A recent study published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences provides evidence that different aspects of narcissism correspond to specific, often self-serving, patterns of religious engagement. The findings suggest that while highly narcissistic individuals might not be more religious overall, they tend to use religion as a tool for personal gain, status, or emotional comfort. This research offers a detailed understanding of how people with inflated self-views or deep-seated insecurities navigate faith and spirituality.
At first glance, narcissism and religion seem like an unlikely pair. Religious traditions usually promote humility, selflessness, and community care. Narcissism is a personality trait characterized by egotism, a sense of superiority, and a strong feeling of entitlement. This stark contrast raises an interesting question about how individuals with strong narcissistic traits interact with religious beliefs and communities.
Previous studies looking at broad connections between narcissism and religion have yielded mixed results. Some research suggests religious individuals actually score higher on general narcissism scales than non-religious people. Other sets of data show no significant relationship at all between grandiose narcissism and a person’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 drew my attention was that although research on trait narcissism has been growing rapidly, we still know relatively little about how it relates to religiosity,” said study author Julia Tokarz, a doctoral candidate at the University of Warsaw’s Faculty of Psychology and a member of the Personality Intelligence Cognition Lab. “Previous studies were quite limited and did not take into account the current three-factor model of narcissism.”
Tokarz noted that dealing with life’s challenges might explain the connection. “At the same time, narcissism is linked to various psychological and social difficulties, while religion can provide people with different resources,” Tokarz said. “This made me wonder whether religion might also serve a regulatory 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 engagement into three main functional areas including motivation, emotion, and thought. By dividing narcissism into distinct facets, the authors hoped to uncover more specific patterns of behavior. Modern psychology often splits narcissism into agentic, antagonistic, neurotic, and communal types. Agentic narcissism involves a drive for success, admiration, and self-promotion, representing the classic image of someone who constantly seeks attention.
Antagonistic narcissism centers on arrogance, hostility, and a tendency to exploit others. These individuals often see the world as a highly competitive place where they must dominate to survive. Neurotic narcissism is defined by emotional fragility, feelings of inadequacy, and hypersensitivity to criticism. This type of vulnerable narcissist often struggles with their 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 inflate their own self-worth through seemingly selfless acts, demanding recognition for their charity. The researchers designed three independent studies to see how these four different personality traits connect to the different ways people practice and think about religion.
Summarizing the overarching results, Tokarz explained the main takeaways. “We cannot say clearly that people with narcissistic traits are either more or less religious overall,” Tokarz said. “What our findings suggest instead is that if a narcissistic person is involved in religion, their engagement is more likely to be externally motivated, for example, driven by social or emotional benefits rather than purely personal faith.”
Tokarz also noted how this attitude extends to their view of the divine. “They may also be more likely to see themselves as especially favored in the eyes of God and to perceive God as more authoritarian or controlling,” Tokarz said.
The first study focused on the motivational side of religion, aiming to see why different types of narcissistic people engage with their faith. The authors recruited 150 online participants, primarily young adults and university students, who specifically declared some sort of religious affiliation. Most participants identified as Roman Catholic, while smaller percentages identified with other Christian denominations, Buddhism, or Islam. The participants completed standardized questionnaires measuring their levels of agentic, antagonistic, neurotic, and communal narcissism.
They also completed the Religious Orientation Scale, a widely used psychological tool. This scale measures whether a person’s religious motivation is intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic religion means a person practices their faith for its own sake, deeply integrating those spiritual values into their everyday life and decision-making. Extrinsic religion means a person uses religion as a means to an end, such as gaining social status, finding a community network, or seeking simple emotional relief.
The researchers found that all four facets of narcissism were positively linked to an extrinsic religious orientation. This suggests that individuals with high levels of any type of narcissism tend to view religion as a tool to achieve non-spiritual personal goals. Agentic narcissists might use a church to network and gain admiration, while neurotic narcissists might use it purely to soothe their own anxieties. The antagonistic trait was also associated with lower levels of general religious involvement.
The second study explored the emotional and cognitive aspects of faith. The authors specifically looked at how people view God and how they use religion to cope with stress. The researchers surveyed 242 online participants, consisting of a mix of religious individuals and non-religious people. Like the first study, participants filled out questionnaires to measure the different facets of narcissism and their general level of religiosity.
To assess their image of God, participants rated their agreement with statements describing God as loving, merciful, and forgiving, or as angry, punitive, and vengeful. They also answered questions about their religious coping styles. Positive religious coping involves seeking spiritual support during hard times. Negative religious coping involves feeling punished, abandoned, or attacked by a higher power.
The authors noted that agentic and antagonistic narcissism were positively linked to viewing God as a punitive and vengeful figure. Because these individuals often view the social world as a harsh, competitive hierarchy, a controlling and punishing deity aligns perfectly with their personal worldview. This image of an authoritarian God might serve as a psychological tool to reinforce their own beliefs in strength, dominance, and superiority over others.
People scoring high in antagonistic narcissism also tended to reject the idea of a loving God entirely. Additionally, this antagonistic trait was inversely related to positive religious coping. This indicates that these individuals are much less likely to turn to their faith for comfort during difficult times. The authors found no significant link between neurotic narcissism and religious coping, which was an unexpected detail given their specific struggles with emotional regulation.
The third study focused on a concept called divine entitlement. This refers to the belief that one deserves special privileges, favors, or extra blessings from a higher power. The research team recruited 148 participants online for this final phase. The sample again consisted mostly of university students and Roman Catholics in Poland.
Participants completed the same narcissism and general religiosity scales used in the previous studies. To measure divine entitlement, respondents rated their agreement with specific statements regarding their perceived relationship with the divine. These statements included phrases like “God owes me” or “People like me deserve extra blessings from God.” This allowed the researchers to see if the demanding nature of narcissism extends to a spiritual level.
The data revealed that agentic, antagonistic, and communal narcissism were all positively related to feelings of divine entitlement. However, when the scientists ran a deeper statistical analysis, they found that only agentic and communal narcissism were independent predictors of this belief. This means that when all traits were considered together, the antagonistic trait did not uniquely contribute to these feelings of entitlement. This suggests that people who use religion to self-promote or appear exceptionally altruistic are the most likely to feel that God owes them special favors.
As with all research, there are some limitations. The research relied entirely on cross-sectional data, meaning the information was collected at a single point in time. This type of study design can show that two variables are related, but it cannot prove that one causes the other. It is impossible to say whether narcissistic traits cause a person to view God as punitive, or if certain religious environments might encourage specific personality traits.
Another potential limitation is the demographic makeup of the study samples. The participants were predominantly Polish Roman Catholics, with a noticeably higher proportion of women than men participating. This specific cultural and religious context means the findings might not apply perfectly to people from different countries.
“One important limitation is that our studies were conducted in a Polish, predominantly Catholic context,” Tokarz said. “This means the findings may not fully apply to people from other cultures or religious traditions. Still, some of our results are consistent with findings from studies carried out in other religious settings.”
Future research could expand on these findings by including a wider variety of religious affiliations and cultural backgrounds. Scientists might also track individuals over longer periods to see how their religious beliefs and personality traits influence each other over time. Tokarz emphasized the need to look closely at these varied motivations moving forward.
“Our studies suggest that religion may attract people with narcissistic traits for reasons that are not always strictly religious, and that these motivations may differ depending on the type of narcissism,” Tokarz said. “We also know that religion can serve many different psychological functions. In future research, I would like to explore this more directly through experimental studies and examine what kinds of psychological roles religion may play for people with different narcissistic traits.”
The study, “Between ego and faith: Motivational, affective, and cognitive dimensions of religious engagement in narcissism,” was authored by Julia Tokarz, Paweł Łowicki, and Marcin Zajenkowski.
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