Foresee the glory and train better: Narcissism, goal-setting and athlete training

Zhang, Shuge; Roberts, Ross; Woodman, Tim; Pitkethly, Amanda; English, Cedric; Nightingale, David

Abstract

Grandiose narcissism may be debilitative to athlete training because the opportunity for self-enhancement that motivates narcissists to strive is normally absent in training environments. However, this view ignores the divergent influences of the self-inflated (reflecting over-confidence) and dominant (reflecting willingness for dominance) facets of grandiose narcissism. We expected that self-inflated narcissism would undermine athlete training, but only when dominant narcissism was low. This is because dominant narcissism may serve as the catalyst that drives those with self-inflated narcissism to train well. We further considered goal-setting as a practical means of alleviating the negative influence of self-inflated narcissism in training. Goal-setting provides athletes with an exciting vision of the future and thus can be an important self-enhancement strategy to engage narcissistic athletes in training. In the present study, 321 athletes completed the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI-40) and the goal-setting subscale in the Test of Performance Strategies-3 (TOPS-3). Coaches of these athletes assessed training behaviors using the Quality of Training Inventory (QTI). Self-inflated narcissism predicted higher levels of (coach-rated) distractibility and poorer quality of preparation only when both dominant narcissism and goal-setting were low (and not when either was high). The findings suggest that dominant narcissism and goal-setting protect against the adverse influences of self-inflated narcissism on athlete training. The work underscores the importance of considering grandiose narcissism as a multidimensional construct and supports goal-setting as a useful self-enhancement strategy

Citation

Zhang, S., Roberts, R., Woodman, T., Pitkethly, A., English, C., & Nightingale, D. (2021). Foresee the glory and train better: Narcissism, goal-setting and athlete training. Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology, 10(3), 381-393. https://doi.org/10.1037/spy0000264

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 5, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Apr 1, 2021
• Publication Date: 2021
• Deposit Date: Feb 9, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 1, 2021
• Journal: Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology
• Print ISSN: 2157-3905
• Publisher: American Psychological Association
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 10
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 381-393
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/spy0000264
• Keywords: self-inflated narcissism, dominant narcissism, goal-setting, self23 enhancement, training behaviors
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/2726904