Emotional Responses to Social Inclusion and Attention Allocation: The Role of Narcissism

This research project examines how variations in social inclusion and attention allocation influence emotional responses, and whether these effects are moderated by individual differences in narcissistic traits. Social attention will be experimentally manipulated using an online ball-tossing task in which participants experience one of three conditions: equal inclusion, over-inclusion, or reduced attention due to attention diversion toward another player. This design allows for controlled manipulation of social attention without complete social exclusion. Prior to the task, participants will complete validated self-report measures assessing narcissistic traits, baseline state anxiety, self-esteem, fear of negative evaluation, and demographic information. Emotional responses will be assessed both before and after the task, with primary outcomes including changes in state anxiety and fulfillment of fundamental psychological needs (belonging, self-esteem, control, and meaningful existence). Additional post-task measures will assess mood-related physiological symptoms, task-related suspicion, social paranoia, and implicit self-esteem using a name-letter preference task. The primary purpose of this study is to test whether individuals higher in narcissistic traits exhibit heightened emotional sensitivity to reduced social attention and differential responses to over-inclusion relative to equal inclusion. It is expected that variations in social attention allocation will affect emotional responses and that narcissistic traits will moderate the magnitude of these effects. Findings from this study aim to clarify how individual differences in narcissism shape emotional reactions to social attention dynamics in online social interactions.