Klein, J. P. | bioRxiv Science

bioRxiv2026

Self-enhancement and devaluation of others during belief formation are linked to narcissistic traits

Background: Narcissistic personality traits are associated with the tendency to maintain a grandiose self-image through self-enhancement and devaluation of others. Using computational modeling, we investigated how narcissistic traits and the experience of pride are linked to how individuals form beliefs about themselves and others. Methods: Healthy individuals and individuals with psychiatric diagnoses varying in narcissistic traits (N = 97) completed a learning task in which self-serving biases emerged implicitly through trial-by-trial belief updating in response to manipulated feedback. Computational modeling quantified how participants updated beliefs about their own and another person's abilities in response to better- and worse-than-expected performance feedback. Results: Higher narcissistic traits were associated with reduced learning from worse-than-expected self-related feedback, consistent with self-enhancement as a mechanism for maintaining a grandiose self-image. Individuals with higher narcissistic traits also reported greater pride following better-than-expected self-related feedback, which mediated the association between narcissistic traits and positive self-related learning. Furthermore, higher narcissistic traits were, mediated via pride, linked to increased learning from worse-than-expected feedback about the other person, suggesting that devaluing others relative to oneself may serve as a secondary pathway for maintaining a grandiose self-image. Discussion: These findings identify computational and affective mechanisms through which narcissistic traits are linked to self- and other-related belief formation. Reduced integration of negative self-related feedback together with enhanced pride following positive feedback may support grandiose self-beliefs, while enhanced learning from negative information about others suggests that individuals with higher narcissistic traits implicitly construct themselves as superior through both self-enhancement and devaluation of others during interpersonal belief formation.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2024

Neurocomputational Mechanisms Underlying Maladaptive Self-Belief Formation in Depression

Maladaptive self-beliefs are a core symptom of major depressive disorder. These beliefs are perpetuated by a negatively biased integration of self-related feedback. Understanding the neurocomputational mechanisms of biased belief updating may help to counteract maladaptive beliefs and the maintenance of depression. The present study uses a belief-updating task and functional neuroimaging to examine the neurocomputational mechanisms associated with self-related feedback processing in individuals with major depression and matched healthy controls. We hypothesized that increased symptom burden in depression is associated with negatively biased self-belief updating and altered neural tracking of social feedback. Our findings show that depression is related to reduced incorporation of unexpected positive feedback, with higher symptom burden alongside heightened insula reactivity to unexpected negative feedback. The interplay of increased neural responsiveness to negative feedback and the reduced learning from positive feedback provide new insights into cognitive distortions in depression and may explain the persistence of maladaptive self-beliefs and, thus, the maintenance of depression.

neuroscience↗