aThis is the first empirical study to test the narcissism–empathy relationship hypothesis proposed by Stone (1998), who argued that there could be separable aspects of ability and willingness that affect narcissistic individuals’ empathic functioning. Some narcissistic individuals may have intact empathic ability, but choose to disengage from others’ pain or distress. These findings extend the empirical evidence of empathy and altruism in terms of individual differences, and contribute to the understanding of mechanisms underlying prosocial behavior among narcissists. Narcissism is essentially emotional and motivational in nature, and emotionally based priming appears to bear particularly strong promise for increasing altruistic behaviors among narcissists. The results suggest possible pathways to practical improvement in the lack of empathy among narcissistic individuals.

The Inventory () is a widely used measure of . However, debates persist about its exact factor structure with researchers proposing solutions ranging from two to seven factors. The present research aimed to clarify the factor structure of the and further illuminate its nomological network. Four studies provided support for a three-factor model consisting of the dimensions of Leadership/Authority, Grandiose , and Entitlement/Exploitativeness. The Leadership/Authority dimension was generally linked to adaptive outcomes whereas the other two dimensions, particularly Entitlement/Exploitativeness, were generally linked to maladaptive outcomes. These results suggest that researchers interested in the psychological and behavioral outcomes associated with the should examine correlates at the facet level. In light of the findings, we propose a hierarchical model for the structure of the and provide researchers with a scoring scheme for this commonly used instrument.

Abstract We present a process model that distinguishes 2 dimensions of narcissism: admiration and rivalry. We propose that narcissists' overarching goal of maintaining a grandiose self is pursued by 2 separate pathways, characterized by distinct cognitive, affective-motivational, and behavioral processes. In a set of 7 studies, we validated this 2-dimensional model using the newly developed Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire (NARQ). We showed that narcissistic admiration and rivalry are positively correlated dimensions, yet they have markedly different nomological networks and distinct intra- and interpersonal consequences. The NARQ showed the hypothesized 2-dimensional multifaceted structure as well as very good internal consistencies (Study 1, N = 953), stabilities (Study 2, N = 93), and self-other agreements (Study 3, N = 96). Narcissistic admiration and rivalry showed unique relations to the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI), the Big Five, self-esteem, pathological narcissism, and other narcissism-related traits like Machiavellianism, psychopathy, self-enhancement, and impulsivity (Study 4, Ns = 510-1,814). Despite the positive relation between admiration and rivalry, the 2 differentially predicted general interpersonal orientations and reactions to transgressions in friendships and romantic relationships (Study 5, N = 1,085), interpersonal perceptions during group interactions (Study 6, N = 202), and observed behaviors in experimental observations (Study 7, N = 96). For all studies, the NARQ outperformed the standard measure of narcissism, the NPI, in predicting outcome measures. Results underscore the utility of a 2-dimensional conceptualization and measurement of narcissism. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

We examined the predictive utility of narcissism among a community sample of children and adolescents ( N =98) longitudinally. Analyses focused on the differential utility between maladaptive and adaptive narcissism for predicting later delinquency. Maladaptive narcissism significantly predicted self-reported delinquency at one-, two-, and three-year follow-ups. This pattern held even when considering other intrapersonal risk factors for conduct problems (i.e., callous-unemotional traits, impulsivity), parenting practices, and when controlling for earlier conduct problems. In addition, adaptive narcissism was predictive of delinquency in the absence of positive parenting practices, with maladaptive narcissism being particularly predictive of delinquency in the presence of negative parenting. The implications for understanding delinquency in terms of the social and motivational characteristics that are the hallmark of maladaptive narcissism are discussed.

Investigated several possible models to explain the seemingly discrepant relations between self-esteem and conduct problems, as both low self-esteem and exaggerated levels of self-esteem, thought to be captured by narcissism, have been associated with aggressive and antisocial behavior. Our sample consisted of 98 nonreferred children (mean age = 11.9 years; SD = 1.68 years) recruited from public schools to oversample children at risk for severe aggressive and antisocial behavior. Results indicated that certain aspects of narcissism (i.e., those indicating a need to be evaluated well by, and obtain status over, others) were particularly predictive of maladaptive characteristics and outcomes such as low self-esteem, callous-unemotional (CU) traits, and conduct problems. In addition, the relation between narcissism and conduct problems was moderated by self-esteem level, such that children with relatively high levels of narcissism and low self-esteem showed the highest rates of conduct-problem symptoms.

For three decades, social-personality research on overt narcissism has relied almost exclusively on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI). However, the NPI suffers from a host of psychometric and validity concerns that make composite NPI scores (summed across its subscales) difficult to interpret. The present studies propose that narcissistic characteristics tend to fall under two general clusters: grandiosity and entitlement. The studies show that measures of grandiosity and entitlement interact to predict scores on the NPI, controlling for gender, self-esteem, and basic personality (Study 1), but also that grandiosity and entitlement function independently with respect to mental health (Study 2) and ethical misconduct (Study 3). Together, these results challenge the view of overt narcissism as a unidimensional construct and underscore the importance of distinguishing between grandiose and entitled aspects of the narcissistic self-concept.

Using large Internet samples, we examined the possible influence of sociodemographic factors on the Chinese self-concept and in particular, on the level of narcissism. We found that (i) younger persons are more narcissistic than older ones; (ii) persons from higher socioeconomic classes are more narcissistic than those from lower socioeconomic classes; (iii) persons from only-child families are more narcissistic than those from families with multiple children; (iv) persons from urban areas are more narcissistic than those from rural areas; and (v) individualistic values are predictive of individual differences in narcissism. The findings suggest that sociocultural changes contribute to the rise of narcissism in China. Copyright 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Impulsive buying makes billions of dollars for retail businesses every year, particularly in an era of thriving e-commerce. Narcissism, characterized by impulsivity and materialism, may serve as a potential antecedent to impulsive buying. To test this hypothesis, two studies examined the relationship between narcissism and impulsive buying. In Study 1, we surveyed an online sample and found that while adaptive narcissism was not correlated with impulsive buying, maladaptive narcissism was significantly predictive of the impulsive buying tendency. By investigating 304 twin pairs, Study 2 showed that global narcissism and its two components, adaptive and maladaptive narcissism, as well as the impulsive buying tendency were heritable. The study found, moreover, that the connections between global narcissism and impulsive buying, and between maladaptive narcissism and impulsive buying were genetically based. These findings not only establish a link between narcissism and impulsive buying but also help to identify the origins of the link. The present studies deepen our understanding of narcissism, impulsive buying, and their interrelationship.

ABSTRACT Narcissism is characterized by the search for affirmation and admiration from others. Might this motivation to find external sources of acclaim exist to compensate for neuro-structural deficits that link the self with reward? Greater structural connectivity between brain areas that process self-relevant stimuli (i.e., the medial prefrontal cortex) and reward (i.e., the ventral striatum) is associated with fundamentally positive self-views. We predicted that narcissism would be associated with less integrity of this frontostriatal pathway. We used diffusion tensor imaging to assess the frontostriatal structural connectivity among 50 healthy undergraduates (32 females, 18 males) who also completed a measure of grandiose narcissism. White matter integrity in the frontostriatal pathway was negatively associated with narcissism. Our findings, while purely correlational, suggest that narcissism arises, in part, from a neural disconnect between the self and reward. The exhibitionism and immodesty of narcissists may then be a regulatory strategy to compensate for this neural deficit. The Author (2015). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

In the first study, we administered the 40-item Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI; Raskin & Terry, 1988) to 843 female and 843 male college students, most of whom were Euro-American, to comprehensively assess the NPI factor structure using confirmatory factor analysis. Initial exploratory common factor analyses (N = 724) revealed a 2-factor model (Leadership/Authority and Exhibitionism/Entitlement). Subsequently, we used confirmatory factor analysis in a separate sample (N = 724) to evaluate the Emmons (1987) 4-factor model, the Raskin and Terry (1988) 7-factor model, the Kubarych, Deary, and Austin (2004) 2- and 3-factor models, and our 2-factor model. Finally, we assessed construct validity by correlating the scale scores with the Five-factor model of personality in an independent sample (N = 238). The 2-factor models for the NPI we obtained in this study and by Kubarych et al. (2004) appeared to be the most parsimonious models, with both a good fit to the data and satisfactory internal consistency values; so they are recommended for use. However, additional NPI research is needed to rescale, modify, or omit several NPI items and develop gender-equivalent items.

http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0191886905002734

http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2011.00755.x

Abstract Three studies are reported which provide evidence for the validity of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI). Factor analysis of the NPI in Study 1 revealed four factors which were labelled: Exploitativeness/Entitlement, Leadership/Authority, Superiority/Arrogance, and Self-absorption/Self-admiration. In Study 2, scores on the NPI were correlated with basic dimensions of personality, and with relevant self-variables. Narcissism scores were positively related to dominance, exhibitionism, extraversion, self-esteem, and self-monitoring, among others; and negatively related to abasement, deference, and social anxiety, among others. Correlations between the NPI factors and personality variables are also examined. In Study 3, peer ratings of narcissism were obtained and it was found that these were strongly related to scores on the NPI. Taken together, the three studies provide considerable evidence for the construct validity of the NPI, and avenues for future research are suggested.

The concept of narcissism has been much researched in psychoanalysis and especially in self psychology. One of the hallmarks of narcissism is altered emotion, including decreased affective resonance (e.g. empathy) with others, the neural underpinnings of which remain unclear. The aim of our exploratory study was to investigate the psychological and neural correlates of empathy in two groups of healthy subjects with high and low narcissistic personality trait. We hypothesized that high narcissistic subjects would show a differential activity pattern in regions such as the anterior insula that are typically associated with empathy. A sample of 34 non-clinical subjects was divided into high (n=11) and low (n=11) narcissistic groups according to the 66th and 33rd percentiles of their scores on the Narcissism Inventory (NI). Combining the psychological, behavioral and neuronal [i.e. functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)] measurements of empathy, we compared the high and low narcissistic groups of subjects. High narcissistic subjects showed higher scores on the Symptom Checklist-90 Revised (SCL-90-R) and the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) when compared to low narcissistic subjects. High narcissistic subjects also showed significantly decreased deactivation during empathy, especially in the right anterior insula. Psychological and neuroimaging data indicate respectively higher degrees of alexithymia and lower deactivation during empathy in the insula in high narcissistic subjects. Taken together, our preliminary findings demonstrate, for the first time, psychological and neuronal correlates of narcissism in non-clinical subjects. This might stipulate both novel psychodynamic conceptualization and future psychological euronal investigation of narcissism.

The present investigation examined associations among narcissism, age, ethnicity, world region, and gender, using a large ( n=3445) sample of participants representing several different world regions and ethnicities. The results suggest that (1) reported narcissism declines in older participants, (2) consistent with previous findings, males report being more narcissistic than females, (3) that ethnic differences in reported narcissism are generally comparable to those found in the self-esteem literature, and (4) that world region appears to exert influence on narcissism, with participants from more individualistic societies reporting more narcissism. The results are discussed in terms of how age and culture might impact narcissism and how future research might address this topic.

An agency-communion model of narcissism distinguishes between agentic narcissists (individuals satisfying self-motives of grandiosity, esteem, entitlement, and power in agentic domains) and communal narcissists (individuals satisfying the same self-motives in communal domains). Five studies supported the model. In Study 1, participants listed their grandiose self-thoughts. Two distinct types emerged: agentic ("I am the most intelligent person") and communal ("I am the most helpful person"). In Study 2, we relied on the listed communal grandiose self-thoughts to construct the Communal Narcissism Inventory. It was psychometrically sound, stable over time, and largely independent of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory-the standard measure of agentic narcissism. In Studies 3 and 4, agentic and communal narcissists shared the same self-motives, while crucially differing in their means for need satisfaction: Agentic narcissists capitalized on agentic means, communal narcissists on communal means. Study 5 revisited the puzzle of low self-other agreement regarding communal traits and behaviors. Attesting to the broader significance of our model, this low self other agreement was partly due to communal narcissists: They saw themselves as high, but were seen by others as low, in communion.

Understanding the individual factors that predispose persons to criminal behaviour is vital to reducing offending and rehabilitating those who have been sentenced to prison. This study examined the roles of narcissism (at both clinical and subclinical trait levels) and empathy, by comparing levels in young adult males currently serving a prison sentence to those with no history of criminal convictions. Prison participants had significantly higher levels of narcissism—in particular entitlement—than control participants, and this link was sequentially mediated by lower perspective-taking and subsequently lack of empathic concern. Trait narcissism showed stronger effects than narcissistic personality disorder symptoms. Narcissistic young men's feelings of entitlement and ensuing lack of empathy for others may account for their greater likelihood of criminal behaviour. Copyright 08 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Abstract Previous studies have noted that narcissists do, in some cases, experience benefits. The current study adds to this discussion by examining whether age might moderate the links between narcissism and a self-reported benefit (life satisfaction) and an observer-reported benefit (observer ratings of personality). In a sample of college students and their family members (N = 807), the authors demonstrate that narcissism positively correlates with life satisfaction for adolescents and emerging adults, but not for adult participants. In addition, the relationship between narcissism and observer-reported neuroticism was weakly negative for undergraduate students, but significant and positive for their mothers. Taken together, these results suggest that narcissism is more beneficial for adolescents and emerging adults than for adults. Both sets of analyses also pointed to the importance of studying narcissism as a multifaceted construct. Findings are discussed with respect to personality development theories that emphasize adult role adoption.

The Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) is the most widely used measure of the construct of narcissism. Four- and seven-factor solutions have been reported for the instrument. In the present study, 338 undergraduates completed the NPI along with a battery of personality questionnaires that include the NEO-FFI. Exploratory principal components analysis indicated that the NPI had a two- or three-factor structure. Confirmatory factor analyses were undertaken for one-, two- and three-factor models of the instrument. Fit indices were poor, typical of models with many item–level variables. The fits can be improved by allowing plausible correlated error terms in instances where items have very similar content. As a whole, the NPI is measuring a general narcissism construct, with two or three separable, correlated factors relating to ‘power’, ‘exhibitionism’, and being a ‘special person’. A psychometrically improved version of the NPI could be developed based on these factors. In the present study confirmatory factor analysis provided some insights not available from exploratory factor analysis, but was still largely exploratory in nature. NEO correlations with the overall factor were 0.36 for both extraversion and low agreeableness, with additional highly significant correlations for low neuroticism and high openness to experience. NEO correlations for the lower-order factors were similar.

Abstract It has long been hypothesized that feelings of inferiority or low self-esteem lead individuals to aggress against those they view as being threatening. However, recent studies suggest that it is not just the level of self-esteem but stability that is relevant to understanding this process. As such, researchers have looked to related constructs, such as narcissism, in trying to understand aggressive behaviors. Narcissism is characterized by a dissociation between an unconscious sense of inadequacy and a conscious feeling of superiority. A large number of studies examining the relationship between narcissism and violence have recently been published within both clinical and student populations. This review aimed to systematically collate the findings of such studies and integrate them within current theories of violence. Electronic literature databases such as Web of Science, MEDLINE, PsychINFO, EMBASE, Cochrane databases, and LexisNexis (legal database) were searched to identify studies examining the relationship between narcissism and violence. Twenty articles were included in this review, describing 25 separate samples. Findings suggest that narcissism is relevant in understanding aggression and violence. This was consistent across both clinical and nonclinical populations and therefore does not appear to be an artifact of studying either very violent or student samples. Evidence from student samples strongly supported the association between narcissism and aggression following an ego threat, while studies using clinical samples did not examine the effect of an ego threat. These findings may have an impact on how we understand, predict, and reduce violence. The Author(s) 2016.

This article examined the genetic and environmental bases of the newly proposed agency–communion model of narcissism. The model distinguishes between agentic narcissism and communal narcissism. The sample comprised 304 pairs of twins. Genes explained 47% and 25% of the variance in agentic and communal narcissism, respectively; shared environments contributed 0% and 15%, respectively, to agentic and communal narcissism, with non-shared environments accounting for the remaining portions. Although some common genes and environments influenced agentic and communal narcissism simultaneously, most genetic (68%) and environmental (94%) influences on agentic and communal narcissism were unique. These findings provide novel evidence for the theoretical plausibility of communal narcissism as well as its relatedness to and distinctiveness from agentic narcissism, supporting the agency–communion narcissism model.

Narcissism is related to direct aggression following negative evaluation or rejection and this link may be explained via the theory of threatened egotism. It is unclear whether narcissism is also related to displaced aggression (DA) – that is, aggression towards an innocent victim uninvolved in the initial provocation. In this study we examined the relation between narcissism and DA following positive, negative, or a delayed evaluation (i.e., evaluation following the completion of the reaction time task) of the participants’ writing skills by an “objective” computer assessment instrument. Participants were undergraduates who competed in a reaction time task against an opponent (i.e., a confederate). Initial provocation in this study was conceptualized as the evaluation feedback the participants received prior to competing in the reaction time task. DA was defined as bogus electric shocks administered by participants to their opponents (who were uninvolved in the prior evaluation) during the reaction time task prior to receiving any shocks from the opponent. Narcissism was significantly positively related to DA and this effect was stronger in the delayed condition than in the negative or positive feedback condition. These findings suggest that narcissistic individuals are likely to act aggressively towards innocent others under conditions where there is uncertainty with regard to potential damage to their self-perceptions of superiority.

The past 20 years has seen a surge in interest in conceptualizing personality disorders (PDs) using general trait models of personality. By general trait models, we are referring to comprehensive models of “normal” or “general” personality such as the Five Factor Model

People who feel entitled to admiration and respect from others do not make good companions. This research shows one reason why. Entitled people adopt self-image goals (goals that aim to construct and defend a positive self-image), which then lead to interpersonal conflict and hostility. Studies 1A and 1B documented a unique relation between entitlement and self-image goals. Study 2 extended these results by showing, via a longitudinal design, that entitlement prospectively predicts chronic self-image goals. These chronic self-image goals then predict chronic relationship conflict and hostility, all averaged over 10 weeks. Further, Study 2 revealed that self-image goals mediate the effect of pretest entitlement on both weekly hostility and conflict. These results suggest that by pursuing self-image goals, entitled people create conflict and hostility in their relationships.

We propose a dynamic self-regulatory processing model of narcissism and review supporting evidence. The model casts narcissism in terms of motivated self-construction, in that the narcissist's self is shaped by the dynamic interaction of cognitive and affective intrapersonal processes and interpersonal self-regulatory strategies that are played out in the social arena. A grandiose yet vulnerable self-concept appears to underlie the chronic goal of obtaining continuous external self-affirmation. Because narcissists are insensitive to others' concerns and social constraints and view others as inferior, their self-regulatory efforts often are counterproductive and ultimately prevent the positive feedback that they seek-thus undermining the self they are trying to create and maintain. We draw connections between this model and other processing models in personality and employ these models to further elucidate the construct of narcissism. Reconceptualizing narcissism as a self-regulatory processing system promises to resolve many of its apparent paradoxes, because by understanding how narcissistic cognition, affect, and motivation interrelate, their internal subjective logic and coherence come into focus.

react-text: 315 We investigated the relations between narcissism, self-assessed intelligence and subjective well-being. In three studies, we aimed to replicate previous findings concerning the relationship between narcissism and both objectively and subjectively assessed intelligence (Study 1), as well as to examine whether the latter influenced narcissists’ satisfaction with life (Study 2) and their mood... /react-text react-text: 316 /react-text [Show full abstract]

Abstract The relation between narcissism and other-derogation has been examined primarily in the context of ego threat. In three studies, we investigated whether narcissistic individuals derogate others in the absence of ego threat. In Study 1, 79 judges watched four videotaped dyadic interactions and rated the personality of the same four people. In Study 2, 66 judges rated the personality of a friend. In Study 3, 72 judges considered the average Northeastern University student and rated the personality of this hypothetical person. Across the three studies, targets' personality characteristics were described on the 100-item California Adult Q-Sort (CAQ; Block, 2008). Judges' ratings of targets were compared to a CAQ prototype of the optimally adjusted person to assess target-derogation. Judges' narcissism and other-derogation were positively related in Studies 1 and 2. Narcissism positively predicted and self-esteem negatively predicted target-derogation after controlling for each other in Study 3. Narcissistic individuals derogate others more than non-narcissistic individuals regardless of whether ego threat is present or absent. 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

We examined the internal and external validity of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI). Study 1 explored the internal structure of the NPI responses of 1,018 subjects. Using principal-components analysis, we analyzed the tetrachoric correlations among the NPI item responses and found evidence for a general construct of narcissism as well as seven first-order components, identified as Authority, Exhibitionism, Superiority, Vanity, Exploitativeness, Entitlement, and Self-Sufficiency. Study 2 explored the NPI's construct validity with respect to a variety of indexes derived from observational and self-report data in a sample of 57 subjects. Study 3 investigated the NPI's construct validity with respect to 128 subject's self and ideal self-descriptions, and their congruency, on the Leary Interpersonal Check List. The results from Studies 2 and 3 tend to support the construct validity of the full-scale NPI and its component scales.

Narcissism has long been used to predict aggressive or vengeful responses to provocations from others. The strength of this relation can, however, vary widely from study to study. Narcissism and revenge were examined in 84 independent samples ( N =6511297), along with the moderating role of sample type (i.e., child/adolescent, prisoner, undergraduate, or general samples), type of narcissism measure used (i.e., Narcissistic Personality Inventory, Psychological Entitlement Scale, Short D3, etc.), the nature of the provocation, and the type of provoked aggression examined. Narcissism was positively related to provoked aggression across studies ( ρ =65.25), but that relation was stronger in child/adolescent samples ( ρ =65.36) and when measures of entitlement or vulnerable narcissism were employed ( ρ =65.29). Implications for practical research, as well as neglected areas of research on narcissism and provoked aggression are discussed. Aggr. Behav. 42:362–379, 2016. 08 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Research has demonstrated that narcissism is related to the perpetration of aggression. Despite being commonly considered a pathological form of personality, theorists have argued that narcissism represents a mix of adaptive (e.g., Self-Sufficiency) and maladaptive (e.g., Entitlement and Exploitativeness) traits. The current study sought to examine the relationship between narcissistic traits and aggression. Ninety-one men completed a laboratory aggression task in which participants had the opportunity to administer electric shocks to a confederate or to refrain from doing so. General aggression as well as initial and extreme aggression were measured. Results indicated that narcissistic entitlement and exploitativeness were the narcissistic subtraits that best predicted all measures of aggression. The findings support existing research that identifies these traits as particularly maladaptive traits of narcissism, and are discussed in terms of the linkage between narcissism and perpetration of violence and victimization.

Abstract The relation between the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI, Raskin & Hall, 1979) and conceptually relevant self and interpersonal variables was examined in three investigations. Based on clinical theory and description, it was proposed that the NPI would be correlated with self-images which were positive but low in complexity and vulnerable to threat. In addition, it was hypothesized that the NPI would be associated with antagonism and hostility, characteristics that should contribute to narcissists frequently observed interpersonal difficulties. As expected, the NPI was associated with extremely positive self-images as well as low self-complexity (Study 1). High NPI scores were also associated with a self-aggrandizing attributional style (Study 1) and higher scores on hostility and antagonism (Study 2). High NPI scorers appeared to benefit the most from the perception of available social support during periods of high stress. The findings are discussed with regard to the construct validity of the NPI and adaptive versus maladaptive aspects of narcissistic behavior.

Narcissism research is poorly calibrated across fields of study in part due to confusion over how to integrate normal and pathological descriptions of narcissism. We argue that pathological and normal narcissism can be integrated in a single model that organizes around self-regulation mechanisms. We present theoretical and empirical support for this interpretation, and demonstrate that modeling pathological and normal narcissism as 2 dimensions underlying the narcissistic character can help to resolve some of the inconsistencies in the field regarding how to best assess adaptive and maladaptive expressions of narcissism.

Building upon past research about the guiding values and self-regulation difficulties of people with narcissistic personalities, this study tested a model of the association between narcissism and compulsive consumption. In data obtained from a sample of undergraduate consumers (N = 238) with varying degrees of spending problems, positive associations emerged between narcissism, materialism, and compulsive buying. Impulse control was negatively correlated with each of these variables. Mediation tests revealed that both impulse control and materialism accounted for significant portions of the shared variance between narcissism and compulsive consumption. These findings highlight the importance of both personal values and impulse control as correlates of addictive buying. They also add to growing evidence that people who are relatively narcissistic are poor self-regulators who may be at risk of developing a variety of addictive behaviors.

ABSTRACT A cross-temporal meta-analysis found that narcissism levels have risen over the generations in 85 samples of American college students who completed the 40-item forced-choice Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) between 1979 and 2006 (total n =16,475). Mean narcissism scores were significantly correlated with year of data collection when weighted by sample size (β=.53, p <.001). Since 1982, NPI scores have increased 0.33 standard deviation. Thus, almost two-thirds of recent college students are above the mean 1979–1985 narcissism score, a 30% increase. The results complement previous studies finding increases in other individualistic traits such as assertiveness, agency, self-esteem, and extraversion.

This study reports the first behavioral genetic investigation of the three Dark Triad variables (narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy) and their relationships with the Big 5 personality traits. A total of 278 adult twins completed questionnaire measures of the Dark Triad and the Big 5. Consistent with some previous studies, we found significant correlations among some of the Dark Triad variables and between each of the Dark Triad variables and some of the Big 5. To the extent that these variables were correlated at the phenotypic level, these correlations were largely attributable to correlated genetic factors. At the univariate level, all traits showed the influence of genetic and non-shared environmental factors, with heritabilities ranging between .31 and .72; Machiavellianism alone also showed the influence of shared environmental factors.

Recent research and theory suggest narcissistic features contribute to aggression in adults. The present study examined the association of narcissistic features with aggression and internalizing symptoms in 233 students of 5th鈥8th grade at three inner-city schools. A factor analysis of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory in this sample revealed three factors: Adaptive Narcissism, Exploitativeness, and Exhibitionism . Regression analyses were used to predict the association of these three narcissistic features with self-, teacher-, and peer-reported aggression and self-reported internalizing symptoms. Results indicate narcissistic exploitativeness positively predicted self-reported proactive aggression, and narcissistic exhibitionism positively predicted internalizing symptoms. Narcissism and self-esteem interacted to predict teacher-reported aggression and self-reported internalizing symptoms. Results are discussed in the context of existing theories of narcissism, threatened egotism, and self-perception bias.

Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI; Emmons, 1984) factors were correlated with Splitting, Self-Consciousness, Depression, Anxiety, and Self-Esteem. Exploitativeness/Entitlement was largely maladaptive, whereas Leadership/Authority, Superiority/Arrogance, and Self-Absorption/Self-Admiration yielded ambiguous outcomes. Partialing out Exploitativeness/Entitlement uncovered stronger ties of the other factors with adjustment, and controlling for the other three dimensions caused Exploitativeness/Entitlement to appear more pathological. Raskin and Terry (1988) NPI factors and a narcissistic Superiority Scale were similarly affected by partialing, appearing healthier when controlling for "maladaptive" narcissism and more unhealthy when removing the more "adaptive" variance. These data suggest that complex entanglements between adaptive and maladaptive forms of self-love may make it difficult to understand and assess pathological narcissism.

Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) factors were correlated with empathy and social desirability to clarify the unexpected findings of a previous investigation. Statistical controls for the complex nature of the NPI revealed the Exploitativeness/Entitlement (EE) dimention to predict less emotional and cognitive empathy, more interpersonal distress, less social responsibility and lower social desirability scores. In contrast, Leadership/Authority was associated with less interpersonal distress, as was the Superiority/Arrogance factor, and also greater social responsibility. EE therefore may operationalize a maladaptive trait characterized by a socially undesirable and irresponsible interpersonal insensitivity. Other NPI dimensions may record more adaptive self-functioning.