Within Person Covariation of Narcissistic Grandiosity and Vulnerability in Daily Life and the Construct Validity of the Super Brief-Pathological Narcissism Inventory
Restricted (Penn State Only)
Author:
Dowgwillo, Emily Ann
Graduate Program:
Psychology
Degree:
Doctor of Philosophy
Document Type:
Dissertation
Date of Defense:
May 22, 2020
Committee Members:
Aaron Lee Pincus, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor Aaron Lee Pincus, Committee Chair/Co-Chair Kenneth Levy, Committee Member Michael Nelson Hallquist, Committee Member David E Conroy, Outside Member Kristin Ann Buss, Program Head/Chair
Contemporary conceptualizations of pathological narcissism include both narcissistic grandiosity (an overriding orientation towards self enhancement) and narcissistic vulnerability (self, emotion, and behavior dysregulation in response to unmet narcissistic needs). Although clinicians have theorized that narcissistic states serve a defensive function, there has been little research that explicitly examines this relationship at the state level. To that end, the current study examines the phenomenology and nomological network of grandiose and vulnerable narcissistic states and their covariation. A total of 88 undergraduate students responded to smartphone prompts 7 times a day for 10 days to assess state grandiosity and state vulnerability in the course of their daily lives. Results suggest that the within person covariation of these narcissistic states varies across individuals, with empirical Bayes estimates ranging from -.55 to .52. This covariation estimate was significantly and negatively associated with trait grandiosity, grandiose fantasy, guilt, and mood activation. Moreover, narcissistic states were significantly associated with narcissistic traits, other psychological states, and situational features in expected ways, supporting the construct validity of the SBPNI as a measure of state narcissism. Together, these findings highlight the importance of moving beyond static trait descriptors to identify and distinguish individuals in terms of the complex dynamic processes they employ and the function those processes serve.
