Narcissism and Reactions to a Self-Esteem Insult: An Experiment Using Predictions from Self-Report and the Rorschach Task
Recommended Citation
Gritti ES, Meyer GJ, Bornstein RF, Marino DP, and Marco JD. Narcissism and Reactions to a Self-Esteem Insult: An Experiment Using Predictions from Self-Report and the Rorschach Task. J Pers Assess 2020:1-40.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-3-2020
Publication Title
Journal of personality assessment
Abstract
We used self-reported narcissistic grandiosity and vulnerability and a component derived from 11 potential grandiosity and narcissism variables (GNVs) coded from Rorschach behavior to predict fluctuations in self-esteem and their links to anger and defensive reactions. We assessed state mood, state self-esteem, and performance attributions in 105 college students who underwent a self-esteem manipulation involving success followed by failure on cognitive testing. Self-reported grandiosity predicted the disavowal of effortful ability as a factor in failure, but we did not replicate other previously reported findings for this variable. Self-reported vulnerability predicted oscillations in self-reported mood and self-esteem. The GNV scale predicted spontaneously expressed hostility and externalization following self-esteem insult, and attributions mediated its relationship with anger expressed after failure. We discuss implications of these results and recommend additional replication research.
PubMed ID
33270469
First Page
1
Last Page
40