You probably think this paper's about you: Narcissists' perceptions of their personality and reputation.

Abstract

Do narcissists have insight into the negative aspects of their personality and reputation? Using both clinical and subclinical measures of narcissism, we examined others' perceptions, selfperceptions and meta-perceptions of narcissists across a wide range of traits for a new acquaintance and close other (Study 1), longitudinally with a group of new acquaintances (Study 2), and among coworkers (Study 3). Results bring us to three surprising conclusions about narcissists: 1) they understand that others see them less positively than they see themselves (i.e., their meta-perceptions are less biased than are their self-perceptions), 2) they have some insight into the fact that they make positive first impressions that deteriorate over time, and 3) they have insight into their narcissistic personality (e.g., they describe themselves as arrogant). These findings shed light on some of the psychological mechanisms underlying narcissism. Keywordsnarcissism; meta-perception; interpersonal perception; personality "Early in life I had to choose between honest arrogance and hypocritical humility. I chose honest arrogance and have seen no occasion to change" Frank Lloyd Wright (quoted in the Michigan Daily, 1998) Do narcissists have insight into the negative aspects of their personality and reputation? Lack of self-insight is believed to be a hallmark of narcissism, which suggests that narcissists should not have insight into the negative aspects of their personality or their reputation (e.g., arrogant, disagreeable, entitled). Indeed, narcissists see themselves very positively (e.g., Clifton, Turkheimer, & Oltmanns, 2004) and are motivated to maintain their overly positive self-perceptions (Morf & Rhodewalt, 2001) which has led researchers to conclude that narcissists "…have less insight into their own condition" (Emmons, 1984, p. 297) and "…probably misunderstand how they are perceived" (Morf & Rhodewalt, 2001, p. 183). The main goal of this paper is to test these conclusions by empirically examining whether narcissists have insight into their personality, especially their narcissistic characteristics, and their reputation. Throughout the paper we take a dimensional approach to narcissism and use the term 'narcissist' to refer to people who score high on measures of clinical or subclinical narcissism (Miller & Campbell, 2010 NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author ManuscriptTo assess the extent to which narcissists have insight into their personality and reputation, we conduct a multiple-perspective examination of how narcissists are seen by others (i.e., others' perceptions), how they see themselves (i.e., self-perceptions), and how they believe they are seen by others (i.e., meta-perceptions). We also examine these multiple perspectives across several social contexts including new acquaintances, acquaintances not selected by the target (e.g., coworkers), and close others (e.g., friends and family). Thus, we provide a novel, comprehensive look at the interpersonal dynamics of narcissis...

Too little power, too much information! Power, narcissism, and adolescents’ disclosures on social networking sites

“…For example, although narcissists are generally seen as holding inflated perceptions of their social influence, generalizing this assumption to all individuals would imply that narcissists are ignorant of how their behaviors further their social difficulties. If narcissists notice the fluctuations in their social relationships (Carlson et al, 2011), however, this could indicate that there are actually groups of narcissistic individuals who see themselves as being more or less powerful, respectively. It is also somewhat unclear just what it means for narcissists to hold 'reduced' perceptions of their social influence, and how severe these reductions must be to promote more extreme behavior.…”

“…From a self-image failure perspective (Morf & Rhodewalt, 2001), they might intentionally amplify attention-seeking behaviors in absence of external validation (Carlson, Vazire, & Oltmanns, 2011). Perceptions of social power, broadly defined as ''the capacity to influence others'' (Anderson & Galinksy, 2006, p. 512), might thus affect narcissists' SNS disclosures.…”

Feel Good, Do-Good!? On Consistency and Compensation in Moral Self-Regulation

“…Instead, they occur in a social context and both processes reflect specific ways to deal with reputational concerns. Reputation (i.e., how one is seen by others, "others perceptions"; Carlson, Vazire, & Oltmanns, 2011) is one of the most valuable social assets that humans have and they go a long way to build and defend a positive reputation (Cheek & Briggs, 1982;De Cremer & Tyler, 2005;James, 1890). We argue that the crucial difference between consistency and compensation is that the former implies a proactive focus on maintaining and building a reputation, whereas the latter implies a reactive focus on reputation management.…”

Do perceived social stress and resilience influence the effects of psychopathy‐linked narcissism and CU traits on adolescent aggression?

“…That is, adolescents, such as those with narcissistic tendencies, who experience high levels of social stress but are also driven to garner positive appraisals from others may be more hesitant to engage in aggressive acts because of the deleterious influence of aggression on their self-presentation (see Collins & Stukas, 2008). Specifically, narcissistic individuals seem to have insight into how their actions are perceived by others, and they may therefore change their actions in order to manipulate those perceptions (Carlson, Vazire, & Oltmanns, 2011). Aggr.…”