Short-Drama Viewing, Egocentric Narrative Perception, and Dual-Path Narcissistic Tendencies: A Cultivation-Based Explanation
Abstract
In recent years, short dramas have rapidly become embedded in everyday life through frequent updates, intense reversals, and mobile-first distribution. Drawing on cultivation theory, this study examines the potential influence of short dramas on self-cognition, conceptualizing short-drama viewing as an ongoing process of constructing cognitive schemas about reality. Egocentric narrative perception refers to viewers' tendency to interpret narratives as prioritizing the protagonist's desires, agency, and exceptional opportunities. Among 178 short-drama viewers, short-drama viewing intensity was positively associated with egocentric narrative perception (r = 0.700, p < 0.01). Egocentric narrative perception was associated with grandiose narcissistic tendencies (β = 0.433, p < 0.001) and vulnerable narcissistic tendencies (β = 0.296, p < 0.001). Bootstrap analyses (5,000 resamples) indicated that egocentric narrative perception partially mediated the relationships between short-drama viewing intensity and both grandiose narcissistic tendencies (indirect effect = 0.274, 95% CI [0.175, 0.376], 48.07% of total effect) and vulnerable narcissistic tendencies (indirect effect = 0.214, 95% CI [0.087, 0.347], 41.76% of total effect). These findings suggest that repeated short-drama viewing may be associated with narcissistic tendencies partly through egocentric narrative perception.
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