The object of all betrayals: delusional ideation, delusions, and the need for uniqueness as a mediator between two forms of narcissism and conspiracy beliefs

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2021.104128

Commentary

This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the relationship between both grandiose and vulnerable narcissism and conspiracy beliefs in the context of (N participants = 397; N informants = 460) four theoretically related mediators.

These experiments showed that participants with higher levels of grandiose narcissism and vulnerable narcissism were more likely to believe in conspiracy theories. We can hypothesize that this is because they are more likely to have unusual beliefs.

Similarly, some evidence was found to suggest that people with high levels of fragile narcissism believe in conspiracy theories because they suffer from paranoia, whereas people with high levels of grandiose narcissism believe in conspiracy theories because of their desire to be unique.

These results indicate that narcissism's thoughts on conspiracy theories are unique to each characteristic.