Date of Award

2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

MA in Psychology

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Ernest Hodges

Second Advisor

Katlin Peets

Abstract

Close friendships are fundamental to our well-being and provide a unique context for analyzing perceptions of power and control. This experimental study investigated how individuals high in narcissistic admiration and rivalry would react to power experiences within their best friendships. Participants (N = 94 undergraduate students; 66 females; Mage = 19.18, SD = 1.84 years) were randomly assigned to either a high or low power condition via a recall task. Dependent measures included positive and negative mood, and perceptions of one’s own and friend’s agentic, communal, and narcissistic traits. Results indicated that narcissistic admiration significantly predicted greater positive mood and more favorable self-evaluations in agentic and communal domains, whereas narcissistic rivalry was associated with greater negative mood and more unfavorable evaluations of the self and friend. Both dimensions were associated with perceiving oneself and one's friend as having more narcissistic traits. The interactions between narcissism and situational power were not significant for any of the outcomes. Discussion focuses on implications and directions for future research.

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