What is narcissism?
Narcissism is a positive, inflated and grandiose sense of self. This includes a sense of entitlement, uniqueness, and “specialness.” Along with this inflated sense of self is a lack of warm, emotionally intimate or caring relationships with others. This does not mean a lack of social relationships – often the opposite is the case – but a lack of emotionally deep relationships.
In order to maintain this inflated sense of self, narcissistic individuals engage in “self-regulation strategies.” Essentially, this means that narcissists do things to make them look and feel good. There is a huge range of these behaviors. They can associate with high status individuals, “name drop,” brag, draw attention to themselves by using broad hand gestures, jump at chances to compete, perform well in public contexts, seek fame, get a trophy dating partner, brag about material possessions, play games in their relationships, steal credit for success from others, and blame others for failure (often accompanied by anger/aggression). A large part of a narcissist’s life is directed toward this type of self-enhancement. When successful, the narcissist feels good; when unsuccessful, the narcissist can get angry or even depressed.
Narcissism versus Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD)
Narcissism is a personality trait that varies across individuals. Some people are higher than others, but there is no clear “cut-off” for high narcissism. NPD is a defined psychiatric disorder. There is a clear cut-off for NPD (5 of 9 traits described in the DSM-IV plus problems functioning). The relationship between narcissistic personality and NPD is still hotly debated in the scientific literature. I think that the current data support the conclusion that NPD represents a combination of high narcissistic personality plus problems in normal, daily functioning.
“Types” of Narcissism
Another issue of debate surrounds the “types” of narcissism that exists. My take is that there seems to be a growing agreement in the research community that there are at least two forms of narcissism. I prefer the terms “grandiose-agentic” and “grandiose-vulnerable” to describe these, but I think a simpler “grandiose” versus “vulnerable” is more commonly used. Grandiose narcissism is associated with a forceful personality, leadership, and also charm, charisma and likability in the short-term. I think “McSteamy” on Grey’s Anatomy is a good example of this. Vulnerable narcissism is associated with lower self-esteem, more anxiety, a less forceful personality, but still grandiosity. I think of the “Comic Book Guy” on the Simpsons is a good example of this.
Why is there so much confusion surrounding narcissism?
I believe much confusion in the discussion of narcissism comes from thinking that grandiose narcissists are, deep down inside, actually vulnerable narcissists. Again, this is still a question that is debated, but I think the scientific data do not support this conclusion.
Another source of confusion is that much of the work on narcissism comes from the psychoanalytic/psychodynamic tradition. This is a fabulous tradition for generating theoretical insights into the human condition – including narcissism – but a terrible tradition for scientifically testing these insights. There is no strong tradition of scientific research in the psychodynamic community (Freud is an exception here), and the technical language is difficult for those outside the field to understand. That does not stop people from reading the psychodynamic literature and writing about narcissism. Then others read these secondary writings on narcissism and write their own work. The result is a good deal of non-professional writing on the topic of narcissism that is very confused.
A third source of confusion is that there are answers we just don’t know. Research on narcissism is a relatively small, poorly funded field. The good news is that there are a lot of good young researchers entering the field, and many established researchers are starting to include narcissism in their research programs, so I am hopeful our knowledge base will grow.
Some Work on Narcissism
For a good review of narcissism:
Campbell, W. K. & Foster, J. D. (2007). The Narcissistic Self: Background, an Extended Agency Model, and Ongoing Controversies. In C. Sedikides & S. Spencer (Eds.), Frontiers in social psychology: The self (pp. 115-138). Philadelphia, PA: Psychology Press.
Morf, C. C., & Rhodewalt, F. (2001). Unraveling the paradoxes of narcissism: A dynamic self-regulatory processing model. Psychological Inquiry, 12, 177-196.
For a good review of NPD:
Levy, K. N., Reynoso, J., Wasserman, R. H., & Clarkin, J. F. (2008). Narcissistic personality disorder. In W. O’Donohue & S. O. Lillenfeld (Eds.)(pp. 233-277). Sage Handbook of Personality Disorders. New York: Sage.
For work bridging narcissism and NPD:
Cain, N. M., Pincus, A. L., & Ansell, E. B. (2008). Narcissism at the crossroads: Phenotypic description of pathological narcissism across clinical theory, social/ personality psychology, and psychiatric diagnosis. Clinical Psychology Review, 28, 638-656.
Miller, J. D, Gaughan, E. T., Pryor, L. R., Kamen, C., & Campbell, W. K. (in press). Is research using the Narcissistic Personality Inventory relevant for understanding Narcissistic Personality Disorder? Journal of Research in Personality.
Miller, J. D. & Campbell, W. K. (2008). Comparing clinical and social-personality conceptualizations of narcissism. Journal of Personality, 76, 449-476.
For a good selection of psychodynamic writings:
Sandler, S. Fonagy, P., & Person, E. (Eds.) (1991). Freud’s “On Narcissism: An Introduction.” Yale University Press: New Haven.
For work on the “types” of narcissism:
Russ, E., Shedler, J., Bradley, R., & Westen, D. (2008). Refining the construct of narcissistic personality disorder: Diagnostic criteria and subtypes. American Journal of Psychiatry, 165, 1–9.
For work on the “deep down inside” issue:
Bosson, J. K., Lakey, C. E., Campbell, W. K., Zeigler-Hill, V., Jordan, C. H., & Kernis, M. H. (2008). Untangling the links between narcissism and self-esteem: A theoretical and empirical review. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2, 1415-1439.
Campbell, W. K., Bosson, J. K., Goheen, T. W., Lakey, C. E., & Kernis, M. H. (2007). Do narcissists dislike themselves “deep down inside”? Psychological Science, 18, 227-229.
