Story perspectives

Higher Narcissism Predicts Lower Left-Wing Authoritarianism, Study Finds

7/21/2026

Summary

Story summary

Alexandra (Sasha) Cook and colleagues published a Dutch study finding higher narcissism predicts lower left-wing authoritarianism.
Higher narcissism also predicted reduced anti-hierarchical aggression and anticonventionalism, with no link to top-down censorship.
Higher psychopathy scores correlated with greater anti-hierarchical aggression and anticonventionalism.
The authors said the 2024 paper’s positive narcissism-LWA link was a methodological artifact and warned that low psychopathy scores and ambiguous items may confound protest behavior.

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Story summary

Alexandra (Sasha) Cook and colleagues published a Dutch study finding higher narcissism predicts lower left-wing authoritarianism.
Higher narcissism also predicted reduced anti-hierarchical aggression and anticonventionalism, with no link to top-down censorship.
Higher psychopathy scores correlated with greater anti-hierarchical aggression and anticonventionalism.
The authors said the 2024 paper’s positive narcissism-LWA link was a methodological artifact and warned that low psychopathy scores and ambiguous items may confound protest behavior.