Objective: Psychoanalytic theories describe narcissists as characterized by a grandiose self, but underlying feelings of shame. However, empirical findings show inconsistent associations between narcissism and shame, also because most studies focused mainly on grandiose overt narcissism, neglecting vulnerable narcissism. Shame experiences usually result from a stable negative evaluation of the self, which has shown to be often associated with vulnerable but not with grandiose narcissism. The aim of the present study is to investigate the relationship between both grandiose and vulnerable narcissistic traits with shame feelings. In particular, we tested whether explicit agentic and communal self-views might explain such relationship. Methods: A community sample of adults (N = 367, Mage = 33.67, SD = 13.62) completed the Personal Feelings Questionnaire-2 for the assessment of shame-proneness, the Five-Factor Nacisssism Inventory – Short Form for the assessment of grandiose and vulnerable narcissistic traits, and an adjective-based measure of explicit self-view in both agentic and communal domains, adapted from Campbell, Bosson, Goheen, Lakey, & Kernis (2007). A mediation model was conducted to test whether narcissistic traits were associated with shame-proneness, and whether self-views in agentic and communal domains mediated this association. Analyses were run controlling for gender and guilt-proneness. Results: Results showed that vulnerable narcissistic traits were positively related to shame-proneness, and negatively related to both agentic and communal self-views. Moreover, the relationship between vulnerable narcissistic traits and shame-proneness was partially mediated by agentic self-view, but not by communal self-view. The higher vulnerable narcissism the less agentic self-view, and the less agentic self-view the higher shame proneness. Finally, grandiose narcissistic traits showed to be positively associated with agentic self-view, and no significant association was found with shame-proneness. Conclusions: Individuals high in vulnerable narcissism, but not individuals high in grandiose narcissism, may be particularly prone to feel ashamed because of their negative agentic self-views.

Di Sarno, M., Madeddu, F., Di Pierro, R. (2018). Narcissism and shame-proneness: The mediating role of agentic self-views. Intervento presentato a: 5th International Congress on Borderline Personality Disorder and allied disorders, Sitges/Barcelona, Spain.

Narcissism and shame-proneness: The mediating role of agentic self-views

Di Sarno, M;Madeddu, F;Di Pierro, R
2018

Abstract

Objective: Psychoanalytic theories describe narcissists as characterized by a grandiose self, but underlying feelings of shame. However, empirical findings show inconsistent associations between narcissism and shame, also because most studies focused mainly on grandiose overt narcissism, neglecting vulnerable narcissism. Shame experiences usually result from a stable negative evaluation of the self, which has shown to be often associated with vulnerable but not with grandiose narcissism. The aim of the present study is to investigate the relationship between both grandiose and vulnerable narcissistic traits with shame feelings. In particular, we tested whether explicit agentic and communal self-views might explain such relationship. Methods: A community sample of adults (N = 367, Mage = 33.67, SD = 13.62) completed the Personal Feelings Questionnaire-2 for the assessment of shame-proneness, the Five-Factor Nacisssism Inventory – Short Form for the assessment of grandiose and vulnerable narcissistic traits, and an adjective-based measure of explicit self-view in both agentic and communal domains, adapted from Campbell, Bosson, Goheen, Lakey, & Kernis (2007). A mediation model was conducted to test whether narcissistic traits were associated with shame-proneness, and whether self-views in agentic and communal domains mediated this association. Analyses were run controlling for gender and guilt-proneness. Results: Results showed that vulnerable narcissistic traits were positively related to shame-proneness, and negatively related to both agentic and communal self-views. Moreover, the relationship between vulnerable narcissistic traits and shame-proneness was partially mediated by agentic self-view, but not by communal self-view. The higher vulnerable narcissism the less agentic self-view, and the less agentic self-view the higher shame proneness. Finally, grandiose narcissistic traits showed to be positively associated with agentic self-view, and no significant association was found with shame-proneness. Conclusions: Individuals high in vulnerable narcissism, but not individuals high in grandiose narcissism, may be particularly prone to feel ashamed because of their negative agentic self-views.
abstract + slide
Narcissism, shame-proneness, self-view
English
5th International Congress on Borderline Personality Disorder and allied disorders
2018
2018
none
Di Sarno, M., Madeddu, F., Di Pierro, R. (2018). Narcissism and shame-proneness: The mediating role of agentic self-views. Intervento presentato a: 5th International Congress on Borderline Personality Disorder and allied disorders, Sitges/Barcelona, Spain.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10281/207383
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