Gregory K. Tortoriello

A tale of two audiences: Narcissism, failure reactivity, and perceived criticism from the self and others as internalized audiences

Abstract We proposed a conceptual model which postulates that anticipating greater destructive (vs. constructive) criticism from the self and others partially explains the differentiation of narcissists’ failure reactivity as a function of narcissism subtype. Participants simulated failure, rated the likelihood of experiencing destructive and constructive criticism from social audiences (self and others [important other, unimportant other, social world]), and indicated failure reactivity (indexed as change in negative affect) following failure. Results generally supported our model. Vulnerable (grandiose) narcissism related to enhanced (reduced) failure reactivity and greater (less) anticipated destructive vs. constructive criticism from audiences, particularly the self. Controlling for perceived criticism from audiences attenuated relations between each narcissism subtype and failure reactivity, supporting the theoretical merit of our model.

Modeling the interplay between narcissism, relational motives, and jealousy-induced responses to infidelity threat:

Threat-based accounts of narcissism postulate enhanced worrying and negative emotion following threat. The present study examined whether the psychological process by which people experience and respond to jealousy-inducing threats varies according to their narcissism subtype. Participants completed measures of grandiose and vulnerable narcissism, simulated sexual and emotional infidelity scenarios, and reported their anticipated (a) motives (power/control, relational security, self-esteem compensation, uncertainty minimization) and (b) jealousy responses (worrying, negative emotions, and behavioral tactics). Path modeling conditionally supported threat-based accounts for the vulnerable subtype but not for the grandiose subtype. Grandiose narcissism (marginally) inversely related to a composite of worrying and negative emotion but (directly) positively related to power/control motives and, in turn, attacking/restricting tactics. Effects of vulnerable narcissism on jealousy outcomes depended on infidelity type. Vis-à-vis emotional infidelity, vulnerable narcissism positively related to worrying and negative emotion and, in turn, related to heightened pursuit of all motives, some of which uniquely predicted heightened attacking/restricting tactics, suppressed attacking/restricting tactics, and heightened enhancing tactics. Vis-à-vis sexual infidelity, effects of vulnerable narcissism mimicked those of grandiose narcissism. In jealousy contexts, extant threat-based accounts of narcissism appear inadequate for explaining the grandiose subtype and evidently bounded for explaining the vulnerable subtype.

Revisiting the Interactive Effect of Narcissism and Self-Esteem on Responses to Ego Threat: Distinguishing Between Assertiveness and Intent to Harm

We addressed whether narcissism and self-esteem synergize to enhance assertive responses and deter aggressive responses to ego-threatening provocation. Participants ( N = 448) completed measures of narcissism and self-esteem, imagined ego-threatening provocation, and indicated their aggressive and assertive responses. Participants also completed individual difference measures of agreeableness, openness, status/dominance motivation, and endorsement of the notion that aggression begets power. Narcissism and self-esteem interacted to reduce aggressive responses but enhance assertive responses to ego-threat; moreover, this interaction related to enhanced agreeableness, openness, status/dominance motivation, and reduced endorsement of the belief that aggression begets power, and these relations accounted, in part, for relations between the interaction and aggressive and assertive responses. Broadly, the findings contribute to the contentious issue of how self-evaluation influences responses to ego-threat; specifically, we would suggest that this issue be conceptualized in terms of synergistic effects of narcissism and self-esteem and distinguish between assertive versus aggressive responding.

Narcissists Stand United: Grandiose and Vulnerable Narcissists Agree That Others’ Narcissism Is Less Repulsive

Previous research suggests narcissists (vs. non-narcissists) may perceive grandiose narcissism as a less dislikeable trait in others. However, previous research has only addressed this phenomenon from the perspective of a grandiose narcissistic perceiver and not from the perspective of a vulnerable narcissistic perceiver, thus limiting understanding of whether the phenomenon unites or distinguishes between grandiose and vulnerable narcissism forms. The current study examined this phenomenon from the perspective of vulnerable and grandiose narcissistic perceivers. Participants indicated liking judgments of actors behaving in a way consistent with grandiose narcissism (narcissistically) or non-narcissistically and their attitudes toward the category “narcissists.” Although participants indicated less liking for the narcissistic (vs. non-narcissistic) actor, this relative disliking for narcissists was reduced as a function of perceiver grandiose and vulnerable narcissism; furthermore, perceiver grandiose and vulnerable narcissism each related to more positive attitudes toward “narcissists.”

Narcissists’ Perceptions of Narcissistic Behavior

Do narcissists view their narcissistic reputations and behavior as a curse or a blessing? Herein, we reviewed studies that have addressed narcissists’ (a) awareness of their narcissistic reputation and behavior, (b) evaluations of their narcissistic traits and behavior, (c) perspective on their prototypical narcissistic action as strategic (i.e., a pattern of behavior designed to accomplish goals) vs. impulse-driven, and (d) evaluation of other narcissists. Our review suggested that narcissists are generally aware that they are more “narcissistic,” view their own prototypical narcissistic traits and behaviors as both rather beneficial and highly strategic, and are more tolerant of other people that behave narcissistically. Perhaps this constellation of findings suggests that “narcissism” possesses subjective logic and can be understood in terms of straightforward normative models of human behavior (e.g., people act “narcissistically” because they think “narcissistic” images lead to more favorable life outcomes). We conclude by discussing areas for future research in this vein.

“S/he’s Taken”

Narcissists’ threat reactivity can be differentiated into cognitive, emotional, and tactical-behavioral responses, and these dimensions of reactivity are presumed to vary as a function of grandiose and vulnerable narcissism. The present research applied this conceptual model to situations involving a relationship threat from a rival. A college sample completed measures of vulnerable narcissism, pathological and non-pathological measures of grandiose narcissism, and then indicated anticipated cognitive, emotional, and tactical responses to situations involving high and low levels of rival threat. All narcissism forms generally converged on similar tactical responses – specifically, enhanced coercive and mate-value-enhancement tactics. Yet, both pathological and non-pathological expressions of grandiose narcissism diverged from vulnerable narcissism on cognitive and emotional outcomes, such that only vulnerable narcissism related to enhanced worrying and negative emotionality. Furthermore, all narcissism forms were more strongly related to coercive tactics against the rival following high (vs. low) rival threat.