National narcissism in politics and public understanding of science

People seek to belong to groups that they evaluate positively and identify with. A strong ingroup identity is typically thought to bring about positive outcomes for the individuals and for the group. However, when group identity is motivated by frustrated psychological needs, it can manifest as collective narcissism — a belief that one’s group is exceptional and deserves special treatment. Such a defensive ingroup identity is related to a motivated social cognition focused on the enhancement and protection of the ingroup image, even at the expense of ingroup members. In this Review, we consider the implications of differentiating collective narcissism from ingroup identification in the national context, and their different intragroup and intergroup manifestations. We focus on two domains: political attitudes and behaviours as well as the public understanding of science related to health and environmental protection. We outline how concerns for national image enhancement and protection can shape political and social manifestations of national narcissism, such as susceptibility to narratives that enhance the national image, sensitivity to disrespect and suspicion of outgroups, and acceptance of misinformation.