Clinical Correlates of Vulnerable and Grandiose Narcissism: A Personality Perspective

Abstract

There is broad consensus that there are at least two different dimensions of narcissism: vulnerable and grandiose. In this study, the authors use a new trifurcated, three-factor model of narcissism to examine relations between aspects of narcissism and an array of clinically relevant criteria related to psychopathology, the self, authenticity, and well-being. Neurotic and antagonistic aspects of narcissism emerged as the most clinically relevant dimensions of narcissism, bearing relations with outcomes relating to interpersonal guilt, insecure attachment styles, cognitive distortions, maladaptive defense mechanisms, experiential avoidance, impostor syndrome, weak sense of self, inauthenticity, low self-esteem, and reduced psychological well-being. Grandiose narcissism was not correlated with most forms of psychopathology and was even positively associated with life satisfaction. Nevertheless, a surprising link was found between grandiose narcissism and multiple indicators of inauthenticity. Implications for the appropriate conceptualization, assessment, and treatment of pathological narcissism are discussed.

The Higher the Score, the Darker the Core: The Nonlinear Association Between Grandiose and Vulnerable Narcissism

“…Narcissism is a personality trait with two faces: narcissistic grandiosity and vulnerability ( Wink, 1991 ; Dickinson and Pincus, 2003 ; Pincus and Lukowitsky, 2010 ; Miller et al, 2011 , 2017 ; Krizan and Herlache, 2018 ; Kaufman et al, in press ). Earlier empirical research on narcissism focused on narcissistic grandiosity, which is the most well-studied characteristic of narcissism and is still dominant in the formal diagnosis of narcissistic personality disorder ( American Psychiatric Association, 2013 ).…”

“…Earlier empirical research on narcissism focused on narcissistic grandiosity, which is the most well-studied characteristic of narcissism and is still dominant in the formal diagnosis of narcissistic personality disorder ( American Psychiatric Association, 2013 ). In the past decade, however, increasing attention has been paid to vulnerable narcissism as an independent trait in narcissism research (e.g., Fossati et al, 2009 ), and the existence of these two forms of narcissism is now widely recognized ( Kaufman et al, in press ).…”

“…In the general population, grandiose narcissism is positively related to self-esteem (Campbell, 2001, unpublished), different indicators of mental health (e.g., Sedikides et al, 2004 ), and life satisfaction ( Rose, 2002 ; Egan et al, 2014 ; Kaufman et al, in press ), although most of these associations are due to grandiose narcissism’s association with agentic extraversion ( Kaufman et al, in press ). Among the core motives, grandiosity is most strongly associated with power and less or negatively associated with affiliation and intimacy ( Carroll, 1987 ; Morf et al, 2011 ).…”

The relationship of narcissism with tendency to react with anger and hostility: The roles of neuroticism and emotion regulation ability

“…It involves feelings of inadequacy, incompetence, and negative affect (Cain et al 2008;Campbell and Miller 2011;Miller et al 2011;Pincus and Lukowitsky 2010). While arrogance and open displays of dominance and grandiosity characterize grandiose narcissism, the vulnerable form is described by self-reported feelings of inferiority, depression, depletion, shame-proneness, and high reactivity to evaluative events (Kaufman et al 2018). Vulnerable narcissists' social behavior is marked by hostility, arrogance, social avoidance, and a lack of empathy (Dickinson and Pincus 2003;Hendin and Cheek 1997).…”

As cold as a fish? Relationships between the Dark Triad personality traits and affective experience during the day: A day reconstruction study

“…Despite the differences in the names of components of narcissism, the integrative models of narcissism seem congruent [64]. Both models have received empirical support [61,65,66].…”