The Metamorphosis of Narcissus: Communal Activation Promotes Relationship Commitment Among Narcissists

Abstract

Three studies tested the hypotheses that the activation of communal mental representations promotes relationship commitment (communal activation hypothesis) and that this effect is stronger among narcissists than among nonnarcissists (Communal Activation × Narcissism hypothesis). Across experimental, longitudinal, and interaction-based research methods, and in participant samples ranging from college students to married couples, results supported the communal activation hypothesis in two of three studies and the Communal Activation × Narcissism hypothesis in all three studies. Moreover, a meta-analytic summary of the results across the three studies revealed that the association of communal activation with commitment was significant overall and that it was stronger among narcissists than among nonnarcissists. Narcissists tended to be less committed than nonnarcissists at low levels of communal activation, but this effect diminished and sometimes even reversed at high levels. This work is the first to identify a mechanism by which narcissists can become more committed relationship partners.

Clinical Correlates of Vulnerable and Grandiose Narcissism: A Personality Perspective

“…Second, the trifurcated model demonstrated that narcissistic antagonism is meaningfully related to and may underlie certain negative clinical outcomes, suggesting that antagonism represents a promising and relatively underspecified target for clinical intervention. As previous findings have suggested, targeting narcissistic antagonism could involve techniques designed to increase communal focus (Gilbert, 2005;Hofmann, Grossman, & Hinton, 2011), which has been found to reduce some of the deleterious consequences of narcissism (e.g., Finkel, Campbell, Buffardi, Kumashiro, & Rusbult, 2009) and cause short-term decrements to state narcissism (Giacomin & Jordan, 2014). Consistent with this approach, DBT's interpersonal effectiveness component of therapy could be useful for prioritizing goals related to maintaining positive relationships versus other goals (e.g., self-respect, getting what one wants) (Linehan, 2014).…”

Kepercayaan sebagai mediator hubungan keintiman dan komitmen terhadap pemaafan

“…Komitmen. Skala komitmen (commitment measures) dari Rusbult (Finkel, Campbell, Buffardi, Kumashiro, & Rusbult, 2009;Finkel, Rusbult, Kumashiro, & Hannon, 2002;Rusbult, Martz, & Agnew, 1998), Skala yang terdiri atas 8 aitem didasarkan pada tiga komponen komitmen, yaitu niat untuk bertahan, kepentingan pribadi atau kelekatan psikologis, dan orientasi jangka panjang. Koefisien reliabilitas (α) pada skala komitmen diperoleh sebesar 0,652.…”

Narcissism and newlywed marriage: Partner characteristics and marital trajectories.

“…For example, Foster, Shrira, and Campbell (2006) showed that the low levels of relationship commitment that characterize narcissistic individuals is linked to overvaluing agentic aspects of relationships (e.g., physical enjoyment) and undervaluing communal aspects (e.g., emotional connections). Nonetheless, some marriage data have revealed that narcissism predicts higher satisfaction and commitment, but only in cases where narcissistic individuals report high self-esteem (Sedikides, Rudich, Gregg, Kumashiro, & Rusbult, 2004) and communal feelings for the partner (Finkel, Campbell, Buffardi, Kumashiro, & Rusbult, 2009). …”