Personality disorders are associated with ways of thinking and feeling about oneself and others that significantly and adversely affect how an individual function in many aspects of life. Narcissistic personality disorder is one out of ten types[1] of personality disorders described on the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental disorders (DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013). We all know about narcissistic personalities; they are assumed to have a grandiose sense of self, to feel superior to everyone else, to lack empathy and have increased arrogance, a grandiose fantasy, sense of uniqueness and self importance (Miller, Gentile, Wilson & Campbell, 2013). This pathology is a very common subject nowadays with a great presence in the medias and popular press, but what about scientific studies? According to the literature on narcissistic personality disorder, it is accepted that there are two dimensions; grandiose and vulnerable. Miller et al. (2013) describe those dimensions as followed: “Grandiose narcissism, it includes traits such as grandiosity, aggression, and dominance, whereas vulnerable narcissism is thought to reflect a defensive and insecure grandiosity that obscures feelings of inadequacy, incompetence, and negative affect”. Researchers postulate that they can be linked to aspects such as personality traits, shame and gender. In this review, these differences will be addressed and discussed, in regard of several scales and tests that assess those dimensions.
Research has found similarities within grandiose and vulnerable narcissism. Previous research suggests that narcissistic vulnerability is related to the search for approval and validation from others which may contribute to the vulnerability as there is a reliance on external validation whereas grandiose narcissism is negatively correlated with external validation (Besser & Priel, 2010). The recognition of these similarities and differences is important as the two dimensions of narcissism are associated with different characteristics and behaviours which in turn will be treated in different ways (Miller et al., 2011).
Researchers studying personality disorders have used trait-based approaches to examine the differences in personality traits in grandiose and vulnerable narcissism. Researchers found that the Five-Factor Narcissism Inventory (FFNI; Glover et al., 2012) grandiose narcissism was significantly negatively related to agreeableness and conscientiousness whereas FFNI vulnerable narcissism was significantly positively correlated with neuroticism and negatively related with agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion and openness (Miller, Gentile, & Campbell, 2013). Findings have showed that FFNI vulnerable narcissism was significantly correlated to symptoms of anxiety and depression while FFNI grandiose narcissism was not, showing further differences between vulnerable and grandiose narcissism (Miller et al., 2013). Other studies have addressed the differences between grandiose and vulnerable narcissism dimensions in relation to achievement and interpersonal relations, such as Besser & Priel (2010). He discovered grandiose narcissists were found to be more vulnerable to the threat of achievement competition failure whereas vulnerable narcissists were found to be vulnerable to interpersonal threat such as humiliation which is linked with shame (Besser & Priel, 2010).
Furthermore, many researchers have studied shame in relation to the reactions this emotion elicits in narcissists. It has been found that FFNI shame correlates positively with the Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale (HSNS) that measures narcissistic vulnerability. Gender differences have also been studied, for example, it has been hypothesized that women are more prone to reactions of shame than men (Wright, O’Leary, & Balkin, 1989). These authors have also showed that gender differences in the experiences of shame are due to different schemes and defence mechanisms used when facing shame. This experience of shame has been found to be more conscious with women who would rather be aware of this experience of shame in contrary with men who will flee or avoid this experience (Wright, O’Leary & Balkin, 1989). Moreover, many studies show the importance of shame in narcissistic pathology, such as Broucek (1982) concluded that shame was “the centre” of narcissistic pathologies which shows the importance of understanding the role of shame and gender in narcissism.
In these studies, authors have used many different scales and tests. There are a wide variety of choices when measuring narcissistic personality, the most reliable and widely used are the Narcissistic Personality Inventory which measures grandiose narcissism (NPI; Raskin & Hall, 1979) and the Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale Inventory (HSNS; Hendin & Cheek, 1997) which measures vulnerable narcissism. The FFNI which has been found to be both internally and externally valid is suited for both grandiose and vulnerable narcissism dimensions and specifically measures the Five-Factor personality traits; neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness (Glover et al., 2012). In relation to measuring shame, the Adapted Shame/Guilt Scale (ASGS; Hoblitzelle, 1982) is externally valid and correlates with similar measures in the experience of shame, depression and narcissism (Wright, O’Leary & Balkin, 1989). As we can see, numerous scales and tests can be used to understand and evaluate narcissism, personality traits and shame. All this data is most significant and relevant in the field of psychology.
However, there seems to be a common gap in the studies relating to narcissism. Firstly, most studies have used non-clinical samples or undergraduate students which cannot be generalised to the population of pathological narcissism (Widiger, 2010; Miller et al, 2011; Rhomann et al, 2012; Wright, O’Leary & Balkin, 1989; Hibbard, 1992). To better understand narcissistic personality disorder, it is essential to focus on a clinically diagnosed sample. Future studies should use a longitudinal design to fully understand the evolution of narcissism over time (Miller et al., 2011). Moreover, to internally validate data collected, informant reports should be collected alongside participant’s questionnaires (Glover et al., 2012; Miller et al., 2013). Finally, the role of individual differences; personality traits, gender and shame, on narcissism have not been studied so are not fully understood, thus it would be interesting to further investigate this field. Indeed, the significance of these kind of findings to practitioners would be that the results can be taken into account to improve therapy as narcissistic personality disorder and individual differences affecting this disorder will be better understood.
[1] Paranoid personality disorder, schizoid personality disorder, schizotypal personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, histrionic personality, narcissistic personality disorder, avoidant personality disorder, dependent personality disorder and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder.
References
American Psychiatric Association (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed). Washington, DC: Author.
Besser, A., & Priel, B. (2010). Grandiose narcissism versus vulnerable narcissism in threatening situations: Emotional reactions to achievement failure and interpersonal rejection. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 29(8), 874-902. doi: 10.1521/jscp.2010.29.8.874
Broucek, F. J. (1982). Shame and its relationship to early narcissistic developments. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 63, 369-378. doi: 10.1177/1524838005285914
Glover, N., Miller, J. D., Lynam, D. R., Crego, C., & Widiger, T. A. (2012). The five-factor narcissism inventory: a five-factor measure of narcissistic personality traits. Journal of Personality Assessment, 94(5), 500–12. doi: 10.1080/00223891.2012.670680
Hendin, H.M. & Cheek, J.M. (1997). Assessing hypersensitive narcissism: A re-examination of Murray’s narcissism scale. Journal of Research in Personality, 31, 588-599. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13072/midss.652
Hibbard, S. (1992). Narcissism, shame, masochism, and object relations: An exploratory correlational study. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 9(4), 489-508. doi: 10.1037/h0079392
Miller, J. D., Gentile, B., & Campbell, W. K. (2013). A test of the construct validity of the Five-Factor Narcissism Inventory. Journal Of Personality Assessment, 95(4), 377-387. doi: 10.1080/00223891.2012.742903
Miller, J.D., Gentile, B., Wilson, L. & Campbell, W. K. (2013). Grandiose and vulnerable narcissism and the DSM-5 pathological personality trait model. Journal of Personality Assessment, 95(3), 284-90. doi: 10.1080/00223891.2012.685907
Miller, J. D., Hoffman, B. J., Gaughan, E. T., Gentile, B., Maples, J., & Campbell, W. K. (2011). Grandiose and vulnerable narcissism: A nomological network analysis. Journal of Personality, 79(5), 1013-1042. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-6494.2010.00711.x
Miller, J. D., Price, J., Gentile, B., Lynam, D. R., & Campbell, W. K. (2012). Grandiose and vulnerable narcissism from the perspective of the interpersonal circumplex. Personality and Individual Differences, 53(4), 507-512. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2012.04.026
O’Leary, J., & Wright, F. (1986). Shame and gender issues in pathological narcissism. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 3(4), 327-339. doi: 10.1037/h0079120
Raskin, R.N. & Hall, C.S. (1979). A narcissistic personality inventory. Psychological Reports, 45(2), 590. doi: 10.2466/pr0.1979.45.2.590
Rohmann, E., Neumann, E., Herner, M. J., & Bierhoff, H. (2012). Grandiose and vulnerable narcissism: Self-construal, attachment, and love in romantic relationships. European Psychologist, 17(4), 279-290. doi: 10.1027/1016-9040/a000100
Widiger, T. A. (2010). In defense of narcissistic personality traits. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, And Treatment, 1(3), 192-194. doi: 10.1037/a0020199
Wright, F., O’Leary, J., & Balkin, J. (1989). Shame, guilt, narcissism, and depression: Correlates and sex differences. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 6(2), 217-230.
Words we have learned :
Adversely : défavorablement
Elicits : susciter
To be prone to : être enclin à
Suited : approprié
Written by Laureen Le Bris Gueguen, Eva Cormerais and Alexia Gay