Emotional Characteristics of Narcissists with Grandiosity and Vulnerability

Abstract

This study seeks to empirically identify the emotional characteristics of narcissistic grandiosity and vulnerability using a measure that assesses a wide range of narcissism. In study I, Pathological Narcissism Inventory(PNI), which measures pathological narcissism, was translated into Korean and was validated. Study II was conducted to examine the emotional characteristics of people with narcissistic grandiosity and narcissistic vulnerability. Grandiosity subscales showed positive correlation with positive affect, but showed no significant correlation with depression and negative affect. On the other hand, vulnerability subscales showed positive correlation with depression and negative affect but negative correlation with positive affect. Both narcissistic grandiosity and vulnerability showed positive correlation with trait anger. For further analysis, narcissists were divided into grandiose group and vulnerable group based on their relative levels of PNI’s grandiosity score and vulnerability score. The grandiose group showed more positive affect than the vulnerable group. The vulnerable group showed higher level of depression and negative affect. However, no significant difference in the trait anger score was observed between the vulnerable group and the grandiose group. The finding of this research suggests that emotional characteristics vary according to two factors of narcissism. The implications, limitations and suggestions for future study are discussed.