Basic emotional systems and narcissistic personality features: What is the emotional core of narcissism?

AbstractThis investigation examined the relation between developmental trajectories jointly estimated for social and physical aggression and adjustment problems at age 14. Teachers provided ratings of children's social and physical aggression in Grades 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 for a sample of 255 children (131 girls, 21% African American, 52% European American, 21% Mexican American). Participants, parents, and teachers completed measures of the adolescent's adjustment to assess internalizing symptoms, rule-breaking behaviors, and borderline and narcissistic personality features. Results showed that membership in a high and rising trajectory group predicted rule-breaking behaviors and borderline personality features. Membership in a high desister group predicted internalizing symptoms, rule-breaking behaviors, and borderline and narcissistic personality features. The findings suggest that although low levels of social and physical aggression may not bode poorly for adjustment, individuals engaging in high levels of social and physical aggression in middle childhood may be at greatest risk for adolescent psychopathology, whether they increase or desist in their aggression through early adolescence.

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Narcissism and Exercise Addiction: The Mediating Roles of Exercise-Related Motives

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18084243 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (8) ◽

pp. 4243

Author(s):

Virgil Zeigler-Hill ◽

Avi Besser ◽

Maor Gabay ◽

Gracynn Young

Keyword(s):

Community Sample ◽

Exercise Addiction ◽

Narcissistic Vulnerability ◽

Narcissistic Personality ◽

Personality Features

The present research examined whether the associations that narcissistic personality features had with exercise addiction were mediated by particular motives for engaging in exercise in a large Israeli community sample (N = 2629). The results revealed that each aspect of narcissism was positively associated with exercise addiction. Narcissistic admiration and narcissistic rivalry had similar positive indirect associations with exercise addiction through the interpersonal motive for exercise. However, these aspects of narcissism diverged in their indirect associations with exercise addiction through psychological motives, body-related motives, and fitness motives for exercise such that these indirect associations were positive for narcissistic admiration but negative for narcissistic rivalry. Narcissistic vulnerability had positive indirect associations with exercise addiction through body-related motives and fitness motives that were similar to those observed for narcissistic admiration. These results suggest that exercise-related motives may play important roles in the associations that narcissistic personality features have with exercise addiction. The discussion will focus on the implications of these results for understanding the complex connections between narcissism and exercise addiction.

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Narcissism and Risk-Taking

Psihologijske teme ◽

10.31820/pt.30.3.11 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 30 (3) ◽

pp. 615-633

Author(s):

Ali Mohammad Beigi ◽

Virgil Zeigler-Hill

Keyword(s):

Social Environment ◽

Risk Taking ◽

Life Domains ◽

Community Members ◽

Narcissistic Personality ◽

The Social ◽

Personality Features

Previous research has shown that narcissism is associated with risk-taking. However, little is known about the factors that may contribute to narcissistic individuals being more likely to engage in risk-taking behaviour. The present research examined whether social worldviews would mediate the associations that specific narcissistic personality features had with risk-taking across life domains in a sample of Iranian community members (N = 489). Our results revealed that the extraverted, antagonistic, and neurotic aspects of narcissism had positive indirect associations with risk-taking in certain life domains through the competitive social worldview. These results suggest that the tendency to view the social environment as intensely competitive may play an important role in the associations that narcissistic personality features have with risk-taking in certain life domains.

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The narcissistic experience of friendship: The roles of agentic and communal orientations toward friendship

Journal of Social and Personal Relationships ◽

10.1177/0265407520933685 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 37 (10-11) ◽

pp. 2693-2713

Author(s):

Destaney Sauls ◽

Virgil Zeigler-Hill

Keyword(s):

Interpersonal Problems ◽

Self Defense ◽

Narcissistic Personality ◽

Similarities And Differences ◽

Personality Features ◽

Self Protection

Narcissism is associated with a wide array of interpersonal problems. The present studies examined the connections between narcissistic personality features and the experience of friendship. We were interested in the possibility that narcissistic admiration (an agentic form of narcissism characterized by assertive self-enhancement and self-promotion) and narcissistic rivalry (an antagonistic form of narcissism characterized by self-protection and self-defense) may have divergent associations with various aspects of friendship. Study 1 found that narcissistic admiration and narcissistic rivalry had divergent associations with maximizing selectivity and negative friendship attributions that were mediated by the agentic and communal orientations toward friendship. Study 2 found that narcissistic admiration and narcissistic rivalry had divergent associations with friendship commitment that were again mediated by agentic and communal orientations toward friendship. These results demonstrate the similarities and differences between narcissistic admiration and narcissistic rivalry in the context of friendship as well as the important roles that agentic and communal orientations toward friendship play in the connections that narcissistic personality features have with outcomes concerning friendship.

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Conflicts, Defenses and the Stability of Narcissistic Personality Features

Psychiatry ◽

10.1521/psyc.67.4.310.56570 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 67 (4) ◽

pp. 310-330 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Jonathan D. C. Perry ◽

J. Christopher Perry

Keyword(s):

Narcissistic Personality ◽

The Stability ◽

Personality Features

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Narcissism and Subjective Arousal in Response to Sexual Aggression: The Mediating Role of Perceived Power

Sexes ◽

10.3390/sexes2020017 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 189-201

Author(s):

Virgil Zeigler-Hill ◽

David Andrews

Keyword(s):

Sexual Aggression ◽

Self Report ◽

Aggressive Behaviors ◽

Men And Women ◽

Sexually Aggressive ◽

Mediating Role ◽

Narcissistic Personality ◽

Personality Features ◽

Subjective Arousal ◽

Perceived Power

The present research examined the associations that narcissistic personality features had with subjective arousal in response to sexually aggressive behaviors, as well as whether these associations were mediated by the power that was believed to accompany these behaviors. Participants were 221 community members (115 women, 106 men) who completed a self-report instrument that captured narcissistic admiration (an agentic form of narcissism) and narcissistic rivalry (an antagonistic form of narcissism). In addition, participants were asked to rate how powerful they would expect to feel if they actually engaged in an array of sexually aggressive behaviors (e.g., “Tying up a person during sexual intercourse against her/his will”) as well as how sexually aroused they would be by each behavior. A multilevel mediation analysis revealed that both narcissistic admiration and narcissistic rivalry were positively associated with subjective arousal in response to sexual aggression and that these associations were mediated by the perceived power that was believed to accompany these sexually aggressive behaviors. These results suggest that perceptions of power may play an important role in the connections that narcissistic personality features have with subjective arousal in response to sexually aggressive behavior for both men and women. This discussion will focus on the implications of these results for understanding the connections between narcissism and sexual aggression in both men and women.

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The birth of Athena – Psychodynamic formulation and case report

European Psychiatry ◽

10.1016/j.eurpsy.2016.01.2082 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 33 (S1) ◽

pp. S562-S562

Author(s):

M. Skokou ◽

K. Assimakopoulos ◽

P. Gourzis

Keyword(s):

Case Report ◽

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Psychodynamic Psychotherapy ◽

Patient Experiences ◽

Maternal Role ◽

Narcissistic Personality ◽

Intrapsychic Conflict ◽

Competing Interest ◽

Personality Features ◽

The Relationship

IntroductionAthena possesses a special place among the Greek Gods, as she was born from her father, according to an extreme patriarchal model with a marked depreciation of the maternal role. Zeus had swallowed and absorbed the mother of Athena, Mites, because of an oracle that if Mites gave birth to a boy, the boy would take his throne. When the time comes, Zeus commands Hephaestus to cleave his forehead with an axe, and then Athena leaps fully armed and shouting her cry of war, in front of the astonished Gods. The next moment she puts her weapons down, as a token of obedience and devotion. The exceptionally close bond between father and daughter is evident through their uniquely confidential relationship. The ancient myth is paralleled, from a psychodynamic aspect, with the case of a narcissistic patient receiving psychodynamic psychotherapy.MethodsCase report.ResultsA case of a woman with narcissistic personality features and depressive symptoms is described, presenting with the complaints of withdrawal, self-depreciation, passivity, and agoraphobia. Psychodynamic factors defining her pathology are her narcissistic and sexualized relationship with her father, whereas the relationship with her mother has been depreciated. The patient experiences an intrapsychic conflict of reciprocal idealization, against her anger and fear for her father, resulting in the symptoms of agoraphobia and passivity.ConclusionLike Athena, who puts her weapons down, the patient resigns from her will for autonomy and moves to a passive position, as a result of her entrapment in her idealized relationship with the father.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

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Narcissistic personality features and social trust

Psihologijske teme ◽

10.31820/pt.30.1.3 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 30 (1) ◽

pp. 57-75

Author(s):

Ali Mohammad Beigi Dehaghi ◽

Virgil Zeigler-Hill

Keyword(s):

Large Study ◽

Social Trust ◽

Community Members ◽

Narcissistic Personality ◽

Indirect Association ◽

Personality Features

Narcissism has been shown to be associated with a lack of trust in others, but little is known about the factors that may play a role in the tendency for narcissistic individuals to mistrust others. The present research examined whether the associations that specific narcissistic personality features had with social trust were mediated by social worldviews. A large study of Iranian community members (N = 3,446; mean age of 34.28 years) revealed that the antagonistic and neurotic aspects of narcissism had negative indirect associations with social trust through the competitive social worldview, whereas the extraverted aspect of narcissism had a positive indirect association with social trust through the competitive social worldview. In addition, the extraverted and neurotic aspects of narcissism had positive indirect associations with social trust through the dangerous social worldview. These results suggest that the extraverted, antagonistic, and neurotic aspects of narcissism diverged in their associations with social trust and that the dangerous and competitive social worldviews played important roles in these associations. Discussion will focus on the implications of these results for understanding the roles that social worldviews play in the connections between narcissism and social trust.

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Narcissistic Personality Features and Self-Reported Anger

Psychological Reports ◽

10.2466/pr0.1989.64.1.55 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 64 (1) ◽

pp. 55-58 ◽

Cited By ~ 39

Author(s):

Joseph T. McCann ◽

Mary Kay Biaggio

Keyword(s):

Personality Disorder ◽

Introductory Psychology ◽

Personality Characteristics ◽

Narcissistic Personality Disorder ◽

Narcissistic Personality ◽

Psychology Courses ◽

Personality Features ◽

The Relationship

The relationship between anger and narcissistic personality characteristics was examined for 91 students in introductory psychology courses. 35 individuals high in narcissism reported greater verbally expressed anger. Males high in narcissism were more likely to express anger physically. Results are discussed in terms of DSM-III—R criteria for narcissistic personality disorder.

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