Narcissistic Individuals Research Articles

Unmasking the Dark Triad: A Data Fusion Machine Learning Approach to Characterize the Neural Bases of Narcissistic, Machiavellian and Psychopathic Traits.

The Dark Triad (DT), encompassing narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy traits, poses significant societal challenges. Understanding the neural underpinnings of these traits is crucial for developing effective interventions and preventive strategies. Our study aimed to unveil the neural substrates of the DT by examining brain scans from 201 individuals (mean age: 32.43, 105 females) using the unsupervised learning algorithm transposed independent vector analysis (tIVA). tIVA, known for identifying complex patterns in neuroimaging data, detected 15 joint grey matter (GM) and white matter (WM) networks. Of these networks, four were associated with the DT. The first component comprises areas within the reward network, including the thalamus, caudate, anterior cingulate and prefrontal regions. The second component encompasses regions within the executive network, predominantly involving prefrontal and posterior areas. The third component includes regions within the default mode network (DMN), such as the angular gyrus, the precuneus and the posterior cingulate cortex. Lastly, the fourth component overlaps with areas of the visual network, primarily located in the occipital and temporal lobes. Within these networks, the reward-related component correlated with narcissism, suggesting an association with the need for constant interpersonal rewards to enhance self-esteem and grandiosity in narcissistic individuals. Conversely, the DM-related component correlated with Machiavellianism, potentially reflecting the heightened strategic thinking employed by Machiavellian individuals for manipulation purposes. In line with established trends, sex differences emerged, with males displaying notably higher DT scores. Our findings offer insights into the intricate neurobiological bases of the DT personality and hold implications for future research and interventions.

성인의 외현적 자기애와 내현적 자기애가 대인관계 문제에 미치는 영향: 정신화의 매개효과

Objectives This study examines the mediating effect of mentalization on the interpersonal problems of narcissistic individuals, as well as the differences in mentalization and interpersonal problems between covert narcissists and overt narcissists. Methods 450 samples were asked to complete the questionnaires of Narcissistic Personality Disorder Scale (NPDS), Covert Narcissism Scale(CNS), Mentalization Questionnaire, and Inventory of Interpersonal Problems- Circumplex(IIP-C). Results The major finding of this study can be summarized as follows. First, covert narcissists and overt narcissists and interpersonal problems was positively associated with failure of mentalization. Second, mentalization showed the statistically significant partial mediation effect between covert narcissists and overt narcissists on interpersonal problems. Third, groups with higher covert narcissistic showed a lower mentalization(refusing self-reflection, failure of emotional awareness, higher psychic equivalence mode) than overt narcissistic group and the non-narcissistic group. And groups with higher overt narcissistic showed higher teleological mode than the non-narcissistic group. Conclusions The results of this study confirmed the role of mentalization in the interpersonal problems of covert and overt narcissists. Through this, effective therapeutic interventions which are based on covert and overt narcissists were suggested.

THE NARCISSIST PERSONALITY TYPE AND RELATIONSHIPS: ANALYSIS FROM MALE AND FEMALE PERSPECTIVES

This article analyzes the dynamics of narcissistic personality disorder in male and female relationships. Narcissistic individuals are characterized by high self-esteem, lack of empathy, and manipulative behavior. The fact that such persons put their needs in the center in their relationships and are prone to emotional manipulation towards their partners has a negative impact on the strength of relationships and the emotional sphere. The article also highlights the differences between narcissistic men and women and explores the problems gender-specific behavior patterns create in relationships. The results show that people who are in relationships with individuals with narcissistic personality traits can suffer serious psychological damage, and in such cases, the need for professional intervention comes to the fore. This study provides an in-depth understanding of the difficulties narcissistic personality poses in romantic relationships and has important implications for contemporary psychological research.

Just Because I'm Great (and You're Not): When, Why, and How Narcissistic Individuals Give Gifts to Others.

We examined the roles of Narcissistic Admiration and Narcissistic Rivalry in gift giving. We hypothesized that Admirative and Rivalrous individuals diverge in their likelihood of giving gifts. Across six studies (ΣN = 2198), we used correlational and experimental methodology and capitalized on both scenarios and actual gift giving. Narcissistic Admiration was positively, but Narcissistic Rivalry was negatively, associated with gift-giving likelihood (Studies 1-2). These findings were explained by diverging communal motivations for gift giving (Study 3). Consistent with the notion that Rivalrous individuals are less likely to give gifts for communal reasons because they feel threatened by social closeness, the negative association between Narcissistic Rivalry and gift-giving likelihood was attenuated when the gift recipient was more socially distant (vs. close; Study 4). Further, gifts that are recipient-centric (e.g., customized with a recipient's name) are less focused on attributes of the giver and less likely to foster social closeness. Therefore, consistent with Admirative individuals' use of gift giving to promote themselves as a superior communal relationship partner, the positive association between Narcissistic Admiration and gift-giving likelihood was attenuated for gifts that were recipient-centric (Study 5). Socially desirable responding, self-esteem, and fear of failure (Study SM1) did not account for the findings.

The Female Body and the Body Politic in Sex Scenes of Lou Ye’s Film: A Multimodal Discourse Analysis of <i>Summer Palace</i>

This article discusses the body politic of Yu Hong in the postsocialist Chinese film–Summer Palace (2006). Director Lou Ye places Yu Hong’s body in the sex scenes that metaphorically expresses a traumatic and sensitive political event, the “June Fourth Incident.” The portrayal of sexual intercourse, nudity, and this historical event is the unspeakable “secret” in mainland Chinese media. Therefore, the authors raise the question that, when sexual intercourse and the female body enter political discourse, how do we deal with the complex and dynamic power structures behind bodily attributes and the “anachronistic” historical objects that do not fit into the mainstream narrative and epistemological spaces? Drawing on body politic theory, feminist film theory, and a semiotic framework, we adopt multimodal critical discourse analysis to assess power relations and ideologies behind Yu’s body attributes in the sex scenes. The findings indicate that Lou constructs a complex communication system, using her body as a carrier of communication to express self-consciousness, constructing female subjectivity through the writing of feminine discourse, with the political purpose of seeking the freedom of the written word. Sexual liberation is sought by establishing a transgressive body that is not accepted by the mainstream and opposes the inherent power of government. Yu’s bodily pleasure is set up as an expression of narcissistic individualism through love, producing a vision of political ecstasy. Her melancholy body metaphor for the discomfort and confusion that preceded the student movement and the post-traumatic ambivalence. Using the female body as a site of political discourse and sexual liberation offers a new reading strategy for analysing the representation of the female body in film and other forms of media. In making the argument, the study contributes valuable scholarship to the film studies focused on sexual, gender, and political marginalised discourse.

Dynamics of narcissistic grandiosity and vulnerability in naturalistic and experimental settings.

Theoretical accounts of narcissism emphasize the dynamic shifting of self-states in response to social feedback. Status threats are thought to set narcissism's dynamics in motion. Naturalistic ecological momentary assessment (EMA) studies have characterized dynamics of narcissistic grandiosity and vulnerability in relation to perceptions of the interpersonal environment. Experimental studies have emphasized the behavioral responses of narcissistic individuals to putative threats to status. Naturalistic and experimental studies suffer from opposing limitations, namely, a potential for confounding variables to impact results versus ambiguous generalizability to real-life and longer time scales, respectively. Integrating naturalistic and experimental studies has the potential to provide a comprehensive model of how dynamics within narcissism unfold in response to status threat. The present study examined shifts in grandiosity and vulnerability in both naturalistic EMA and experimentally controlled (rigged tournament game) social interactions (N = 437). Grandiosity decreased and vulnerability increased in response to both naturalistic and experimental status threats. Further, the same people who responded with decreased grandiosity in response to status threat in daily life responded with similar decreases in grandiosity to experimental defeat. Trait narcissistic agency amplified many of the observed links between narcissism and status threat experimentally and naturalistically. Given that warmth (in addition to dominance) emerged as an important predictor of shifts in narcissism, implications for status-threatening environments are discussed. The present study elucidates important differences with respect to expressions of grandiosity and vulnerability across naturalistic and experimental methods. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Norwid’s place in culture

Even in today’s “postmodern” world, Norwid cannot be reduced to a single formula. He is rather a “constellation,” requiring that readers join the “continual discussion” on issues specific to a given era. His focus is on humanity, which he regards from a dualist perspective that necessitates pursuing a synthesis of matter and spirit under the sign of ethical universalism. Norwid refers to the “cupola of ‘a monologue-that-keeps-parabolizing-itself’” andregards culture as the parable of the world. His original aesthetics of “whiteness” refers, as it were, to the biblical “gentle gust of wind,” which announces God’s presence and indicates the rejection of the Romantic veneration for volcanoes, which he contrasts with the importance of work. This kind of philosophy, developed by Brzozowski, Tischner and John Paul II, has led to the self-limiting revolution of Solidarity in the years 1980-81, and ultimately to the de-legitimization and fall of communism; finally, after the bloody myth of the French Revolution reigned for two hundred years, this philosophy altered the paradigm of historical changes around the world. Norwid elaborated on the industrial-era Romanticism and opposed martyrological messianism, developing the original idea of a “messianism of work,”linking it with a vision of human Church, which “burns through the Globe with conscience.”He would contrast the global church with the parochial “church-turned-living-room.”Human beings count more than institutions, he argued, just like goodness prevails over formal sacraments. With the ultimate goal defined as the resurrection of the world, art becomes a church of work. Norwid embraced an anthropocentric perspective, in which human beings are called upon “to un-make” [od-poczynać] the mistakes of the past, and thus to begin afresh at a whole new level. With his language and style Norwid was constructing a new social stratum: intelligentsia (Łapiński), understanding it as the nation’s copula, i.e. the unifying force of conscienceand the collective consciousness. It would form an interpersonal, horizontal transcendence spanning the length and breadth of societies. The opposite of nation and its culture is “empire” – the root of subjugation – which particularly enslaved Central and Eastern Europe. Of special importance is the clash between Asian civilization and the “Roman” one, i.e. Christianity or Western Europe. However, the poet opposes Slavs to both the Westerners and the Easterners, emphasizing the processualand not the essentialistcharacter of national cultures. The question whether Norwid’s work is fundamentally dialogic or monologic in character continues to divide scholars. However, Norwid is in a way a Master or teacherwho embodies the Other and incarnates Wisdom in his Voice and Gesture. The nature of Wisdom is anthropocentric because man is a priest, although “involuntary / And immature,” which abolishes the distinction between the sacred and the profane. Through his ethical universalism Norwid provides a solution to the Enlightenment crisis of universal reason. Emancipation of the individual should not entail abandoning a sense of belonging, which is something that Norwid’s modernism shares with that of Central Europeans (Ch. Delsol). Understood as the expression of collective desires, cultures shape responsibility and a sense of belonging, at the same time constituting an answer to the crisis of narcissistic individualism characteristic for our times.

Which leadership style do more narcissistic subordinates prefer in supervisors?

Subordinates in Western cultures generally prefer supervisors with a democratic rather than autocratic leadership style. It is unclear, however, whether more narcissistic subordinates share or challenge this prodemocratic default attitude. On the one hand, more narcissistic individuals strive for power and thus may favor a democratic supervisor, who grants them power through participation. On the other hand, similarity attracts and, thus, more narcissistic subordinates may favor an autocratic supervisor, who exhibits the same leadership style that they would adopt in a leadership position. Four studies (Ntotal = 1284) tested these competing hypotheses with two narcissism dimensions: admiration and rivalry. Participants indicated the leadership style they generally prefer in a supervisor (Study 1), rated their own supervisor's leadership style (Study 2a: individual ratings; Study 2b: team ratings), and evaluated profiles of democratic and autocratic supervisors (Study 3). We found a significantly weaker prodemocratic default attitude among more narcissistic subordinates: Subordinates' narcissism was negatively related to endorsement of democratic supervisors and positively related to endorsement of autocratic supervisors. Those relations were mostly driven by narcissistic rivalry rather than narcissistic admiration. The results help clarify the narcissistic personality and, in particular, how more narcissistic subordinates prefer to be led.

Impulsivity mediates the association between narcissism and substance-related problems beyond the degree of substance use: a longitudinal observational study

BackgroundNarcissism has been implied as a putative risk factor for substance use disorders (SUDs). However, previous research did not disentangle the degree of substance use from substance-related problems, the symptoms of SUDs. This preregistered study addressed the open question whether grandiose and vulnerable narcissism and their constituent traits convey specific SUD risk, that is, explain substance-related problems beyond the degree of use. Furthermore, we tested whether impulsivity or substance use motives linked to narcissistic self-regulation mediate this association.MethodsNarcissism, impulsivity, substance use motives, past-year substance use, and substance-related problems were assessed in 139 (poly-)substance users, 121 of whom completed a one-year follow-up. For significant longitudinal associations between narcissism factors and substance-related problems controlled for the degree of use, we tested impulsivity and substance use motives as mediators.ResultsGrandiose narcissism (r =.24, p =.007) and its constituent factors antagonistic (r =.27, p =.003) and agentic narcissism (r =.18, p =.050), but not vulnerable narcissism, prospectively predicted substance-related problems beyond the degree of substance use. Associations of grandiose narcissism and antagonistic narcissism with substance-related problems were fully mediated by impulsivity, but not substance use motives. Impulsivity explained roughly one third of the association of both grandiose (P̂M = 0.30) and antagonistic narcissism (P̂M = 0.26) with substance-related problems.DiscussionWe demonstrate that grandiose narcissism– particularly antagonistic but also agentic narcissism– is specifically linked to substance-related problems beyond the degree of substance use. The mediating effect of impulsivity but not substance use motives suggests that impulsivity may be a more important mechanism than narcissistic self-regulation in promoting SUD in narcissism. However, future studies may use more targeted measures than substance use motives to further probe the role of self-regulation. Similar result patterns for alcohol compared to all substances together indicate that mechanisms may be alike across substances. In conclusion, narcissistic individuals may not use substances more but have a higher SUD risk, informing prevention and treatment.

Temporal Dimensions of Crisis and Online Hotel Reviews: A Social Support Perspective of Narcissists During the Pandemic

This study sought to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the online reviewing behavior of individuals with narcissistic traits. We conducted a textual analysis of online reviews submitted to TripAdvisor.com for hotels in New York City, covering the period from August 1, 2019, to July 31, 2022. This time frame allowed us to examine the phases before the COVID-19 crisis, during the early stages of the pandemic, and in the later stages of the crisis. We observed that the negative correlation between narcissism and review ratings was less evident during the initial phase of the COVID-19 crisis but became more pronounced as the crisis progressed. Conversely, the positive correlation between narcissism and the perceived helpfulness of reviews was stronger in the early stages of the COVID-19 crisis compared with the later stages. This suggests that the behavior of posting online reviews may serve as a form of social support mechanism, particularly utilized by narcissistic individuals to address their vulnerabilities, which was more apparent during the early phase of the COVID-19 crisis. These findings open new avenues for research and have practical implications for professionals in the hospitality, tourism, and service industries, especially in understanding consumer behavior during crisis periods.

Do Objective and Peer-perceived Qualities Moderate the Effect of Narcissism on Social Outcomes?

Narcissistic individuals have a strong desire for attracting short-term mates, being influential in groups, and attaining prestige and material wealth. Past research suggests that narcissistic individuals are also quite successful in attaining these outcomes and these effects are due to narcissists’ grandiose self-image and admiration-seeking tendency (i.e., admiration component of narcissism). In the current research, we investigated whether the effects of narcissistic admiration are moderated by specific qualities that are helpful for attaining the respective outcomes. Specifically, we tested whether physical attractiveness moderates the effect of narcissistic admiration on short-term mate appeal, whether intelligence and socio-emotional abilities moderate the effect on social influence, and whether intelligence moderates the effects on occupational prestige and material wealth. Analyzing data from a speed-dating study (Study 1, N = 397), a round-robin laboratory study (Study 2, N = 256), and a panel study representative of the German population (Study 3, N = 1,477), we found that narcissistic admiration and the respective qualities predicted the outcomes, but in most cases, their interactions were non-significant. There was one exception: Narcissistic admiration interacted with verbal intelligence in the sense that the effects of narcissistic admiration on occupational prestige and material wealth were more positive, the higher verbal intelligence was.

Shame in social interaction: Descriptions of experiences of shame by participants with high or low levels of narcissistic traits.

In this study, we investigate how personal experiences about shameful events are described in face-to-face social interaction, and how these stories differ between participants who have either high or low levels of narcissistic personality traits. The dataset consists of 22 dyadic conversations where the participants describe events where they felt ashamed of themselves. We found the narratives to vary in terms of five dimensions. With narcissistic individuals, the default narrative tended to exhibit a cluster of characteristics that gather at one end of these dimensions: (1) weak expressions of shame; (2) located in the story-world; (3) low level of reflexivity as well as; (4) responsibility of the described event; and (5) a general level of description. We discuss the findings in relation to sociological and psychological theories of shame and suggest that individuals with narcissistic personality traits are more inclined to use suppressive conversational practices in their treatment of shame, thus providing a "window" to these interactional practices.

Signaling high sensitivity: The roles of sensory processing sensitivity, assertiveness, and the dark triad

High-sensitivity signaling may be an attempt to adapt to an environment by sensitive individuals. However, it may also be a deceptive strategy of nonreciprocal resources extraction used by people with a highly exploitative interpersonal style. In their first study ( n = 102), the authors used a peer-rating design to investigate the associations between perceiving somebody as highly sensitivity and attributions of agency and communion. In their second study ( n = 102), they used a dyadic design (dyads of friends) to investigate the accuracy of high-sensitivity attributions (i.e., correlations of self-report and peer ratings of sensory processing sensitivity). In their third study ( n = 260), they used self-report questionnaires to investigate the location of high-sensitivity signaling in a nomological net of strategies for demanding special treatment (such as entitlement, person victimhood, etc.). The authors also examined the correlations between sensory processing sensitivity, assertiveness, and the dark triad. It was found that people who were perceived as highly sensitive were also regarded as displaying more unmitigated communion. However, people demonstrated poor accuracy in their perception of high sensitivity. High-sensitivity signaling was positively associated with, but distinguishable from, other strategies of demanding special treatment. Individuals with high sensory processing sensitivity signaled their sensitivity and were more eager to use the “highly sensitive person” label. These associations were stronger when individuals were highly assertive. Instrumental signaling of high sensitivity to influence others was, however, associated with narcissism. Signaling high sensitivity appeared to be associated with beneficial social attributions, but simultaneously it is easy to deceptively signal that one is highly sensitive. Signaling high sensitivity could thus be an honest signal given by people with high sensory processing sensitivity, but also used instrumentally by narcissistic individuals to exploit others. The findings are important not only for public understanding of the widely disseminated label of “highly sensitive person,” but also for clinicians and counsellors who encounter people who identify as being highly sensitive.

Narcissistic status pursuit in everyday social life: A within-person process approach to the behavioral and emotional dynamics of narcissism.

Status pursuit has been emphasized as a key motivational factor underlying narcissism, but research has just begun to unravel the processes by which more narcissistic individuals pursue status in their everyday social interactions. In this article, we combine process models of narcissistic status pursuit with three-factor models of narcissism to test whether different aspects of narcissism (i.e., agentic, antagonistic, and neurotic narcissism) can be characterized by stronger reactivity to different kinds of status perceptions (i.e., the perceived assignment of status, attack on status, and neglect of status). Using data from two experience sampling studies, one involving college students (Nparticipants = 285; Nobservations = 18,036) and one in the general population (Nparticipants = 1,177; Nobservations = 36,074), we first found that the perceived assignment of status, attack on status, and neglect of status were related to status-relevant behaviors (i.e., expressive, combative, and avoidant behaviors) and emotions (e.g., pride, anger, and shame) within persons on average. Next, we found that both mean levels of perceptual, behavioral, and emotional states and status contingencies (i.e., the within-person relationships of status perceptions with behavioral and emotional states) varied considerably across individuals and that these individual differences were reliable and stable across time. Last, we found some associations between trait levels of agentic, antagonistic, and neurotic narcissism and individual differences in mean levels as well as status-emotion contingencies. Our findings emphasize the multifaceted and status-driven nature of narcissism and support the use of theoretically derived contingencies as more dynamic aspects of personality. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Positive Effect of Narcissism on Employees' Whistleblowing: The Role of Felt Accountability and Ethical Environment.

This study aims to develop a model to explore the effect of narcissism on whistleblowing through felt accountability and to examine the moderating role of organization's ethical environment on this relationship. The study was a two-wave study involving MBA students. Two surveys were distributed to individuals who work full time at two different times (roughly two weeks apart). A total of 261 individuals completed both questionnaires. Hierarchical linear regression analyses were conducted using SPSS 22.0 to test the hypotheses. The results supported the prediction that felt accountability mediates the positive relationship between narcissism and whistleblowing. The findings also showed that the indirect effect of narcissism on whistleblowing through felt accountability was stronger when individuals perceived organizational environment to be unethical. The study contributes to our understanding of the bright side of narcissism by combining it with research on whistleblowing and explicates how and when narcissistic individuals engage in whistleblowing.

Izydora Dąmbska’s ethics and the culture of narcissistic individualism

The first section of the article presents axiological ethics as seen by Izydora Dąmbska. In the second section, the interpretation of Dąmbska’s moral actions and her approach to life is presented from the perspective of axiological ethics. In the third part, the specifics of the culture of narcissistic individualism are discussed as an environment that hinders the experience and understanding of emotional states that allow for the recognition of values. The last section focuses on the author’s interpretation of Dąmbska’s ethics. According to this view, feelings experienced and thought through in silence form the basis for learning values. This can inspire pedagogical efforts to effectively train the moral competence of people living in the culture of narcissistic individualism.

Do we only have narcissists to choose from?

In a large nationally representative study in the United States, we provide novel evidence that the greater pool of candidates who run for political office are higher in narcissism. Prior research has found that those who would like run for office, but don't actually run, are higher in grandiose narcissism. Here, using the SINS measure of narcissism, which asks respondents if they are a narcissist, we find that narcissistic individuals have greater expressive political ambition and are more likely than others to not only be interested in political office, but to actually run for political office.

“I can't miss a thing” – The contribution of defense mechanisms, grandiose narcissism, and vulnerable narcissism to fear of missing out in emerging adulthood

The present study examined the contribution of different defense mechanisms (i.e., mature, mental inhibition and avoidance, immature-depressive), grandiose narcissism, and vulnerable narcissism to fear of missing out (FoMO). A non-clinical community sample of 436 white (97.24 % Italians) emerging adults (age range: 18–29 years; M = 24.90, SD = 2.52) participated in a cross-sectional, questionnaire-based online survey. All participants were cisgender (i.e., identified with the gender assigned at birth), of whom 72.2 % were assigned females at birth; 80.50 % reported a heterosexual orientation. Structural equation modeling indicated that mature defenses and mental inhibition and avoidance defenses did not significantly contribute to FoMO, while grandiose and vulnerable narcissism did. However, higher immature-depressive defenses were associated with increased FoMO over and beyond vulnerable narcissism, suggesting that immature-depressive defenses maladaptively hinder emerging adults from acknowledging and elaborating their own vulnerability, leading to feelings of anxiety and frustration when they perceive exclusion from rewarding activities. The results indicate potential intervention targets, such as grandiose narcissism and immature-depressive defenses, for emerging adults who struggle with FoMO, while also pointing to the need for replication in clinical samples to confirm the importance of including defense mechanisms for diagnosing and treating narcissistic individuals reporting FoMO.

Narcissistic susceptibility to conspiracy beliefs exaggerated by education, reduced by cognitive reflection.

Conspiracy theories are alternate viewpoints of provided explanations; sensational stories revolving around small groups exerting control for nefarious reasons. Recent events and research have outlined myriad negative social and personal outcomes for those who endorse them. Prior research suggests several predictors of susceptibility to conspiracy theories, including narcissistic personality traits (grandiosity, need for uniqueness), cognitive processes (critical thinking, confirmation bias) and lack of education. The aim of the current paper was to explore how facets of narcissism predict susceptibility to conspiracy theories. It was expected that narcissism would be a positive predictor, but education and cognitive reflection would act as protective factors, reducing this effect. Study one utilized an international survey (N = 323) to investigate the role of education as a protective tool in the relationship between narcissistic traits and conspiratorial beliefs. Support was found for the hypotheses that individuals with higher levels of grandiosity, vulnerable narcissism, a strive for uniqueness, and a strive for supremacy predicted higher levels of conspiracy endorsement. Higher education and STEM education were associated with lower levels of conspiracy endorsement, however all significant moderations indicated that for narcissistic individuals, education increased their likelihood of adopting conspiracy beliefs, contrary to expectation. To investigate this further, study two analyzed a large-scale publicly available dataset (N = 51,404) to assess the relationship between narcissism, critical thinking skills (specifically cognitive reflection) and conspiracy beliefs pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic. As expected, analysis found narcissism and poor cognitive reflection (intuitive thinking) as predictors of conspiracy beliefs. Higher levels of cognitive reflection were found to be protective, moderating and reducing the impact of narcissism on endorsement of conspiracy theories. The findings suggest that cognitive reflection, but not education protect against narcissistic conspiracy belief. Moreover, that cognitive reflection may have a lessened effect against conspiracy theories adopted for social or ideological reasons. These findings improve understanding of both the role and limitations of education/critical thinking skills as protective factors against conspiracy theory endorsement.

FEATURES OF THE DEMONSTRATION OF DEPRESSION IN NARCISSISTS: A WARTIME STUDY

The tendency of narcissistic individuals to set unrealistic goals and unsatisfied needs for respect and love from others contribute to the disappointment of such people in their environment and in themselves. The purpose of the study is to theoretically investigate and empirically test the relationship between depression and the level of narcissism of an individual. Hypotheses have also been put forward: it is likely that there is a relationship between a person's level of narcissism and their tendency to a depressive state, which is associated with unsatisfied needs for recognition, respect and love; we assume that individuals with an average and high level of narcissism will show aggravation and sensitivity, which will cause depressive states of various levels. The object of the research is depression as a psychological phenomenon of the individual, and the subject is the peculiarities of depression in persons with different levels of narcissism. As a result of such tension and unsatisfied whimsical needs, narcissistic personalities are more prone to the development of depressive states against the background of emotional burnout, frustrations and narcissistic traumatization. In this connection, there is a need for a more detailed study of а narcissism phenomenon. The article examines depression as a psychological phenomenon of the individual and defines the features of depression in people with different levels of narcissism. Based on the theoretical analysis, a theoretical-hypothetical model of the features of depression in persons with different levels of narcissism was built. The results of an empirical study of the relationship between depression and the level of narcissism of an individual are presented. It was found that three main factors influence the occurrence of depressive states in narcissistic individuals: self-admiration, grandeur and egotism. An improved theoretical-hypothetical model of features of depression in persons with different levels of narcissism is proposed.