Introduction
Narcissism is a personality construct typically characterized by grandiosity, vanity, entitlement, and exploitativeness. Since the publication of classic works by Freud [1], Kohut [2], and Kernberg [3], narcissism has been the subject of substantial interest in both the personality/social psychology literature (e.g., the Dark Triad; [4,5]) and clinical psychology/psychiatry literature [6,7]. In comparison, Rosenberg [8] defined self-esteem as a global, affective self-evaluation that can range from very negative to very positive. Considering this definition, the presence of a positive relation between narcissism and self-esteem seems intuitive, as both appear to capture positive perceptions of the self. Indeed, the data bear this out, as recent estimates suggest a small-to-medium effect for the relation between narcissism and self-esteem [9, 10]. It is easy to imagine how a prototypically grandiose narcissistic individual (i.e., arrogant, entitled, excessively self-promotional) might be construed as having particularly high self-esteem. However, existing empirical evidence suggests that framing narcissism as purely an exaggeration of high self-esteem may be an inaccurate depiction of these constructs. This is not to deny their apparent similarities, given that individuals with narcissistic traits, like those with high self-esteem, are likely to be perceived as confident and assertive, and to have pride in themselves [11]. Nevertheless, important differences between narcissism and self-esteem have been identified in terms of their developmental origins, trajectory over the lifespan, relations to prosocial and antisocial behavior, occupational performance, self-presentational tactics, and psychological health [12-19], which make it clear that self-esteem and narcissism are not isomorphic.
In the current article, we provide a relatively comprehensive comparison of the nomological networks of narcissism and self-esteem using an array of constructs relevant to various aspects of intra- and interpersonal psychological functioning that were assessed with diverse methodologies including self-reports, informant-reports, thin slice ratings, and laboratory paradigms. This work is drawn from three theoretical and empirical streams. The first is the agency model of narcissism, which posits that most of the self-concept positivity associated with narcissism is associated with agency but not communion, whereas the self-concept positivity associated with self-esteem is more evenly distributed across agency and communion [20]. The second stream shows that self-esteem is central to the psychological benefits of narcissism. That is, narcissism affords certain health benefits to the extent that it is associated with self-esteem; conversely, narcissism without self-esteem is positively linked to psychopathology [21]. The third stream is a new, integrative, trait-based model that grounds narcissism in three primary traits: agentic extraversion, (low) communion/agreeableness, and (low or high) neuroticism [22]. This model highlights the key areas to search for differences and similarities in narcissism and self-esteem.
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Together, these theoretical and empirical streams lead to the following three hypotheses about the nomological networks [23] of narcissism and self-esteem. First, narcissism and self-esteem will be similarly related to traits associated with interpersonal agency. Second, narcissism and self-esteem will be differentially related to constructs associated with communion (e.g., aggression, antagonism, callousness), with narcissism positively related to antagonism-based traits (e.g., entitlement), behaviors (e.g., aggression), and disorders (e.g., psychopathy), and self-esteem negatively related to them. Third and finally, narcissism and self-esteem will be differentially related to traits (e.g., neuroticism), behaviors (e.g., laboratory aggression), and disorders (e.g., borderline) associated with functional maladaptivity, with narcissism showing null to moderate positive relations, and self-esteem demonstrating moderate to strong negative relations. In short, although narcissism will correlate with self-esteem, we propose that scales assessing both will manifest distinct nomological networks, which will showcase similarities in agency but differences in communion and degrees of adaptivity.
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There are important nuances when considering these hypotheses. In line with the aforementioned third theoretical/empirical stream, the majority of predominant models of narcissism are not unidimensional, but rather they conceptualize narcissism as a multidimensional amalgam of several primary trait domains. Throughout the current manuscript, we generally refer to these traits in terms of agency and communion, but we note that several prominent models have different terms for iterations of these core constructs. For example, Five-Factor Model (FFM) conceptualizations of narcissism refer to the primary trait domains as extraversion and agreeableness [22]. Other conceptualizations of narcissism reflect the distinct intra-/interpersonal strategies that narcissistic individuals use to maintain their superior social standing, and domains; under this model [24], the domains agency and communion are reflected in the subscales admiration (i.e., wanting to be evaluated highly) and rivalry (i.e., wanting others to be evaluated poorly), respectively. Finally, the recently developed narcissism spectrum model [25] includes the central trait “entitlement,” as well as poles titled “grandiosity” and “vulnerability.” Grandiosity, which captures hubris and exhibitionism, is largely akin to agency/extraversion/admiration, whereas the central trait entitlement is akin to (low) communion/(low) agreeableness/rivalry.
In the current investigation, we are unable to speak directly to nomological networks of each of these trait terms. However, the NPI contains the subscales Leadership/Authority (LA), Grandiose Exhibitionism (GE), and Exploitativeness/Entitlement (EE), which can approximate agency and communion, the primary traits of interest. Prior work suggests that each of the NPI subscales is associated with low levels of communal traits (e.g., agreeableness), but that the EE subscale is the component most strongly associated with (low) communion [26]. On the other hand, the LA and GE subscales have been shown to largely capture agentic traits (i.e., extraversion, admiration, grandiosity [27]). Thus, in addition to the nomological network associated with the narcissism composite (i.e., NPI total score), the current analyses speak to these multidimensional models of narcissism by examining the differential criteria relations associated with the NPI subscales.
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