Narcissism and romantic attraction

A model of narcissism and romantic attraction predicts that narcissists wil l be attracted to admiring individuals and highly positive individuals and relatively less attracted to individuals who offer the potential for emotio nal intimacy. Five studies supported this model. Narcissists, compared with nonnarcissists, preferred more self-oriented (i.e., highly positive) and l ess other-oriented (i.e., caring) qualities in an ideal romantic partner (S tudy 1). Narcissists were also relatively more attracted to admiring and hi ghly positive hypothetical targets and less attracted to caring targets (St udies 2 and 3). Indeed, narcissists displayed a preference for highly posit ive-noncaring targets compared with caring but not highly positive targets (Study 4). Finally, mediational analyses demonstrated that narcissists' rom antic attraction is, in part, the result of a strategy far enhancing self-e steem (Study 5).