Research Institute of Child Development and Education, University of Amsterdam.
Department of Work and Organizational Psychology, University of Amsterdam.
Psychol Sci. 2021 Mar;32(3):354-363. doi: 10.1177/0956797620965536. Epub 2021 Feb 3.
Some leaders display high levels of narcissism. Does the link between narcissism levels and leadership exist in childhood? We conducted, to our knowledge, the first study of the relationship between narcissism levels and various aspects of leadership in children ( = 332, ages 7-14 years). We assessed narcissism levels using the Childhood Narcissism Scale and assessed leadership emergence in classrooms using peer nominations. Children then performed a group task in which one child was randomly assigned as leader. We assessed perceived and actual leadership functioning. Children with higher narcissism levels more often emerged as leaders in classrooms. When given a leadership role in the task, children with higher narcissism levels perceived themselves as better leaders, but their actual leadership functioning did not differ significantly from that of other leaders. Specification-curve analyses corroborated these findings. Thus, children with relatively high narcissism levels tend to emerge as leaders, even though they may not excel as leaders.
一些领导者表现出高度的自恋。自恋水平与领导力之间的联系是否存在于儿童期？我们进行了，据我们所知，首次研究了自恋水平与儿童领导力各个方面之间的关系（n = 332，年龄 7-14 岁）。我们使用儿童自恋量表评估自恋水平，并使用同伴提名评估课堂上领导力的出现。然后，孩子们进行了一项小组任务，其中一名孩子被随机指定为领导者。我们评估了感知和实际的领导能力。自恋水平较高的孩子在课堂上更有可能成为领导者。当在任务中担任领导角色时，自恋水平较高的孩子认为自己是更好的领导者，但他们的实际领导能力与其他领导者没有显著差异。规范曲线分析证实了这些发现。因此，具有相对较高自恋水平的孩子往往会成为领导者，尽管他们可能不是出色的领导者。
