The Association Between Vulnerable/Grandiose Narcissism and Emotion Regulation

Summary & key facts

This study tested 60 healthy adults (30 women, 30 men) to see how two types of narcissism — vulnerable and grandiose — relate to emotion regulation. Researchers used questionnaires and an experiment where people saw happy or sad faces and either reacted naturally or used a regulation strategy (reappraisal). They found no link between either narcissism type and actual emotion-regulation ability in the task. But people higher in vulnerable narcissism reported using suppression (holding back emotions) more often and had more depressive symptoms and anhedonia. Grandiose narcissism was not linked to depression and was tied to avoiding suppression of positive emotions and not showing uncontrolled

Key facts:

• The study tested 60 healthy adults: 30 women and 30 men.
• Emotion regulation was measured with self-report questionnaires and an experimental task that showed happy and sad faces and asked participants to either react naturally or use cognitive reappraisal.
• Neither grandiose nor vulnerable narcissism was related to emotion-regulation ability on the experimental task; this result was the same for men and women.
• Higher vulnerable narcissism scores were linked to more frequent use of suppression (a strategy of holding back feelings).
• Vulnerable narcissism correlated positively with depressive symptoms and anhedonia; grandiose narcissism did not show this correlation.
• Grandiose narcissism was associated with avoiding suppression of positive emotions and not expressing negative emotions in an uncontrolled way.
• The sample included only healthy individuals and focused mainly on reappraisal and suppression, so findings may not apply to clinical or pathological forms of narcissism.

Abstract

Narcissism has been widely discussed in the context of career success and leadership. Besides several adaptive traits, narcissism has been characterized by difficulties in emotion regulation. However, despite its essential role in mental health, there is little research on emotion regulation processes in narcissism. Specifically, the investigation of not only the habitual use of specific regulation strategies but also the actual ability to regulate is needed due to diverging implications for treatment approaches. Thereby it is important to differentiate between vulnerable and grandiose narcissism as these two phenotypes might be related differently to regulation deficits. The aim of this study was to examine the association between grandiose and vulnerable narcissism and emotion regulation in healthy individuals (30f/30m) focusing on the strategy reappraisal. Additionally, potential sex effects have been explored. Narcissism was assessed using self-report measures and emotion regulation with self-report questionnaires as well as an experimental regulation task. During this task, participants were presented with pictures of sad/happy faces with the instruction to indicate their subjective emotions via button press. Depending on the condition, participants either indicated their natural response or applied cognitive control strategies to regulate their own subjective emotions. Results indicate no relationship between grandiose and vulnerable narcissism and emotion regulation ability, irrespective of sex. Individuals high on vulnerable narcissism use the maladaptive regulation strategy suppression more frequently than individuals with low expressions. Individuals high on grandiose narcissism, in contrast, seem to avoid the suppression of positive emotions and do not express negative emotions in an uncontrolled manner. Interestingly, while grandiose narcissism was not associated with depressive symptoms, vulnerable narcissism correlated positively with depressive symptoms and anhedonia. Findings of this study underline the need to differentiate between grandiose and vulnerable manifestations of narcissism. Against our expectation, narcissism was not related to emotion regulation performance. In line with previous research, grandiose narcissism seems less harmful for mental health, while vulnerable narcissism is associated with psychological problems and the use of rather maladaptive emotion regulation strategies, i.e., suppression. Future research should investigate the relationship between pathological narcissism and emotion regulation also by extending the scope to other relevant regulation strategies.

Topics

Emotional Intelligence and Performance Personality Disorders and Psychopathology Personality Traits and Psychology

Categories

Clinical Psychology Psychology Social Sciences

Tags

Association (psychology) Biology Cognitive psychology Context (archaeology) Developmental psychology Economics Management Narcissism Paleontology Psychology Psychotherapist Social psychology Task (project management)

Conditions & symptoms

Depression Sadness or low mood