Gruber, Dana (4/09) Overt and Covert Narcissism, anger,
and selfobject needs (Philip Wong, Ph.D.; Sara Haden, Ph.D.; Marvin Hurvich, Ph.D.)
Two types of trait narcissism have been
identified empirically and clinically in the literature, both of which are
conceptualized to possess core issues of entitlement and exploitativeness. Yet
these two types behave quite differently, especially in the face of rejection.
Overt narcissists are described as arrogant, aggressive, and hostile, whereas
covert narcissists are described as hypersensitive, anxious, and shunning of
others. Psychodynamic formulations of narcissism consider angry responses to
rejection as an important diagnostic indicator, and overt narcissism has been
experimentally linked to angry thoughts and behavior. However, no research to
date has investigated the relationship between covert narcissism and anger.
Implicit self-concept is a notion in social psychology which describes
individuals' automatic thoughts about themselves which are mostly outside of
awareness and therefore difficult to manipulate. This project sought to test
the hypothesis that both overt and covert narcissists have an implicitly angry
self-concept, while only the overt type will explicitly endorse feeling angry
on self-report measures after rejection. In addition, this project explored how
each subtype copes with deficits in their primary psychic (selfobject) needs,
as conceptualized by Kohut. Participants were 206 undergraduate students from
diverse backgrounds. They first filled out a demographic sheet and the
following questionnaires: Narcissistic Personality Inventory (Raskin &
Terry, 1988), Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale (Hendin & Cheek, 1997), and
Selfobject Needs Inventory (Banai, Mikulincer, & Shaver, 2005).
Participants were then asked to rate their mood, with an emphasis on angry
emotions, with the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS; Watson, Clark
& Tellegen, 1988) and the PANAS-X Hostility Scale (Watson & Clark,
1994). They were then asked to recall and focus for several moments on a
personal rejection scenario, and were to rate their moods again with the PANAS.
They then completed an Implicit Association Task (Greenwald Banaji, 1995) meant
to tap into implicit anger. Finally, they filled out the State-Trait Anger
Expression Inventory (Spielberger, 1988) as a measure of trait anger. Results
indicated that two types of narcissism do exist, yet neither type is related to
implicit anger while both are positively related to state and trait anger. Additionally,
overt narcissism was linked to seeking out high-status individuals to meet
selfobject needs deficits, while covert narcissism was linked to avoiding
opportunities to have needs met. These results suggest a lack of
differentiation on anger expression or implicit anger in both narcissistic
subtypes, but they also indicate distinct interpersonal styles for the two
subtypes by which they cope with painful psychic deficits. The clinical and
theoretical implications of these results are discussed, as are limitations of
the project and suggestions for future research.
