How personal significance, collective narcissism, and willingness to sacrifice shape extreme personalities

Introduction Extreme feelings, behaviors, and cognitions, although often considered outside the bounds of normality, are part of human nature. This study examined whether variables proven to be related to extremism, including personal significance, collective narcissism, and willingness to make sacrifices, are related to, and could incipiently explain, extreme personality. Methods Data was collected from the Spanish general population ( n = 328, 92.4% males) and individuals from a Spanish prison ( n = 222, 95.5% males). Multiple linear regression and mediation analyses were conducted, with extreme personality being the outcome variable. Results For the general population, two regression analyses showed that collective narcissism, sacrifice for values, sacrifice for group, and either quest for significance ( <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M1"> <mml:msubsup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>R</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mtext>adjusted</mml:mtext> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msubsup> </mml:math> = 0.071; F = 5.61; p = 0.004) or loss of significance ( <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M2"> <mml:msubsup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>R</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mtext>adjusted</mml:mtext> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msubsup> </mml:math> = 0.077; F = 4.73; p = 0.009) predicted extreme personality. For the prison sample, only collective narcissism along with quest for significance ( <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M3"> <mml:msubsup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>R</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mtext>adjusted</mml:mtext> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msubsup> </mml:math> = 0.252; F = 10.84; p = 0.001) or loss of significance ( <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M4"> <mml:msubsup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>R</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mtext>adjusted</mml:mtext> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msubsup> </mml:math> = 0.170; F = 7.53; p = 0.007) predicted extreme personality. Mediation analysis showed that collective narcissism and willingness to sacrifice for one's highest values partially mediated the relationship between personal significance and extreme personality in the general population, while only collective narcissism did so for the prison sample. Discussion These results underscore the role that personal significance has in explaining extreme personality and could also indicate that in-group superiority and self-sacrifice (for those in the general population) act as partial psychological pathways, linking personal significance to extreme personality.