The money attitude of covert and overt narcissists Henry K.S. Ng a,⇑ , Kim-Pong Tam b , Tse-Mei Shu c a The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong b Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong c The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong article info Article history: Received 3 December 2010 Received in revised form 20 March 2011 Accepted 24 March 2011 Available online 21 April 2011 Keywords: Money attitude Covert narcissism Overt narcissism Social dominance orientation Approach-avoidance orientation Need for power Fear of social evaluation abstract The money attitude of covert and overt narcissists was studied. Both covert and overt narcissism predicted the power-prestige dimension of money attitude, which were both mediated by the need for social power. Interestingly, the relationship for covert narcissism was also mediated by the fear of neg- ative social evaluation, confirming its socially vulnerable and hypersensitive features. In addition, the anxiety and distrust factors of money attitude were correlated with covert narcissism only. Anxiety was explained by the need for power and avoidance motivation, but no significant mediator was found for distrust. These findings provide evidence to the similarities and differences between the two types of narcissism. They also shed light on narcissists’ money-related behaviors, such as investment strategy and consumer behaviors. Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Money fulfills most people’s esteem needs (Maslow, 1943) because of its symbolic meaning of status and success. For exam- ple, affluent people are judged to be more intelligent, having higher capabilities and more successful than the less affluent (Christopher & Schlenker, 2000). They are also perceived as having more favor- able personality traits (Cherulnik & Wilderman, 1986). From the money earners’ perspective, income predicts self-reported life evaluation (Diener, Ng, Harter, & Arora, 2010). The prominent symbolic meaning of money has led to the spec- ulation that narcissists rely on it to satisfy their need for attention and grandiose sense of self (Cisek, Hart, & Sedikides, 2008; Vazire, Naumann, Rentfrow, & Gosling, 2008). In other words, narcissists may show a special pattern of attitude toward money. Previous studies have reported links between narcissism and money-related behaviors, such as investment behavior and compulsive buying (Foster, Misra & Reidy, 2009; Rose, 2007). To date, however, the money attitude of narcissists has been largely unexplored. Studying narcissists’ money attitude can further the understanding of their money-related behaviors. Therefore, the primary objective of the present research is to explore the relationship between narcissism and money attitude. In the clinical context, narcissistic personality disorder refers to a ‘pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and lack of empathy’ (DSM-IV-TR, American Psychiatric Association, 2000). In spite of its clinical origin, most studies on narcissism have been conducted in the subclinical context, treating it as a trait that can be differentiated in the normal population (Corry, Merritt, Mrug, & Pamp, 2008). Past studies have suggested that narcissists crave for authority and power, assume self-entitlement, hold biased view towards the self, exploit social relationships and possess high self- esteem (Emmons, 1984; Raskin & Terry, 1988; Sedikides, Campbell, Reeder, Elliot, & Gregg, 2002). Data from the normal population have also supported the exis- tence of two types 1 of narcissism, namely overt and covert narcis- sism (Wink, 1991). Overt narcissists 2 are characterized by explicit self-enhancement strategies and dismissive social relationships, implying that they are insensitive to others’ evaluation (Rhodewalt & Eddings, 2002). In contrast, covert narcissists are less dramatic in behavior and social relationship. Though sharing the sense of grandiosity of overt narcissists, covert narcissists also feel inferior 0191-8869/$ - see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2011.03.036 ⇑ Corresponding author. Address: Hong Kong Polytechnic University – Hong Kong Community College, Hung Hom Bay Campus, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Tel.: +852 3746 0317. E-mail address: cchksng@hkcc-polyu.edu.hk (H.K.S. Ng). 1 Previous studies have suggested that overt and covert narcissism belong to two independent dimensions rather than two distinct categories of personality (e.g. Wink, 1991). For the ease of discussion and the consideration of past usage (e.g. Rose, 2002), we use ‘‘types’’ to indicate the multidimensionality of narcissism. 2 The term ‘‘narcissist’’ is used to indicate people who score high in the corresponding measure of narcissism (e.g. NPI, HSNS). Personality and Individual Differences 51 (2011) 160–165 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Personality and Individual Differences journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/paid