Reflecting the Self: The Mirror Effect of Narcissistic Self-Regulation in Older Adults’ Evaluations of Empathic vs. Cold Socially Assistive Robots

Abstract

Empathic behavior is increasingly incorporated into socially assistive robots, yet little is known about how older adults’ personality-based self-regulatory processes shape responses to such designs. The present study examined a recognition-based “mirror effect” framework of narcissistic self-regulation, referring to the ways individuals maintain a valued self-image through social feedback and acknowledgment. We focused on two core dimensions: narcissistic admiration, characterized by self-promotion and the pursuit of affirmation, and narcissistic rivalry, characterized by defensiveness, antagonism, and sensitivity to threat. Community-dwelling older adults (N = 527; Mage = 72.73) were randomly assigned to view a video of a socially assistive robot interacting in either an empathic or a cold manner. Participants reported their perceived recognition by the robot, defined as the subjective experience of feeling seen, acknowledged, and valued, as well as multiple robot evaluations (anthropomorphism, likability, perceived intelligence, safety, and intention to use). At the mean level, empathic robot behavior increased perceived recognition, anthropomorphism, and likability but did not improve perceived intelligence, safety, or intention to use. Conditional process analyses revealed that narcissistic admiration was positively associated with perceived recognition, which in turn predicted more favorable robot evaluations, regardless of robot behavior. In contrast, narcissistic rivalry showed a behavior-dependent pattern: rivalry was associated with reduced perceived recognition and less favorable evaluations primarily in the empathic condition, whereas this association reversed in the cold condition. Importantly, once perceived recognition and narcissistic traits were accounted for, the cold robot was evaluated as more intelligent, safer, and more desirable to use than the empathic robot. Studying these processes in older adults is theoretically and practically significant, as later life is marked by shifts in social roles, autonomy concerns, and sensitivity to interpersonal evaluation, which may alter how empathic technologies are experienced. Together, the findings identify perceived recognition as a central psychological mechanism linking personality and robot design and suggest that greater robotic empathy is not universally beneficial, particularly for users high in rivalry-related threat sensitivity.