The Handbook of Narcissism and Narcissistic Personality Disorder

Theoretical Approaches, Empirical Findings, and Treatments

W. Keith Campbell, Joshua D. Miller

• Publisher: Wiley
• Year: 2011
• ISBN:
  9781118029268
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Personality in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

The Handbook of Narcissism and Narcissistic Personality Disorder isthe definitive resource for empirically sound information on narcissism for researchers, students, and clinicians at a time when this personality disorder has become a particularly relevant area of interest. This unique work deepens understanding of how narcissistic behavior influencesbehavior and impedes progress in the worlds of work, relationships, and politics.

SECTION V
INTRA- AND INTERPERSONAL PROCESSES

Chapter 25
GETTING TO KNOW A NARCISSIST INSIDE AND OUT

Erika N. Carlson, Laura P. Naumann, and Simine Vazire

How do narcissists see themselves, what do we see when we meet a narcissist, and can we spot a narcissist upon first meeting one? The goal of this chapter is to explore the full portrait of a narcissist by taking a novel, multiple perspectives approach. Specifically, we examine narcissism from three perspectives: (1) self-perceptions (i.e., how do narcissists see themselves?), (2) others’ perceptions (i.e., what do others actually think of narcissists?), and (3) meta-perceptions (i.e., how do narcissists think others see them?). In doing so, we demonstrate the importance of including multiple perspectives when examining the manifestations of narcissism.

We first summarize relevant studies that examine each perspective and then we present data from a single study that demonstrates how to incorporate each of the three perspectives across multiple social contexts. This multiple perspective approach allows us to examine whether these three types of perceptions change over time and across different social contexts. For example, do narcissists make different impressions over the course of acquaintanceship, and if so, do they understand that the impression they make changes as relationships progress? By examining these three perspectives in multiple contexts, we can capture a cross-sectional snapshot of a narcissist from the inside and out.

SELF-PERCEPTIONS: HOW DO NARCISSISTS SEE THEMSELVES?

One consistent finding in the literature is that narcissists perceive themselves as highly agentic rather than communal, rating themselves as more intelligent, extraverted, and open to experience, but not more agreeable or moral, than the average person (Campbell, Rudich, & Sedikides, 2002). Narcissists’ agentic self-views are also evident at an implicit level, suggesting that their agentic orientation is deep-seated (Campbell, Bosson, Goheen, Lakey, & Kernis, 2007). Their focus on agentic rather than communal traits is consistent with the theory that narcissists would rather be admired than liked (Raskin, Novacek, & Hogan, 1991). Perhaps their quest for admiration explains why they self-enhance, or overestimate traits like intelligence, dominance, attractiveness, and emotional stability. Narcissists tend to self-enhance on ability measures more broadly, including interpersonal perception abilities (Ames & Kammrath, 2004; Bleske-Rechek, Remiker, & Baker, 2008; Campbell et al., 2002; Farwell & Wohlwend-Lloyd, 1998; Gabriel, Critelli, & Ee, 1994; Paulhus, Harms, Bruce, & Levy, 2003; Paulhus & John, 1998; Paulhus & Williams, 2002).

Self-perceptions of narcissists are particularly inflated when it comes to assessing their performance. After taking part in performance-based group activities, narcissists often overestimate the frequency of their socially desirable behaviors (Gosling, John, Craik, & Robins, 1998), overestimate their performance as compared to their peers or objective observers (John & Robins, 1994), and continue to overestimate their performance even when given the opportunity to view a videotape of the interaction (i.e., despite relatively objective feedback; Robins & John, 1997). Narcissists and self-enhancers thrive on performance activities (i.e., they experience strong positive affect afterwards), they are often highly invested in performance tasks, and they believe that their success is due to their own qualities (e.g., intellectual abilities; Robins & Beer, 2001). Perhaps it is the personal significance of these performance activities that motivates narcissists to ignore feedback that would lead them to make more accurate judgments of their performance. In short, narcissists have positive self-views, particularly in agentic or performance-related domains.

OTHERS’ PERCEPTIONS: HOW ARE NARCISSISTS SEEN BY OTHERS?

Do people know when they have met a narcissist? Recent work suggests that narcissists provide several cues that reveal their level of narcissism. For example, after viewing a 30-second video clip of a person having a conversation, raters’ perceptions of the target’s narcissistic traits (e.g., high and mighty) were associated with the target’s pathological levels of narcissism (Friedman, Oltmanns, & Turkheimer, 2007). People are even able to detect narcissism in zero-acquaintance situations. For instance, raters were able to detect narcissistic traits simply by viewing a person’s Facebook page (Buffardi & Campbell, 2008), a photograph of them (Vazire, Naumann, Rentfrow, & Gosling, 2008), or even their e-mail address (Back, Schmukle, & Egloff, 2008).

Thus, it appears that narcissists do provide cues from the beginning that strangers or observers are able to detect. Arguably, these cues might be somewhat intentional, designed to facilitate the narcissist’s pursuit of admiration and power (Vazire et al., 2008). Researchers have identified several of these cues, which include things like self-enhancing, sexual, and flashy messages. Salacious and self-enhancing e-mail names (Back et al., 2008), self-promoting references and sexual photographs on Facebook (Buffardi & Campbell, 2008), and expensive, flashy dress along with relatively dressed up hairstyles are just a few examples of cues that observers use to form impressions about a person’s level of narcissism (Vazire et al., 2008).

Clearly, narcissists see themselves as worthy of admiration, but do others actually view them in this way? The positivity of the impressions narcissists elicit in others seems to fluctuate quite a bit based on exposure to and type of information available. In some cases, the first impressions narcissists make can be negative. For example, self-enhancers who debated a partner on important social issues were seen negatively by coders who watched the videotape (e.g., as acting irritable, expressing hostility, bragging, and showing little interest in what a partner had to say; Colvin, Block, & Funder, 1995). This finding may be due to the fact that a debate likely brings out the less appealing, more competitive side of narcissists.

If observers merely see the narcissists’ photographs, e-mail addresses, or Facebook pages, their impressions tend to be accurate (i.e., they see narcissists as narcissistic), and not overly positive while not explicitly negative either (Back et al., 2008; Buffardi & Campbell, 2008; Vazire et al., 2008). However, if observers have a chance to watch the narcissists behave in naturalistic settings, they typically perceive narcissists as physically attractive, likeable, effective, extraverted, and open to experience (Back, Egloff, & Schmukle, 2010; Friedman, Oltmanns, Gleeson, & Turkheimer, 2006; Holtzman & Strube, 2010; Oltmanns, Friedman, Fiedler, & Turkheimer, 2004; Paulhus, 1998).

In less competitive, more informal situations, narcissists might start off making a positive first impression; however, others’ positive first impressions are not permanent. Over time, people begin to notice the dark side of a narcissist. Paulhus (1998) found that narcissists and self-enhancers, who were initially seen positively in a first meeting, were later seen by their group members as performing poorly in the group, as less agreeable, less warm, less well-adjusted, and as more hostile and arrogant than non-narcissists. Studies examining self-enhancement (a tendency that is strongly associated with narcissism) find that self-enhancers also make negative impressions over time. After 3 months of interaction, acquaintances rated self-enhancers in less socially desirable ways and said they performed more poorly on the interaction tasks (Kwan, John, Kenny, Bond, & Robins, 2004; Kwan, John, Robins, & Kuang, 2008). People even hold negative perceptions of their self-enhancing friends, describing them as expressing hostility toward others, condescending in relations to others, overreacting to minor frustrations, and being manipulative and deceitful (Colvin et al., 1995).

META-PERCEPTIONS: WHAT KIND OF IMPRESSION DO NARCISSISTS THINK THEY MAKE?

Narcissists are known for self-enhancement, but do they believe others share their inflated self-views? Research has shown that narcissists overestimate the frequency of their own socially desirable behavior (e.g., “I took charge of things at the meeting” and “I made an argument that changed another person’s mind”; Gosling et al., 1998), suggesting that they might assume that others observe their socially desirable behavior and see them in a positive light as well. However, recent research has shown that while narcissists rate their performance in a group more positively then do their peers, they evaluate themselves more positively than they think their peers view them (Robins & Beer, 2001). In other words, it appears that narcissists do not simply assume that others see them as they see themselves. This finding is interesting because narcissists somehow maintain their overly positive self-perceptions even when they realize that others do not share their self-perceptions. Robins and Beer suggest that perhaps narcissists maintain their overly positive self-views by derogating others and discounting their negative perceptions. As they point out, one item often endorsed by narcissists on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI; Raskin & Terry, 1988) is “sometimes my talents are not recognized,” suggesting that narcissists might hold on to unrealistic self-views by simply discounting others’ views. This conclusion is consistent with previous work showing that narcissists perceive evaluators as less competent and likeable and rate the evaluation technique itself as less diagnostic when they receive negative feedback (Kernis & Sun, 1994). Thus, narcissists can acknowledge that others see them less positively, but can choose to disregard the feedback because they question the competency of those who judge them.

Surprisingly, there is some evidence that narcissists know that others see them as narcissistic. For example, after several weeks of training, military recruits rated each other on personality pathology characteristics and estimated how they were seen by their peers on the same traits. Those who were nominated as being relatively narcissistic believed that their peers...