Exploring the structure of narcissism: Toward an integrated solution

Abstract

Objective Despite decades of work on narcissism, there remain many active areas of exploration and debate including a clear and consensual description of its underlying components. Understanding narcissism's factor structure is necessary for the precise measurement and investigation of specific psychological and behavioral processes. The aim of the current study was to explore the structure of narcissism by examining it at varying hierarchical levels. Method Participants recruited from Amazon's Mechanical Turk (N = 591) completed 303 narcissism items encompassing 46 narcissism scales and subscales. Criterion variables measuring the five‐factor model, self‐esteem, aggression, and externalizing behavior were also collected. Results A series of factor analyses reveal the factor structure of narcissism at a range of specificities. No more than five meaningful factors (i.e., Grandiosity, Neuroticism, Antagonism, Distrustful Self‐reliance, Attention‐seeking) were identified and the most parsimonious model appears to be a three‐factor structure. Narcissism scales that effectively capture each of the identified factors are identified. Factors diverged in their associations with criterion variables. Conclusions A three‐factor model (i.e., Agentic Extraversion, Narcissistic Neuroticism, Self‐centered Antagonism) seems to be the most parsimonious conceptualization. Larger factor solutions are discussed, but future research will be necessary to determine the value of these increasingly narrow factors.

Measurement invariance of three narcissism questionnaires across the US, the UK, and Germany

“…These different perspectives have led to a number of different questionnaires with heterogeneous narcissistic content. More recent research across traditions and measurement instruments shows that a three-dimensional distinction of agentic, antagonistic, and neurotic narcissism is more appropriate and allows one to disentangle functionally distinct aspects of narcissism with different correlates and outcomes (Back, 2018;Back & Morf, in press;Crowe, Lynam, Campbell, & Miller, 2019;Krizan & Herlache, 2018;Miller et al, 2016). Here, we focus on three questionnaires that collectively capture all relevant narcissistic aspects: the NPI, the NARQ, and the Pathological Narcissism Inventory (PNI).…”

Climbing the corporate ladder and within-person changes in narcissism: Reciprocal relationships over two decades

“…Specifically, by using the FFM narcissistic count score, our analyses treated narcissism as a unitary construct, which is common in applied psychology. However, more recent work in personality and social psychology makes a distinction between more agentic/extraverted and more antagonistic/disagreeable aspects of grandiose narcissism (e.g., Back, 2018;Back et al, 2013; also see Crowe, Lynam, Campbell, & Miller, 2019;Krizan & Herlache, 2018;Wright & Edershile, 2018). It remains to be examined to which extent these facets of narcissism also have distinct career-related outcomes and different developmental determinants.…”

As cold as a fish? Relationships between the Dark Triad personality traits and affective experience during the day: A day reconstruction study

“…In the Narcissism Spectrum Model [62], the following dimensions of narcissism are distinguished: entitled self-importance, which is the main characteristics of narcissism, and the two nearly orthogonal factors-narcissistic grandiosity and narcissistic vulnerability. In turn, the Trifurcated Model of Narcissism [63,64] proposes such dimensions as agentic extraversion, narcissistic neuroticism and self-centered antagonism (the "core" of narcissism). Despite the differences in the names of components of narcissism, the integrative models of narcissism seem congruent [64].…”

“…In turn, the Trifurcated Model of Narcissism [63,64] proposes such dimensions as agentic extraversion, narcissistic neuroticism and self-centered antagonism (the "core" of narcissism). Despite the differences in the names of components of narcissism, the integrative models of narcissism seem congruent [64]. Both models have received empirical support [61,65,66].…”

“…In the present study, the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI-13) [67,68,64] total score was used to assess grandiose narcissism and the Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale (HSNS) [57] was applied to measure vulnerable narcissism. Both questionnaires can be considered valid measures of narcissistic grandiosity and vulnerability, respectively [59,69].…”