The values of narcissistic grandiosity and vulnerability

Abstract

Grandiose and vulnerable aspects of narcissism have been examined as a function of the five-factor model (FFM), but given narcissism's strong theoretical link to self-centered, self-enhancing motivation, personal values may be relevant predictors of both grandiose and vulnerable narcissism. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was to examine whether personal values predict grandiose and vulnerable facets of narcissism beyond the FFM. Undergraduates (N = 409) completed online measures of grandiose and vulnerable narcissism, values, and FFM personality traits. In line with hypotheses, bivariate correlations between personal values and both narcissistic dimensions exhibited sinusoid patterns, with strongest positive links to self-enhancement values and strongest negative links to self-transcendence values. Results also indicated that higher order personal values predicted additional variance in both grandiose and vulnerable narcissism beyond the FFM. Relationships between self-transcendence, self-enhancement values and grandiose narcissism were stronger than for vulnerable narcissism; however, vulnerable narcissism, but not grandiose narcissism, was positively linked to conservation values.