Fluctuations in grandiose and vulnerable narcissistic states: A momentary perspective

It has been theorized that dynamic processes within and between grandiosity and vulnerability underlie pathological narcissism. Gaining an understanding of this process is quickly becoming one of the most pressing research goals in the study of narcissism. Research seeking to address this has either not studied both grandiosity and vulnerability together or has used dispositional measures to assess what are considered to be momentary states. Research in other areas of personality pathology (e.g., borderline personality disorder) has made headway in engaging data collection and analytic methods that are specifically meant to examine such questions. The present study took an exploratory approach to studying theorized fluctuations within and between grandiose and vulnerable states. Fluctuations were examined with regard to overall variability (measured by gross variability, instability, and inertia). Switching between discrete narcissistic states was also examined. Further, the present study examined connections between these momentary dynamics and dispositional narcissism assessments. Results suggest overall variability from moment to moment is moderately associated with dispositional assessments of narcissism. Specifically, individuals who are dispositionally grandiose appear to have high mean levels of both grandiosity and vulnerability and tend to vary in each. On the other hand, dispositionally vulnerable individuals tend to have high levels of vulnerability and low levels of grandiosity, though they do vary in each. Few results emerged with respect to switching between states. Future research should consider using similar methods and statistical techniques on different timescales to study theorized dynamics within narcissism

Integrating Naturalistic and Experimental Paradigms to Understand Mechanisms of Narcissism

Theoretical accounts of narcissism emphasize dynamic shifting of self-states in response to the social context. Situations in which an individual experiences threats to their status are thought to set narcissism’s dynamics in motion. Naturalistic studies (e.g., ecological momentary assessment) have been used to examine the general patterning of fluctuations in grandiose and vulnerable states, as well as to examine how grandiosity and vulnerability change in response to perceptions of the interpersonal environment. Experimental studies have emphasized behavioral expressions of narcissistic individuals in response to putative “ego threats” from others. In many respects, naturalistic and experimental studies suffer from opposing limitations (e.g., lack of experimental control versus ambiguous real-life generalizability). Integrating naturalistic and experimental studies has the potential to provide a comprehensive model of how dynamics within narcissism unfold in response to status threat. The current study (N = 437) examined shifts in grandiosity and vulnerability in both naturalistic (ecological momentary assessment) and experimentally controlled (rigged tournament game) social interactions. Grandiosity decreased and vulnerability increased in response to both naturalistic and experimental status threats. Further, grandiose responses were generally amplified for the same people across methods. The current study reinforces the importance of status threatening environments to expressions within narcissism and elucidates important differences with respect to expressions of grandiosity and vulnerability across naturalistic and experimental methods

I Just Want to Feel Fine: The Relation between Personality Traits and the Acceptance of Negative Feedback Personality

From the Washington University Senior Honors Thesis Abstracts (WUSHTA), Volume 6, Spring 2014. Published by the Office of Undergraduate Research. Joy Zalis Kiefer, Director of Undergraduate Research and Associate Dean in the College of Arts & Sciences; Jane Green and Stacy Ross, Editors; Kristin G. Sobotka, Undergraduate Research Coordinator. Mentor: Simine Vazir

Issues Resolved and Unresolved in Pathological Narcissism

Narcissism is one of the oldest personality constructs, and yet debates about its definition and structure have been a topic of intense debate over the past decade. Recent independent reviews of the literature have proposed conceptually identical triarchic structural models of individual differences in pathological narcissism. In each model entitlement serves as the core of the construct, and its expression is moderated by basic personality/temperament to manifest in exhibitionism or vulnerability. However, the clinical observation that individuals high in pathological narcissism vacillate between grandiose and vulnerable states remains understudied and poorly understood. We review the recent research that has driven the contentious debates, emerging points of consensus, and necessary future directions for research

Narcissism from Every Angle: An Interpersonal Analysis of Narcissism

This study examines the profiles of associations between several narcissism measures and interpersonal circumplex measures

Narcissism Dynamics

The scientific study of narcissism has accelerated in recent years. However, this literature has primarily been cross-sectional and descriptive in nature, making it difficult to integrate with theories of narcissism, which instead emphasize various dynamics. Theoretical work construes narcissism as a complex dynamical system with processes that interact to contribute to narcissism expression and maintenance. We begin by reviewing theoretical accounts of narcissism and what they suggest about dynamic processes. We then review research that examines processes associated with narcissism in naturalistic settings. Integrating clinical theories with empirical work, we highlight remaining tensions in the field and discuss major conceptual considerations. For example, we discuss the role of entitlement and antagonistic behavior within narcissism and the need to identify the temporal ordering of various processes (e.g., self-esteem fluctuations and fluctuations in grandiosity and vulnerability). In light of limitations of the existing literature, we then discuss methodological barriers that currently limit the ability to fully align empirical research with theorized processes within narcissism

Grandiose and Vulnerable Narcissistic States in Interpersonal Situations

Clinicians have noted that narcissistic individuals fluctuate over time in their levels of grandiosity and vulnerability. However, these fluctuations remain poorly understood from an empirical perspective. Interpersonal theory asserts that interpersonal situations are central to the expression of personality and psychopathology, and therefore are a key context in which to understand state narcissism’s dynamic processes. The present study is the first to examine state narcissism assessed during interpersonal situations. Specifically, perceptions of others’ warmth and dominance, momentary grandiosity and vulnerability, and one’s own warm and dominant behavior were assessed across situations in daily life in a large sample (person N=286; occasion N=6,837). Results revealed that more grandiose individuals perceived others as colder and behaved in a more dominant and cold fashion, on average. But in the moment, relatively higher grandiosity was associated with perceiving others as warmer and more submissive and resulted in more dominant and warm behavior. On the other hand, trait vulnerability was associated with perceptions of coldness and cold behavior, and these effects were only amplified in momentary spikes of vulnerability. This study provides much needed insight into the contexts that contribute to fluctuations in grandiosity and vulnerability

A Multivariate Analysis of the Pathological Narcissism Inventory’s Nomological Network

The Pathological Narcissism Inventory (PNI; Pincus et al., 2009) has enjoyed widespread use in the study of the narcissism. However, questions have been raised about whether the PNI’s grandiosity scale adequately captures narcissistic grandiosity as well as other popular measures do. Specifically, some have noted that PNI grandiosity shows a pattern of external associations that diverges from patterns for narcissistic grandiosity predicted by experts, and is more similar to the predictions for the vulnerability scale than is desirable. Previous research driving these critiques has relied on patterns of zero-order correlations to examine the nomological networks of these scales. The present study reexamines the nomological networks of PNI grandiosity and vulnerability scales using hierarchical regression. Results indicate that once accounting for overlapping variance of vulnerability and grandiosity, the unique variance in the PNI’s grandiosity scale closely matches contemporary expert conceptualizations of narcissistic grandiosity based on expected associations with other personality variables

Dynamics of narcissistic grandiosity and vulnerability in naturalistic and experimental settings

Theoretical accounts of narcissism emphasize dynamic shifting of self-states in response to social feedback. Status threats are thought to set narcissism’s dynamics in motion. Naturalistic ecological momentary assessment studies have characterized dynamics of narcissistic grandiosity and vulnerability in relation to perceptions of the interpersonal environment. Experimental studies have emphasized behavioral responses of narcissistic individuals to putative threats to status. Naturalistic and experimental studies suffer from opposing limitations, namely, a potential for confounding variables to impact results versus ambiguous generalizability to real-life and longer time scales, respectively. Integrating naturalistic and experimental studies has the potential to provide a comprehensive model of how dynamics within narcissism unfold in response to status threat. The current study examined shifts in grandiosity and vulnerability in both naturalistic (ecological momentary assessment) and experimentally controlled (rigged tournament game) social interactions (N = 437). Grandiosity decreased and vulnerability increased in response to both naturalistic and experimental status threats. Further, the same people who responded with decreased grandiosity in response to status threat in daily life, responded with similar decreases in grandiosity to experimental defeat. Trait narcissistic agency amplified many of the observed links between narcissism and status threat experimentally and naturalistically. The current study reinforces the importance of status threatening environments to expressions within narcissism and elucidates important differences with respect to expressions of grandiosity and vulnerability across naturalistic and experimental methods