What Is the Connection Between Narcissism and Self-Esteem?

Narcissism is rooted in the Greek mythical character Narciccus, a legendary beautiful boy who died of craving for his own water reflection. Modern psychology believes that narcissism is a combination of cognition, emotion, and behavior, which collectively conveys exaggerated, positive, and unique self-concepts. It mainly contains three components: one is to exaggerate the positive self-concept; the other is to Self-regulation strategies adopted to maintain this positive self-concept; Third, interpersonal relationships with low empathy and low intimacy. ^[1]

In 1898 and 1899, psychiatrists Erich and Nak first borrowed the term Narcissim to summarize pathological narcissism. In 1914, Freud systematically discussed narcissism for the first time in On Narcissism and incorporated narcissism into the field of psychoanalysis, which led to theoretical and clinical research on narcissism.

Cooper, Ronningstan (1992), Kernberg (1975), Lash (1979) and other narcissist theorists emphasize that narcissism is associated with psychological maladjustment and pain; Kohut (1977), Rhoodewalt, Morf (1998, 1995), Watson, Hickman Morris (1996), Wat-son, Little, Sawrie, and Biderman (1992) and others emphasized that narcissism is linked to psychological well-being and health. These differences are also reflected in the narcissistic measurement tools. A series of studies found that the measurement results of the most widely used NPI and NPDS are inversely related to mental health. NPI and mental health are positively related, while another scale, NPDS, is negatively related to mental health, and there is a lack of correlation between the two scales. . Even within the same questionnaire, some factors were positively related to health status, while others were positively related to inadequacy. Emmons (1984, 1987) found that the NPI scale's desire / authority, superiority / arrogance, and self-Absorption / Self-Admira-tion are related to positive mental health and a sense of privilege ( Exploitative-ness / Entitlement) is related to maladaptiveness. After controlling the sense of privilege (Exploitativeness / Entitlement), the correlation between NPI and self-esteem and adaptability improved (1996, 1993).

Most previous studies aimed to show that the performance of narcissists is contrary to social expectations, that is, most research conclusions tend to link narcissism with negative social behavior results, such as narcissism is prone to decision bias and false Interpersonal relationships, etc. However, a few studies have found the positive functions of narcissism, such as extroversion, self-confidence, easy to cope with stress, and when quick decision-making is needed, the narcissistic impulsivity often helps problem solving (eg., Foster & Trim, 2008). WK Campbell and SM Campbell (2009) 's context-enhancing model states that narcissists' positive self-concepts, emotions, and self-enhancement are conducive to their behavioral performance, such as in the early stages of interpersonal relationships (such as early love), in new leadership positions Narcissists perform well in emergency situations, in the face of negative feedback, and in public. Corr (2004) also proposed that the approaching motivational behavior of narcissists is often planned and constrained, while previous research has focused on their impulsive behaviors and did not distinguish the two, leading to certain conclusions. One-sidedness.

Kohut (1971) believed that the function of narcissism in psychological development will determine its nature, and proposed that mature narcissism manifested as humor and creativity with positive and positive values. Other studies have shown (Todd & Gigerenzer, 2003; Foxon, 2006) that decision bias and heuristics are a fast and concise strategy for adapting to the environment when cognitive resources are limited. From this point of view, the narcissist's impulsivity, decision bias, and risky decision-making may have important adaptive values and functions. Johnson and Fowler (2011) used the Evolutionary Model to study a trait highly related to narcissism-overconfidence-and found that overconfidence can motivate individuals' ambitions and enhance individual morale, determination, and perseverance , Maximize the individual's adaptability, so it is preserved in the process of evolution. From an evolutionary perspective, narcissism may have a positive adaptive function and value, but empirical research in this area is still rare, and it is necessary to deepen the research and exploration of the positive function of narcissism in combination with different behavioral fields. ^[3]

In the research of narcissism, the measurement methods of scale and questionnaire are generally used. There are three main sources of narcissism measurement tools: the diagnostic criteria for narcissistic symptoms (DSM), clinical diagnosis, and the Minnesota Multiphase Personality Measurement (MMPI) temperament table. Some scales have a positive correlation with mental health, while others have a positive correlation with inadaptability.

Narcissistic Complex Narcissistic Personality Questionnaire

Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) is a scale developed by Rskin, Hall (1979) based on the DSM-III standard for narcissistic personality disorder, and contains 54 items. Non-narcissistic choice. Emmons (1984, 1987) used the principal component analysis method of oblique cross to extract four factors: Lesdership / Authority, Superiority / Arrogance, Self-Absorption / Self-Admiration, and Privilege (Exploitativeness / Entitlement), Cronbach coefficients LA = 0.69, SA = 0.70, SS = 0.81, EE = 0.68, and 37 items were retained in the end. EE is mainly related to unsuitable behavior, psychological morbidity and unreasonable beliefs, and LA factor is a form of narcissistic adaptation. The entire scale is related to the selfishness scale. Emmons believes that the selfishness scale measures normal cognitive narcissism. Raskin, Terry (1988) revised this scale to retain 40 items. According to DSM-III, there are 8 dimensions to narcissistic personality disorder. They tried to extract 8 components, and finally extracted 7 factors (Authority, Exhibition, Superriori-ty, Entitlement, Exploitiveness, Self-Sufficiency, Van-ity) with an interpretation rate of 52%. In actual research, four models are better than seven models. In 2004, Kubarych, Deary, and Austin explored and verified factor analysis of NPI in non-clinical samples, and supported a three-factor model (Power, Exhibitionism, Special persoin), but proposed that NPI may have a similar intellectual hierarchical structure. Wallace and Baumeister (2002) believe that the total score of NPI is more consistent and predictable than the subscale. In 2006, Ames, Ros, Anderson developed it into a single-structure 16-item scale (Cronbach coefficient of 0.65) in order to adapt to the rapid test so that the subjects did not become tired.

Narcissistic Complex Other Measuring Tools

Narcissistic Personality Disorder Scale (NPDS; Ashby, Lee, Duke, 1979) is a narcissism rating scale developed through the clinical diagnosis of narcissists, and has good reliability. People with high NPDS scores tend to be more introverted, defensive, sensitive, prone to anxiety and depression, and are the most commonly used implicit narcissistic measurement tools. O 'Brien Multiphasic Narcissism Inventory (OMNI; 1987, 1988), there are three subscales, the PoisonousPedagogy mainly measures the form of unsuitable narcissism, NarcissisticPersonality and Narcissistically Abused Personality predict unhealthy self-regulation function. The Ego-Sensitivity Scale (ESS; Pepper & Strong, 1958) and Narcissism-Hyper-sensitivity Scale (NHS; Serkownek, 1975) are based on the Masuolinity-Femininity Scale of the Minnesota Majority Personality Test Scale (MMPI). Scale). These scales are mainly used as a measure of recessive narcissism.

There is also a more noticeable scale, POND (Profile of Naicissistic Dispositions), which is a scale developed by Taylor (1995) to evaluate the normal performance of narcissists. It uses liket 6 points (1 = strongly agree, 6 = strongly not (Agree), contains 5 subscales, AssuredLeadership Scale (Cronbach coefficient = 0.75), Manipula-tiveness Scale (Cronbach coefficient = 0.69), Public Rec-ognition (Cronbach coefficient = 0.68), Vain Exhibitionscale (Cronbach coefficient = 0.69), Competive ambitionscale (Cronbach coefficient = 0.57). Taylor (1995) considers POND to be a non-pathological and healthy measure of narcissism.