Selfless or Selfish? The Impact of Message Framing and Egoistic Motivation on Narcissists’ Compliance with Preventive Health Behaviors during COVID-19

COVID-19 is one of the greatest international health crises in recent years. Due to the highly contagious nature of the virus, the World Health Organization has recommended that people comply with a set of preventive measures to reduce the infection rate (e.g., social distancing, wearing a face mask, thorough personal hygiene). Such recommendations imply certain personal restrictions, with people typically differing in the extent to which they are willing to comply with said recommendations. The present large-sampled study (N = 800) aimed to investigate whether narcissism levels and message framing strategies affect individuals’ willingness to accept personal restrictions and, consequently, comply with a set of preventive health behaviors. Results reveal that people high (vs. low) in narcissism are less likely to accept personal restrictions and to comply with preventive health behaviors. However, negative (vs. positive) message framing increases narcissists’ willingness to comply with such behaviors. This effect can be explained through an increased willingness of narcissistic participants to accept personal restrictions to protect themselves (egoistic motivation) but not through a willingness to protect vulnerable people (altruistic motivation). These findings suggest that individuals who remain uncooperative during pandemics could be more effectively addressed with adapted message framing strategies and incentives tailor-made for their distinct personalities.