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Koskinen E, Henttonen P, Harjunen V, Krusemark E, Piispanen M, Voutilainen L, Wuolio M, Peräkylä A. Putting self at stake by telling a story: Storyteller's narcissistic traits modulate physiological emotional reactions to recipient's disengagement. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0302703. [PMID: 39190690 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0302703] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2024] [Accepted: 04/10/2024] [Indexed: 08/29/2024] Open
Abstract
Telling a story to a disengaged recipient induces stress and threatens positive self-image. In this study, we investigated whether storytellers with overly positive and fragile self-images (e.g., individuals with grandiose and vulnerable narcissism) would show heightened behavioral, emotional, and psychophysiological reactivity to recipient disengagement.Building on Bavelas, Coates, and Johnson [1] we conducted a conversational experiment instructing the participants to tell about a "close call" experience to a previously unknown co-participant. We modified the co-participant's level of interactional engagement by asking them either to listen to the story carefully or to simultaneously carry out a counting task that distracted them from the content of the story. We found that the distraction condition was unrelated to the storytellers' narration performance, but a significant positive association was found between the story-recipients' observed lack of affiliation and the tellers' narration performance. The distraction of recipients was also associated with increased self-reported arousal in the tellers, indicating disengagement-induced stress in the tellers. Moreover, tellers higher in grandiose narcissism reacted with higher skin conductance response to disengagement, and vulnerable narcissism was associated with higher heart rate during narration in general. Our experiment thus showed that grandiose narcissists are emotionally sensitive to their co-participants' disengagement.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emmi Koskinen
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Pentti Henttonen
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Helsinki Institute for Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Ville Harjunen
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | | | - Matias Piispanen
- Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland
| | - Liisa Voutilainen
- School of Educational Sciences and Psychology, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland
| | - Mariel Wuolio
- Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Anssi Peräkylä
- Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
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Borráz-León JI, Spreitzer A, Scrivner C, Landers M, Lee R, Maestripieri D. Cortisol reactivity to psychosocial stress in vulnerable and grandiose narcissists: An exploratory study. Front Psychol 2023; 13:1067456. [PMID: 36687967 PMCID: PMC9852882 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1067456] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2022] [Accepted: 12/14/2022] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction Narcissistic personality manifests itself in at least two different forms: grandiose and vulnerable. In the present study, we compared cortisol and emotional responses to psychosocial stress between subjects high in vulnerable and grandiose narcissism scores, and examined possible associations between narcissism, other personality traits, and stress responses. We hypothesized that subjects with higher scores of vulnerable narcissism would show stronger emotional and physiological reactivity than those with high scores of grandiose narcissism. Methods A final sample of forty-seven participants underwent a Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), provided saliva samples to assess cortisol levels, and completed several personality questionnaires. Results Consistent with our hypothesis, subjects with higher scores of vulnerable narcissism had a stronger cortisol and emotional response than those with high scores of grandiose narcissism. Vulnerable narcissism was positively correlated with schizotypal traits, while grandiose narcissism was positively correlated with psychopathic traits. Participants with a mixed-type of narcissism were also discussed. Discussion This study provides the first evidence of differential physiological and emotional reactivity to social evaluation threat according to scores of vulnerable and grandiose narcissism. Since this is an exploratory study, the results must be interpreted with caution. However, the results will be informative for future confirmatory research with larger and more heterogeneous samples.
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Affiliation(s)
- Javier I. Borráz-León
- Institute for Mind and Biology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Alena Spreitzer
- Institute for Mind and Biology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Coltan Scrivner
- Institute for Mind and Biology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
- Department of Comparative Human Development, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Mitchell Landers
- Institute for Mind and Biology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
- Department of Psychology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Royce Lee
- Institute for Mind and Biology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Dario Maestripieri
- Institute for Mind and Biology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
- Department of Comparative Human Development, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
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West T, Mendes WB. Affect contagion: Physiologic covariation and linkage offer insight into socially shared thoughts, emotions, and experiences. ADVANCES IN EXPERIMENTAL SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/bs.aesp.2022.11.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/19/2023]
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Jauk E, Kanske P. Can neuroscience help to understand narcissism? A systematic review of an emerging field. PERSONALITY NEUROSCIENCE 2021; 4:e3. [PMID: 34124536 PMCID: PMC8170532 DOI: 10.1017/pen.2021.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2020] [Revised: 03/23/2021] [Accepted: 03/30/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Narcissism is a Janusian personality construct, associated with both grandiose self-assuredness and dominance, as well as vulnerable insecurity and reactivity. Central questions of intra- and interpersonal functioning in narcissism are still a matter of debate. Neuroscience could help to understand the paradoxical patterns of experience and behavior beyond the limitations of self-reports. We provide a systematic review of 34 neuroscience studies on grandiose, vulnerable, pathological narcissism, and Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD), spanning experimental investigations of intra- and interpersonal mechanisms, research on neurophysiological and neuroendocrine aspects of baseline function, and brain structural correlates. While neuroscience has scarcely directly studied vulnerable narcissism, grandiose narcissism is associated with heightened vigilance to ego threat and stress responses following ego threat, as well as heightened stress indicators in baseline measures. Such responses are not commonly observed in self-reports, highlighting the potential of neuroscience to augment our understanding of self-regulatory dynamics in narcissism. Interpersonal functioning is characterized by deficits in social-affective processes. Both involve altered activity within the salience network, pointing to a double dissociation regarding the expression of narcissism and self/other oriented situational focus. Findings are summarized in an integrative model providing testable hypotheses for future research along with methodological recommendations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emanuel Jauk
- Clinical Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
- Department of Psychology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria
| | - Philipp Kanske
- Clinical Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
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Zhu X, Geng Y. HERO or DT, what comes first? The causal relationship between psychological capital and dark tetrad differed. CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/s12144-021-01544-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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Brunell AB, Buelow MT, Trost Z. Narcissism and the experience of pain. PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2020.109852] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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Loeffler LAK, Huebben AK, Radke S, Habel U, Derntl B. The Association Between Vulnerable/Grandiose Narcissism and Emotion Regulation. Front Psychol 2020; 11:519330. [PMID: 33178059 PMCID: PMC7593238 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.519330] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2019] [Accepted: 09/18/2020] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
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.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leonie A K Loeffler
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany
| | - Anna K Huebben
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany
| | - Sina Radke
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany.,JARA-Institute Brain Structure Function Relationship, Research Center Jülich, RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany
| | - Ute Habel
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany.,JARA-Institute Brain Structure Function Relationship, Research Center Jülich, RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany.,Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine 10, Research Center Jülich, Jülich, Germany
| | - Birgit Derntl
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical School, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.,Werner Reichardt Center for Integrative Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.,LEAD Graduate School and Research Network, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
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Wardecker BM, Chopik WJ, LaBelle OP, Edelstein RS. Is narcissism associated with baseline cortisol in men and women? JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN PERSONALITY 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jrp.2016.07.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
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Fossati A, Somma A, Borroni S. The multidimensionality of pathological narcissism from the perspective of social ostracism: A study in a sample of Italian University students. PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2017.05.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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Zhang H, Wang Z, You X, Lü W, Luo Y. Associations between narcissism and emotion regulation difficulties: Respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity as a moderator. Biol Psychol 2015; 110:1-11. [DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2015.06.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2014] [Revised: 06/26/2015] [Accepted: 06/29/2015] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
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Cascio CN, Konrath SH, Falk EB. Narcissists' social pain seen only in the brain. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2014; 10:335-41. [PMID: 24860084 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsu072] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Narcissism is a complex phenomenon, involving a level of defensive self-enhancement. Narcissists have avoidant attachment styles, maintain distance in relationships and claim not to need others. However, they are especially sensitive to others' evaluations, needing positive reflected appraisals to maintain their inflated self-views, and showing extreme responses (e.g. aggression) when rejected. The current study tested the hypothesis that narcissists also show hypersensitivity in brain systems associated with distress during exclusion. We measured individual differences in narcissism (Narcissistic Personality Inventory) and monitored neural responses to social exclusion (Cyberball). Narcissism was significantly associated with activity in an a priori anatomically defined social pain network (anterior insula, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex) during social exclusion. Results suggest hypersensitivity to exclusion in narcissists may be a function of hypersensitivity in brain systems associated with distress, and suggests a potential pathway that connects narcissism to negative consequences for longer-term physical and mental health-findings not apparent with self-report alone.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher N Cascio
- Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, 19104, Philadelphia, PA, USA and Research Center for Group Dynamics, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, 48106, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Sara H Konrath
- Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, 19104, Philadelphia, PA, USA and Research Center for Group Dynamics, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, 48106, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Emily B Falk
- Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, 19104, Philadelphia, PA, USA and Research Center for Group Dynamics, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, 48106, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
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Abstract
Background Narcissism is characterized by grandiosity, low empathy, and entitlement. There has been limited research regarding the hormonal correlates of narcissism, despite the potential health implications. This study examined the role of participant narcissism and sex on basal cortisol concentrations in an undergraduate population. Methods and Findings Participants were 106 undergraduate students (79 females, 27 males, mean age 20.1 years) from one Midwestern and one Southwestern American university. Narcissism was assessed using the Narcissistic Personality Inventory, and basal cortisol concentrations were collected from saliva samples in a laboratory setting. Regression analyses examined the effect of narcissism and sex on cortisol (log). There were no sex differences in basal cortisol, F(1,97) = .20, p = .65, and narcissism scores, F(1,97) = .00, p = .99. Stepwise linear regression models of sex and narcissism and their interaction predicting cortisol concentrations showed no main effects when including covariates, but a significant interaction, β = .27, p = .04. Narcissism was not related to cortisol in females, but significantly predicted cortisol in males. Examining the effect of unhealthy versus healthy narcissism on cortisol found that unhealthy narcissism was marginally related to cortisol in females, β = .27, p = .06, but significantly predicted higher basal cortisol in males, β = .72, p = .01, even when controlling for potential confounds. No relationship was found between sex, narcissism, or their interaction on self-reported stress. Conclusions Our findings suggest that the HPA axis is chronically activated in males with unhealthy narcissism. This constant activation of the HPA axis may have important health implications.
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Silvestrini N, Gendolla GHE. Masked affective stimuli moderate task difficulty effects on effort-related cardiovascular response. Psychophysiology 2011; 48:1157-64. [PMID: 21457273 DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2011.01181.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
This experiment investigated the combined effect of masked affective stimuli and task difficulty on effort-related cardiovascular response. Cardiovascular reactivity (ICG, blood pressure) was recorded during a baseline period and performance of an easy or difficult attention task in which participants were exposed to masked sad vs. happy facial expressions. As expected, participants in the sad-faces/easy and happy-faces/difficult conditions showed stronger sympathetic nervous system discharge to the heart and vasculature--shorter preejection period, higher systolic blood pressure--indicating more effort than participants in the sad-faces/difficult and happy-faces/easy conditions. Total peripheral resistance reacted similarly as preejection period and systolic blood pressure. The findings are compatible with the effects of consciously experienced affect on effort-related cardiovascular response.
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Sommer KL, Kirkland KL, Newman SR, Estrella P, Andreassi JL. Narcissism and Cardiovascular Reactivity to Rejection Imagery. JOURNAL OF APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 2009. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2009.00473.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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Sylvers P, Brubaker N, Alden SA, Brennan PA, Lilienfeld SO. Differential endophenotypic markers of narcissistic and antisocial personality features: A psychophysiological investigation. JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN PERSONALITY 2008. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jrp.2008.03.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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Kreibig SD, Wilhelm FH, Roth WT, Gross JJ. Cardiovascular, electrodermal, and respiratory response patterns to fear- and sadness-inducing films. Psychophysiology 2007; 44:787-806. [PMID: 17598878 DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2007.00550.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 233] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Responses to fear- and sadness-inducing films were assessed using a broad range of cardiovascular (heart rate, T-wave amplitude, low- and high-frequency heart rate variability, stroke volume, preejection period, left-ventricular ejection time, Heather index, blood pressure, pulse amplitude and transit time, and finger temperature), electrodermal (level, response rate, and response amplitude), and respiratory (rate, tidal volume and its variability, inspiratory flow rate, duty cycle, and end-tidal pCO(2)) measures. Subjective emotional experience and facial behavior (Corrugator Supercilii and Zygomaticus Major EMG) served as control measures. Results indicated robust differential physiological response patterns for fear, sadness, and neutral (mean classification accuracy 85%). Findings are discussed in terms of the fight-flight and conservation-withdrawal responses and possible limitations of a valence-arousal categorization of emotion in affective space.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sylvia D Kreibig
- Department of Psychology, Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
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