Abstract

Previous research has found that narcissism is related to a number of anti-social behaviours such as domestic violence, sexual coercion, aggression, and general offending. However, no research to date has explored the relationship between narcissism and attitudes towards these types of behaviours. To address this shortfall, the present study (N = 329) investigated narcissism and attitudes towards violence in a non-offending population. Males scored significantly higher on total narcissism and all attitudes towards violence. However, when narcissism was investigated in relation to specific attitudes, it was found that narcissistic females were equally accepting of violence as men were. In addition, attitudes towards violence in males related to more socially desirable, adaptive narcissism, whereas in females, attitudes towards violence were related to both adaptive and maladaptive narcissism. These new findings contribute to the very little we already know about narcissism and attitudes towards violence, and may provide the reason as to why narcissism relates to general offending behaviour; simply because they think it is acceptable.