations

Abstract

Across three studies, we examined the relationship between narcissism, prosocial behaviors, and the reasons why people engaged in them. Specifically, we examined how narcissistic people engaged in charitable donations, taking advantage of a naturally occurring mass charitable donation campaign, the ALS “ice bucket challenge” (Study 1). We also examined how narcissism was related to volunteering and other types of prosocial behaviors (Studies 2 and 3). Moreover, we compared and contrasted the prosocial responses of more empathic versus more narcissistic people (Studies 2 and 3). This paper can help scholars and practitioners to determine under which circumstances, and for which reasons, narcissistic people may exhibit prosocial behaviors.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)182-194
Number of pages13
JournalCurrent Psychology
Volume35
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jun 2016

Keywords

  • Charitable donations
  • Empathy
  • Helping
  • Motives for volunteering
  • Narcissism
  • Prosocial behavior
  • Volunteering

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