When is narcissism associated with low empathy? A meta-analytic review

Narcissism is commonly associated with low empathy, but empirical studies have used diverse methods, yielding mixed findings. The present meta-analysis examined the overall magnitude of the association between grandiose and vulnerable narcissism and affective and cognitive empathy (N = 32200). Grandiose narcissism was significantly negatively associated with self-reported cognitive (r =-0.085) and affective (r =-0.145) empathy. When empathy was measured behaviourally, grandiose narcissism was significantly associated only with affective empathy (r =-0.251) but not cognitive empathy (r =-0.052). Vulnerable narcissism was significantly negatively associated with self-reported cognitive and affective empathy (r =-0.179 and r =-0.105 respectively). The association between vulnerable narcissism and cognitive empathy measured behaviourally was not significant (r =-0.069). The association between narcissism and empathy is nuanced and depends on various conceptual and methodological factors. (C) 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.