Narcissism and conspicuous consumption

Abstract

Narcissists are prone to conspicuous consumption, that is, preference for luxury over mundane products. We analyze four reasons for their conspicuous consumption: positive distinctiveness (individuation and status), meaning in life, materialism, and sexual signaling. Empirical support for these reasons ranges from good to preliminary. We then discuss directions that this nascent literature could take. These include a consideration of different forms of narcissism (grandiose vs. vulnerable, agentic vs. communal, admirative vs. rivalrous), the value of experimentation in clarifying the causal flow from narcisissm to conspicuous consumption and also from conspicuous consumption to state narcissism, as well as the (mostly negative) consequences of conspicuous consumptions for narcisissm and society.

Keywords: Narcissism; conspicuous consumption; consumerism; materialism; meaning in life.