Dr Agnieszka Golec de Zavala

Staff details

Position Reader
Department Psychology
Email a.golec (@gold.ac.uk)
Phone +44 (0)20 7078 5074
Dr Agnieszka Golec de Zavala

Agnieszka is a Reader at the Department of Psychology at Goldsmiths. She is a member of Society for Experimental Social Psychology, AcademiaNet and advisor of think tanks Concillium Civitas and Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Society. Her research expertise lies in social and political psychology, including psychological predictors of political conservatism, the role of motivated cognition in intergroup conflict, the role of social identity, narcissism and collective narcissisms in conflict, social inequality and prejudice. She is the proponent of collective narcissism theory and the author of the widely used Collective Narcissism Scale. She strives to understand dynamics of collective narcissism, to reduce intergroup conflicts and pursue social equality. The significance of her work is not only in her scientific contribution, but also in its applicability in to social problems such as social inequality, prejudice and intergroup conflict.

Academic qualifications

  • Habilitation, SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Poland 2015
  • PG Cert HE Diploma, Middlesex University, UK 2009
  • PhD in Social and Political Psychology, Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland 1999
  • MA with honours in Social and Developmental Psychology, Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland 1994

Research interests

• Collective and individual narcissism
• Prejudice and intergroup hostility
• Social exclusion. ingroup identification and pursuit of social equality
• Social identity and intergroup relations
• Pro-social and self-transcendent emotions and their role in prejudice reduction and reducing consequences of intergroup exclusion
• Embodied social cognition, embodiment of prejudice
• Yoga, mindfulness and self-transcending emotions and creativity and well being

Publications and research outputs

Book

Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka. 2023. The Psychology of Collective Narcissism: Insights from Social Identity Theory. Abingdon: Routledge. ISBN 9781032283814

Book Section

Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka and Keenan, Oliver. 2023. Collective narcissism and the clash of advantaged and disadvantaged groups. In: Anna Kende and Barbara Lášticová, eds. The Psychology of Politically Unstable Societies. Abingdon: Routledge. ISBN 9781032252285

Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka; Lantos, Dorottya and Keenan, Oliver. 2021. Collective Narcissism and the Motivational Underpinnings of the Populist Backlash. In: Joseph P. Forgas; William D. Crano and Klaus Fiedler, eds. The Psychology of Populism: The Tribal Challenge to Liberal Democracy. New York: Routledge, pp. 105-122. ISBN 9780367523909

Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka. 2020. Why is populism so robustly associated with conspiratorial thinking? Collective Narcissism and the Meaning Maintenance Model. In: Jan D. Sinnott and Joan S. Rabin, eds. The psychology of political behavior in a time of change. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing, pp. 277-290. ISBN 9783030382698

Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka. 2018. Collective narcissism: antecedents and consequences of exaggeration of the in-group image. In: Anthony Hermann; Amy Brunell and Josh Foster, eds. Handbook of Trait Narcissism: Key Advances, Research Methods, and Controversies. Springer, pp. 79-88. ISBN 978-3-319-92171-6

Article

Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka; Keenan, Oliver; Ziegler, Matthias; Ciesielski, Pawel; Wahl, Julia and Mazurkiewicz, Magdalena. 2023. App-based mindfulness training supported eudaimonic wellbeing during the COVID19 pandemic. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being, ISSN 1758-0846

Federico, Christopher M.; Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka and Bu, Wen. 2023. Collective Narcissism as a Basis for Nationalism. Political Psychology, 44(1), pp. 177-196. ISSN 0162-895X

Bagci, Sabahat Cigdem; Stathi, Sophia and Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka. 2023. Social identity threat across group status: Links to psychological well-being and intergroup bias through collective narcissism and ingroup satisfaction. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 29(2), pp. 208-220. ISSN 1099-9809

Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka; Bierwiaczonek, Kinga and Ciesielski, Pawel. 2022. An interpretation of meta-analytical evidence for the link between collective narcissism and conspiracy theories. Current Opinion in Psychology, 47, 101360. ISSN 2352-250X

Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka. 2022. Conditional Parochial Vicarious Ostracism: Gender Collective Narcissism Predicts Distress at the Exclusion of the Gender Ingroup in Women and Men. Sex Roles, 87(5-6), pp. 267-288. ISSN 0360-0025

Federico, Christopher M.; Farhart, Christina; Vitriol, Joseph and Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka. 2022. Collective Narcissism and Perceptions of the (Il)legitimacy of the 2020 US Election. The Forum: A Journal of Applied Research in Contemporary Politics, 20(1), pp. 37-62. ISSN 1540-8884

Guerra, Rita; Bierwiaczonek, Kinga; Ferreira, Marina; Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka; Abakoumkin, Georgios; Wildschut, Tim and Sedikides, Constantine. 2022. An intergroup approach to collective narcissism: Intergroup threats and hostility in four European Union countries. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 25(2), pp. 415-433. ISSN 1368-4302

Keenan, Oliver and Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka. 2021. Collective Narcissism and Weakening of American Democracy. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 21(1), pp. 237-258. ISSN 1529-7489

Federico, Christopher M.; Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka and Baran, Tomasz. 2021. Collective Narcissism, In-Group Satisfaction, and Solidarity in the Face of COVID-19. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 12(6), pp. 1071-1081. ISSN 1948-5506

Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka; Bierwiaczonek, Kinga; Baran, Tomasz; Keenan, Oliver and Hase, Adrian. 2021. The COVID-19 Pandemic, Authoritarianism and Rejection of Sexual Dissenters in Poland. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Diversity, 8(2), pp. 250-260. ISSN 2329-0382

Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka and Bierwiaczonek, Kinga. 2021. Male, National, and Religious Collective Narcissism Predict Sexism. Sex Roles, 84(11-12), pp. 680-700. ISSN 0360-0025

Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka and Keenan, Oliver. 2021. Collective narcissism as a framework for understanding populism. Journal of Theoretical Social Psychology, 5(2), pp. 54-64. ISSN 2475-0387

Mole, Richard C. M.; Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka and Adraq, Mahmut Murat. 2021. Homophobia and national collective narcissism in populist Poland. European Journal of Sociology, 62(1), pp. 37-70. ISSN 0003-9756

Marchlewska, Marta; Cichocka, Aleksandra; Jaworska, Manana; Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka and Bilewicz, Michal. 2020. Superficial ingroup love? Collective narcissism predicts ingroup image defense, outgroup prejudice, and lower ingroup loyalty. British Journal of Social Psychology, 59(4), pp. 857-875. ISSN 0144-6665

Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka and Lantos, Dorottya. 2020. Collective narcissism and its social consequences: The Bad and the Ugly. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 29(3), pp. 273-278. ISSN 0963-7214

Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka; Federico, Christopher M.; Sedikides, Constantine; Guerra, Rita; Lantos, Dorottya; Mrozinski, Blazej; Cypryańska-Nezlek, Marzena and Baran, Tomasz. 2020. Low Self-Esteem Predicts Out-group Derogation via Collective Narcissism, but this Relationship Is Obscured by In-group Satisfaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 119(3), pp. 741-764. ISSN 0022-3514

Dyduch-Hazar, Karolina; Mrozinski, Blazej and Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka. 2019. Collective Narcissism and In-Group Satisfaction Predict Opposite Attitudes Toward Refugees via Attribution of Hostility. Frontiers in Psychology, 10(1901),

Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka; Dyduch-Hazar, Krolina and Lantos, Dorottya. 2019. Collective narcissism: Political consequences of investment of self-worth into an ingroup’s image. Advances in Political Psychology, 40(S1), pp. 37-74. ISSN 1479-0661

Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka. 2019. Collective Narcissism and In-Group Satisfaction Are Associated With Different Emotional Profiles and Psychological Wellbeing. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 203.

Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka and Federico, Christopher. 2018. Collective Narcissism and the Growth of Conspiracy Thinking over the Course of the 2016 United States Presidential Election: A Longitudinal Analysis. European Journal of Social Psychology, 48(7), pp. 1011-1018. ISSN 0046-2772

Cichocka, Aleksandra; Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka; Marchlewska, Marta; Bilewicz, Michal; Jaworska, Manana and Olechowski, Mateusz. 2018. Personal control decreases narcissistic but increases non-narcissistic in-group positivity. Journal of Personality, 86(3), pp. 465-480. ISSN 0022-3506

Federico, Christopher and Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka. 2018. Collective Narcissism and the 2016 United States Presidential Vote. Public Opinion Quarterly, 82(1), pp. 110-121. ISSN 0033-362X

Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka; Guerra, Rita and Simao, Claudia. 2017. The Relationship between the Brexit Vote and Individual Predictors of Prejudice: Collective Narcissism, Right Wing Authoritarianism, Social Dominance Orientation. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 2023. ISSN 1664-1078

Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka; Lantos, Dorottya and Bowden, Deborah. 2017. Yoga Poses Increase Subjective Energy and State Self-Esteem in Comparison to ‘Power Poses’. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 752.

Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka; Peker, Mujde; Guerra, Rita and Baran, Tomasz. 2016. Collective Narcissism Predicts Hypersensitivity to In-group Insult and Direct and Indirect Retaliatory Intergroup Hostility. European Journal of Personality, 30(30), pp. 532-551. ISSN 0890-2070

Cichocka, Aleksandra; Marchlewska, Marta and Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka. 2016. Does self-love or self-hate predict conspiracy beliefs? Narcissism, self-esteem, and the endorsement of conspiracy theories. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 7(2), pp. 157-166. ISSN 1948-5506

Cichocka, Aleksandra; Marchlewska, Marta; Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka and Olechowski, Mateusz. 2015. “They will not control us”: In-group positivity and belief in intergroup conspiracies. British Journal of Psychology, 107, pp. 566-576. ISSN 0007-1250

Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka; Waldzus, Sven and Cypryanska, Marzena. 2014. Prejudice towards gay men and a need for physical cleansing. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 54, pp. 1-10. ISSN 0022-1031

Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka; Cichocka, Aleksandra and Iskra-Golec, Iskra-Golec. 2013. Collective Narcissism Moderates the Effect of In-group Image Threat on Intergroup Hostility. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 104, pp. 1019-1039. ISSN 0022-3514

Cichocka, Aleksandra; Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka; Kofta, Mirek and Rozum, Joanna. 2013. Threats to Feminist Identity and Reactions to Gender Discrimination. Sex Roles, 68(9-10), pp. 605-619. ISSN 0360-0025

Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka; Cichocka, Aleksandra and Bilewicz, Michal. 2013. The paradox of in-group love: Differentiating collective narcissism advances understanding of the relationship between in-group and out-group attitudes. Journal of Personality, 81(1), pp. 16-28.

Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka and Cichocka, Aleksandra. 2012. Collective narcissism and anti-Semitism in Poland,. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 15, pp. 213-229.

Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka; Cichocka, Aleksandra; Orehek, Edward and Abdollahi, Abdolhossein. 2012. Intrinsic religiosity reduces intergroup hostility under mortality salience. European Journal of Social Psychology, 42(4), pp. 451-461.

Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka and Kossowska, Malgorzata. 2011. Correspondence between images of terrorists and preferred approaches to counterterrorism: The moderating role of ideological orientations. European Journal of Social Psychology, 41(4), pp. 538-549.

Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka. 2011. Collective narcissism and intergroup hostility: the dark side of 'in-group love'. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 5, pp. 309-320.

Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka; Cislak, Aleksandra and Wesolowska, Elzbieta. 2010. Political Conservatism, Need for Cognitive Closure, and Intergroup Hostility. Political Psychology, 31(5), pp. 521-541.

Kossowska, Malgorzata; Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka and Kubik, Tomasz. 2010. Stereotyped images of terrorists as predictors of fear of future terrorist attacks. Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression, 2(3), pp. 179-197.

Golec de Zavala, Agnieszka; Cichocka, Aleksandra; Eidelson, Roy and Jayawickreme, Nuwan. 2009. Collective Narcissism and its Social Consequences. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97(6), pp. 1074-1096.

Further profile content

Goldsmiths Research Centres/Groups

Personality Science and Social Psychology Group

Media engagements

2022: What Collective Narcissism does to Society?
Paper by Scott Barry Kaufman in The Atlantic based with interview with Agnieszka Golec de Zavala and presenting her research on collective narcissism

2022: Poor us: how collective narcissism powers Trump and Putin’s supporters
Interview with Agnieszka Golec de Zavala and other authors on relevance of collective narcissism to pressing contemporary societal problems

2022: Effects of positive ingroup evaluation
The review presenting co-authored research on consequences of collective narcissism in advantaged and disadvantaged social groups based on research conducted in Turkey and United Kingdom

2021: „Podziw i uznanie nam się po prostu należą!” Dlaczego narcyzm uwodzi nas bardziej niż nacjonalizm
'We simply deserve admiration and recognition' Why narcissism seduces are more than nationalism' Interview with Michal Sutowski for Krytyka Polityczna in Polish

2019: What Can We Do About Collective Narcissism?

2018: How self-love got out of control

2018: Narcissism: not only an individual failing

2018: Why collective narcissists are so politically volatile

2017: Collective narcissism' explains at least some of President Trump's support

2017: Welcome to the age of collective narcissism

2017: How “collective narcissism” helps explain the election of Trump

2016: There's such a thing as collective narcissism (and it might explain a lot that's going on at the moment)

Conferences and talks

2022: Collective narcissism and collective self-esteem as alternative strategies of self-enhancement through positive social identity.
Keynote address at the conference Between narcissism and entitlement: self-enhancement in a cross-cultural perspective at University of Warsaw, Poland

2021: Group members’ reactions to the ingroup exclusion: Ingroup identification, distress and retaliation.
Panel organizer and chair at SESP Annual Meeting, Santa Barbara, USA

2020: Social identity and intergroup attitudes.
Panel organizer and chair at ISPP Annual Meeting.

2019: Collective narcissism: Political consequences of investing self-esteem in the in-group image.
Talk at a symposium on Faces of Grandiose Narcissism, at Society for Experimental Social Psychology Annual Meeting, Toronto, Canada

2022: Collective narcissism as a predictor of the belief in conspiracy theories.
Talk at a symposium on Psychology of Conspiracy Theories at APS General Meeting, Washington D.C. USA

Grants and awards

2017: Narodowe Centrum Nauki awarded to Agnieszka Golec de Zavala (PI)
2017-2023 Narodowe Centrum Nauki awarded to Agnieszka Golec de Zavala (PI) (PLN 3M, £750K).

2018: The Noble Foundation awarded to Richard Mole and Agnieszka Golec de Zavala
2018-2019 The Noble Foundation awarded to Richard Mole and Agnieszka Golec de Zavala (£30K)

2016: Narcissistic ingroup love in Europe: threat, identity indispensability and extreme forms of national identification
2016-2019 Fundação para a Sciência e a Tecnologia, Ministerio da Educação e Ciência research grant awarded to Dr Rita Guerra, Narcissistic ingroup love in Europe: threat, identity indispensability and

2016: Ministerio da Educação e Ciência awarded to Agnieszka Golec de Zavala
2013-2016 Fundação para a Sciência e a Tecnologia, Ministerio da Educação e Ciência awarded to Agnieszka Golec de Zavala (€112K ).

2017: Rector’s Award for outstanding achievements, SWPS University, Poland

2017: Dean’s Award for outstanding achievements, SWPS University, Poland

2012: Marie Curie Fellow, Centro de Investigação e Intervenção Social, Instituto Universitario de Lisboa, Portugal
Fellowship awarded to Agnieszka Golec (€230K)

2005: Fellowship of the Solomon Asch Center for the Study of Ethnopolitical Conflict, University of Pennsylvania

2004: Fellowship of the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIAS)

1999: Fulbright Scholarship

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