PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY AND MENTAL HEALTH Bobby Horton, Ph.D. Wabash College

This is just too easy…..

MY PLAN  Discuss clinical and personality psych conceptions of narcissism  Discuss what personality psychologists have learned about narcissism  Describe a study that assesses the link between narcissism and subjective well-being

UNDERSTANDING NARCISSISM

NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER  Has Grandiose Sense of Self-Importance  Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love  Believes that he or she is special and unique  Requires excessive admiration  Has strong sense of entitlement  Is exploitative of others  Lacks empathy  Is envious of others  Regularly shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes

NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY INVENTORY  1) I have a natural talent for influencing people I am not good at influencing people  2) Modesty doesn’t become me I am essentially a modest person  3) I would do almost anything on a dare I tend to be a fairly cautious person  4) The thought of ruling the world frightens the hell out of me. If I ruled the world, it would be a better place.  5)I can usually talk my way out of anything. I try to accept the consequences of my behavior.

Narcissism Arrogant behavior Inflated self-beliefs Selfishness Assertiveness Focus on superiority Entitlement

A PERSONALITY VIEW OF NARCISSISM  Normally distributed personality trait  Predictive of behavior

+ Parental overvaluation/ warmth + Game-like love style; - forgiveness + Self-serving attributional bias + Illusions of the self - Neuroticism + Extraversion - Agreeableness

NPD  Has Grandiose Sense of Self-Importance  Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love  Believes that he or she is special and unique  Requires excessive admiration  Has strong sense of entitlement  Is exploitative of others  Lacks empathy  Is envious of others  Regularly shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes

Grandiose Narcissism Selfishness Assertiveness Inflated self-beliefs Focus on superiority Emotional Stability Entitlement Vulnerable narcissism Selfishness Anxiety Defensiveness Focus on adequacy Emotional Instability Entitlement

ASSESSING VULNERABLE NARCISSISM  I am disappointed when others don’t notice me.  I need others to acknowledge me.  I hate asking for help.  I can’t stand relying on other people because it makes me feel weak.  I sometimes feel ashamed about my expectations of others when they disappoint me.  When others disappoint me, I often get angry at myself.

- Extraversion + Neuroticism - Agreeableness -/0 self- esteem + Reactive hostility/narcissistic rage + Social Dependence + Parental Psychological Control/ Emotional Manipulation

SUMMING UP JUST A BIT  Narcissism is not just ‘GRANDIOSITY’ but also a related, but distinct, dimension of ‘VULNERABILITY’  Related to distinct personality and interpersonal profiles/behavior  These are two DIMENSIONS of narcissism, some of which everyone has, not two types of people you could be.

SOME NEW RESEARCH ON THESE TWO DIMENSIONS OF NARCISSISM….  How do the different dimensions of narcissism relate to subjective well- being, both solely and when interacting with life situations?

WHY THIS PROJECT?  Exploring personality and mental health  Expanding the literature linking GN to SWB (e.g., Egan, Chan, & Shorter, 2014; Zuckerman & O’Loughlin, 2009)  Additional test of GN/VN distinction

WHAT DID WE DO?  Participants  388 M-Turk workers  87% White, 62% older than 30, 55% made less than $50K/year  Measures  Narcissism: NPI (Raskin and Terry, 1988); PNI (Pincus, et al, 2009)  Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener, et al., 1985)  Meaning in Life questionnaire (Steger et al., 2006)

LIFE SATISFACTION ____ 1. In most ways my life is close to my ideal. ____ 2. The conditions of my life are excellent. ____ 3. I am satisfied with my life. ____ 4. So far I have gotten the important things I want in life. ____ 5. If I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing. Diener, et al., Strongly disagree DisagreeSlightly DisagreeNeither agree nor disagree Slightly agreeAgreeStrongly agree

MEANING IN LIFE  the sense made of, and significance felt regarding, the nature of one’s being and existence” (Steger et al., 2006, p. 81).  1. ____ I understand my life’s meaning.  2. ____ I am looking for something that makes my life feel meaningful.  3. ____ I am always looking to find my life’s purpose.  4. ____ My life has a clear sense of purpose.

ARE GRANDIOSITY AND VULNERABILITY RELATED BUT DISTINCT?  Bivariate Correlation, r =.65**  Extreme Groups (Tripartite Split) High GrandiosityLow Grandiosity High Vulnerability7913 Low Vulnerability1281

DO THE NARCISSISM DIMENSIONS PREDICT SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING? Life SatisfactionPresence of Meaning Search for Meaning NPI.12*.19*.02 PNI-G ** PNI-V -.34**-.37**.36**

MULTIPLE REGRESSION BETAS Life Satisfaction Presence of Meaning Search for Meaning NPI * PNI-G.25**.24**.35** PNI-V -.51**-.52**.14*

INTERACTIVE PREDICTOR OF SWB?

Self-focused nature of narcissism should render children a less positive (or even negative) force on well-being

Life SatisfactionPresence of Meaning Search for Meaning Having kids.21**.25**-.15** 163 participants with kids 209 without kids

*** This interaction was observed for both NPI and PNI- G and for both life satisfaction and presence of meaning in life

SUMMING IT UP….  Vulnerability and Grandiosity predict SWB differently  Vulnerability = highly and consistently negative  Grandiosity = positive, but…  Grandiose narcissism interacts with life circumstances to predict view of life  High GN allows one to extract less satisfaction/meaning from parenting

WHAT DOES IT MEAN?  Narcissism is a multidimensional construct whose dimensions are unique in their affective flavor and in their potency to overwhelm (or resist) the impact of life events  Vulnerable narcissism is particularly problematic with Grandiose narcissism being somewhat less so.

MORE BROADLY….  Personality can help us understand how a person views their life, how environments affect them, and, maybe, how to most effectively create environments that can help them function  And finally….