Untangling the Links between Narcissism and Self‐esteem: A Theoretical and Empirical Review

Abstract

The links among narcissism, explicit (deliberate, controllable) self‐esteem, and implicit (automatic, uncontrollable) self‐esteem are unclear despite numerous attempts to illuminate these links. Some investigations suggest that narcissism reflects high explicit self‐esteem that masks low implicit self‐esteem, but other investigations fail to replicate this pattern. Here, we place the ‘mask’ model of narcissism in historical context and review the existing empirical evidence for this model. We then discuss three possible issues that might shed light on the inconsistent findings that have emerged from tests of the mask model. These issues include the unreliability of implicit attitude measures, narcissism's different associations with agentic versus communal self‐views, and distinctions between grandiose and vulnerable narcissism subtypes. We also summarize several alternatives to the mask model of narcissism. Throughout, we offer suggestions for improving the study of narcissism and self‐esteem and point to directions for future research on this topic.

Issues resolved and unresolved in pathological narcissism

“…Some such research exists, although it has largely focused on self-esteem instability [48][49] or focused solely on grandiosity [50].…”

Reflection and Impulse as Determinants of Human Behavior

“…One direct prediction based on psychodynamic theory concerns narcissism. The mask model of narcissism assumes that narcissistic individuals are characterized by deep self-doubt (corresponding to low implicit self-esteem), which they compensate for by projecting grandiose self-views (corresponding to extremely high explicit self-esteem) (Bosson et al, 2008 ). Empirical evidence supporting this model has remained mixed, however, perhaps partly because of the relative unreliability of measures of implicit self-esteem (Bosson et al, 2000 ).…”

The SPOT Effect: People Spontaneously Prefer their Own Theories

“…On the other hand, observed correlations are sometimes unexpectedly small. For example, various studies have found that the correlation between name letter preferences and narcissism ranges from r = -.08 to r = 0.17 (Bosson et al, 2008), possibly due to psychometric or other defects in the measurement of the former (Hoorens, 2014). Consequently, our expectations here were tentative.…”