Pathological Narcissism and Emotional Responses to Rejection: The Impact of Adult Attachment

Abstract

Background: Aspects of pathological narcissism, such as grandiosity, vulnerability and entitlement, tend be enacted in therapeutic settings, negatively influencing outcome and alliance between the clients and therapist. This research took an experimental approach to understanding the interplay between the emotional reactions of individuals with a pathological narcissistic presentation, and adult attachment style. We predicted that participants reporting narcissistic vulnerability would report greater insecurity in attachment (fearful and preoccupied styles), greater trait emotional reactivity, and also experience more intense and negative responses to simulated rejectionMethods: 269 participants (75.84% female, median age = 21) completed baseline and rejection trials of a virtual ball-tossing game, following the assessment of grandiose and vulnerable pathological narcissism, entitlement, adult attachment, trait emotional reactivity (measured prior to the rejection) and in-situ affective response (measured both before and after the rejection). Change in affect from baseline was calculated to capture affective responses to the manipulation.Results: Vulnerable narcissism was positively associated with both fearful and preoccupied attachment, and negatively associated with secure and dismissive attachment, whilst grandiose narcissism was significantly related to preoccupied attachment only. Multiple hierarchical regression analyses showed vulnerable narcissism predicted both (1) more negative trait emotional reactivity and (2) a significant increase in negative affect following the rejection trial. Grandiose narcissism was associated with (1) higher positive trait emotional reactivity, and (2) significant reductions in positive affect following rejection.Conclusion: Results indicated that those high in pathological narcissistic vulnerability reported greater insecurity in attachment, negative trait emotional reactivity and experienced a more negative and intense emotional reaction to rejection. Grandiose narcissism was related to a more deactivated pattern of emotional reactivity, and less positive (rather than more negative) emotional reactions. Findings have important implications for therapy, particularly regarding communication of emotions for individuals high in vulnerable and grandiose narcissism.

“It’s not you, it’s me”: identity disturbance as the main contributor to interpersonal problems in pathological narcissism

“…Moreover, individuals who were identified as having a preoccupied or fearful attachment style reported significantly higher scores on vulnerable narcissism as well as most severe deficits in identity integration and interpersonal functioning. These results are consistent with previous findings [ 21 , 27 , 42 , 69 , 78 , 80 , 87 ] and extend the importance of negative internal representations of self in relation to narcissistic functioning.…”

“…For example, Kaufman and Jauk [ 40 ] found no link between attachment and grandiose narcissism, while other research has associated grandiosity with avoidant and dismissive attachment [ 21 , 87 ]. In contrast, vulnerable narcissism appears to be more consistently associated with insecure (anxious or avoidant) attachment, along with a negative working model of self [ 27 , 40 ], or both [ 11 , 21 , 69 , 80 , 87 ].…”

Análisis de la relación entre la sensibilidad al rechazo y el apego en adultos

“…De igual modo se podría profundizar en la relación entre la característica de personalidad de neuroticismo y narcisismo, con la sensibilidad al rechazo y los estilos de apego (Downey y Feldman, 1996;Araiza et al, 2020;Reis et al, 2021), pues se ha observado que estos rasgos de la personalidad son un predictor potencial de la sensibilidad al rechazo y de la seguridad con los vínculos que se establecen con otras personas.…”