Silver Tongues, Plastic Pens Modality-Dependent Persuasiveness in Narcissists

Grandiose narcissists claim to be highly persuasive, and they possess characteristics (e.g., charisma, confidence) that might make them so. We report four studies that put their claims to the test. One study focused on spoken persuasion and three on written persuasion (N = 872 speakers/writers and 987 targets who rated persuasiveness). In all four studies, narcissistic speakers/writers claimed that their speeches/essays would be persuasive. However, whereas targets rated their speeches as relatively persuasive (Study 1), they rated their essays as relatively unpersuasive (Studies 2A–C). Differences between study samples and methods preclude direct comparisons between communication modalities. Nevertheless, the results offer a proof of concept that narcissists may not be as persuasive as they think they are, especially when writing.