Recent research published in journals personality and individual differences We provide evidence that different aspects of narcissism correspond to specific, often selfish, patterns of religious involvement. This finding suggests that people high in narcissism may not be particularly religious overall, but they tend to use religion as a tool for personal gain, status, or emotional comfort. This study provides a detailed understanding of how people with exaggerated self-views and deep-seated insecurities navigate faith and spirituality.
At first glance, narcissism and religion seem like an unlikely combination. Religious traditions typically promote humility, selflessness, and concern for the community. Narcissism is a personality trait characterized by selfishness, a sense of superiority, and a strong sense of entitlement. This apparent contrast raises interesting questions about how individuals with strong narcissistic traits relate to their religious beliefs and communities.
Previous studies examining the broader relationship between narcissism and religion have yielded mixed results. Some research suggests that religious people actually score higher than non-religious people on common measures of narcissism. Another set of data shows that there is no significant relationship at all between grandiose narcissism and an individual’s overall level of faith. To make sense of these apparent contradictions, researchers decided to break down both narcissism and religiosity into more specific categories.
“What caught my attention is that despite the rapid growth of research on trait narcissism, we still know very little about how it relates to religiosity,” said study author Julia Tocarz, a doctoral candidate at the Department of Psychology at the University of Warsaw and a member of the Personality Intelligence and Cognition Laboratory. “Previous research was very limited and did not take into account the current three-factor model of narcissism.”
Tokarz pointed out that coping with life’s challenges may explain the association. “At the same time, narcissism is associated with a variety of psychological and social difficulties, and religion can provide people with a variety of resources,” Tokarz said. “This led us to wonder whether religion also serves a regulating function for people with narcissistic traits, for example by helping them maintain a positive self-image or cope with difficult emotions.”
The research team organized religious involvement into three main areas of functioning, including motivation, emotion, and thinking. The authors hoped to clarify more specific behavioral patterns by dividing narcissism into different aspects. In modern psychology, narcissism is often classified into the acting type, the hostile type, the neurotic type, and the communal type. Agentic narcissism involves a drive for success, admiration, and self-promotion, and represents the classic image of a person constantly seeking attention.
Hostile narcissism is centered around arrogance, hostility, and a tendency to exploit others. These people often see the world as a competitive place where they need an advantage in order to survive. Neurotic narcissism is defined by emotional vulnerability, feelings of inadequacy, and hypersensitivity to criticism. This type of vulnerable narcissist often struggles with self-esteem and fears social rejection.
Finally, communal narcissism occurs when a person seeks to be seen as the most altruistic or helpful individual in a group. They exaggerate their worth through seemingly selfless acts and demand recognition for their charity work. The researchers designed three separate studies to examine how these four different personality traits relate to the different ways people practice and think about religion.
Summarizing the overall results, Tokarz outlined the main takeaways. “We can’t definitively say that people with narcissistic traits are more or less religious overall,” Tokarz says. “Our findings suggest that when narcissistic people are involved in religion, their involvement is likely to be extrinsically motivated, for example driven by social or emotional benefits, rather than purely personal beliefs.”
Mr. Tokarz also noted how this attitude extends to their view of God. “They may also consider themselves particularly favored in God’s eyes and be more likely to perceive God as more authoritarian or controlling,” Tokarz said.
The first study focused on the motivational aspects of religion and aimed to understand why different types of narcissistic people become passionate about their faith. The authors recruited 150 online participants, primarily young people and university students, who specifically declared some religious affiliation. Most participants identified as Roman Catholic, but a few identified with other Christian denominations, Buddhism, or Islam. Participants completed standardized questionnaires measuring levels of agentic narcissism, hostile narcissism, neurotic narcissism, and communal narcissism.
They also completed the Religious Orientation Scale, a widely used psychological tool. This scale measures whether a person’s religious motivations are intrinsic or extrinsic. Indigenous religion means that a person practices a faith for its own sake and deeply integrates those spiritual values into daily life and decision-making. Extrinsic religiosity refers to people who use religion as a means to an end, such as gaining social status, finding a community network, or simply seeking emotional comfort.
Researchers found that all four dimensions of narcissism were positively associated with extrinsic religious orientation. This suggests that people with high levels of all types of narcissism tend to view religion as a tool to achieve non-spiritual personal goals. Agentic narcissists may use the church to network and gain admiration, while neurotic narcissists may use the church purely to assuage their own insecurities. Hostile traits were also associated with lower levels of general religious involvement.
The second study investigated emotional and cognitive aspects of faith. The authors looked specifically at how people view God and how they use religion to cope with stress. Researchers surveyed 242 online participants, including religious and non-religious people. As in the first study, participants filled out questionnaires to measure various aspects of narcissism and their level of general religiosity.
To assess their image of God, participants rated their agreement with statements that described God as loving, merciful, and forgiving, or as angry, punitive, and vengeful. They also answered questions about their religion coping style. Positive religious coping involves seeking spiritual support during difficult times. Negative religious coping includes feeling punished, abandoned, or attacked by a higher power.
The authors noted that enactive narcissism and hostile narcissism are positively associated with viewing God as a punitive and vengeful figure. These people often view the social world as a harsh, competitive hierarchy, so a God who controls and punishes fits perfectly with their personal worldview. This image of an authoritarian god may function as a psychological tool to reinforce our beliefs about strength, superiority, and superiority over others.
Those who scored high on hostile narcissism also tended to reject the idea of a loving God altogether. Furthermore, this hostile trait was inversely associated with positive religious coping. This indicates that these people are much less likely to turn to faith for comfort during difficult times. The authors found no significant association between neurotic narcissism and religious coping, an unexpected detail given their unique struggles with emotional regulation.
The third study focused on a concept called divine right. This refers to the belief that one is worthy of special privileges, favors, or additional blessings from a higher power. The research team recruited 148 participants online for this final stage. This sample also consisted primarily of Polish university students and Roman Catholics.
Participants completed the same narcissism and general religiosity measures used in previous studies. To assess divine entitlement, respondents rated their agreement with specific statements about their relationship with God. These statements included phrases such as “God is in my debt” and “People like me deserve special blessings from God.” This allowed the researchers to see whether the demanding nature of narcissism extends to a psychological level.
The data revealed that enactive narcissism, hostile narcissism, and communal narcissism were all positively related to feelings of God-given entitlement. However, when the scientists performed a more detailed statistical analysis, they found that agentic narcissism and communal narcissism were the only factors that independently predicted this belief. This means that hostile traits do not uniquely contribute to these feelings of entitlement when all traits are considered together. This suggests that people who use religion for self-promotion, or who appear to be highly altruistic, are most likely to feel that they are receiving special favors from God.
As with all research, there are some limitations. This study relied on completely cross-sectional data, meaning that information was collected at a single point in time. This type of research design can show that two variables are related, but cannot prove that one causes the other. It is impossible to say whether narcissistic traits cause a person to view God as punitive, or whether a particular religious environment fosters certain personality traits.
Another potential limitation is the demographic composition of the study sample. Participants were primarily Polish Roman Catholics, with a significantly higher proportion of women than men. This particular cultural and religious background means that the findings may not fully apply to people from different countries.
“One important limitation is that our study was conducted in a Polish, predominantly Catholic context,” Tokarz said. “This means that our findings may not fully apply to people from other cultures or religious traditions. Still, some of our results are consistent with those of studies conducted in other religious settings.”
Future research may extend these findings by including a broader range of religious and cultural backgrounds. Scientists can also follow individuals over time to see how their religious beliefs and personality traits influence each other over time. Mr. Tokarz stressed the need to carefully monitor these different motives going forward.
“Our study suggests that religion may attract people with narcissistic traits for reasons that are not necessarily strictly religious, and that motivations may differ depending on the type of narcissism,” Tokarz said. “We also know that religion may serve different psychological functions. In future research, we hope to explore this more directly through experimental studies and examine what kind of psychological role religion may play for people with different narcissistic traits.”
The study, “Between ego and faith: Motivational, emotional, and cognitive aspects of religious involvement in narcissism,” was authored by Julia Tokarz, Paweł Łowicki, and Marcin Zajenkowski.
