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Historical conceptualizations have framed personality disorders (PDs) as unchanging and ego-syntonic. However, recent evidence suggests that individuals with PD traits may have some insight into their personality and consider those traits to be somewhat ego-dystonic. To replicate and extend previous findings, participants (N = 328) self-reported their PD trait levels, likability of those traits, impairment, capability for change, and desired trait levels. The results demonstrated that individuals with PD traits tolerate but still dislike those traits, believe that they cause them problems, and are interested in reducing them. Level of PD trait did not relate to perception of capability for change. Likability and impairment moderated most of the relations between actual PD trait and desired level. That is, there was a stronger correlation between actual and desired levels among individuals who liked the trait more; there was also greater agreement between actual and desired levels among individuals who found the traits less impairing. For 2 of the traits-Negative Affectivity and Detachment-individuals who felt more capable of changing these traits demonstrated greater agreement between their actual and desired levels. These data suggest that individuals with PD traits do not generally see them as particularly likable and see them as impairing; such impressions may have important implications for where individuals ultimately prefer to reside on these PD trait domains. (PsycINFO Database Record

The relationship between narcissism and social media use has been a topic of study since the advent of the first social media websites. In the present manuscript, the authors review the literature published to date on the topic and outline 2 potential models to explain the pattern of findings. Data

There is an ongoing debate regarding the nature of narcissism such that some argue that narcissistic individuals oscillate between grandiose and vulnerable states, whereas others argue these dimensions are stable traits (e.g., grandiose individuals remain in grandiose states). Scales sensitive to fluctuations in narcissistic states are necessary to address this question. The current study (N = 1,613 across three samples) validates the newly developed Narcissistic Vulnerability Scale (NVS), a brief (11-item) adjective-based measure of vulnerable narcissism. Expert ratings were used for item selection. The NVS's factor structure was evaluated along with its correlations with measures of grandiose and vulnerable narcissism, five-factor model traits, and self-esteem. A subset of NVS items were also evaluated using an ecological momentary assessment design. Results indicate the NVS is a unidimensional measure of vulnerable narcissism that could be used in either trait-oriented or state-oriented analyses, the latter of which may be particularly well suited to answering the most pressing questions in the study of narcissism. (PsycINFO Database Record

Due to increased empirical interest in narcissism across the social sciences, there is a need for inventories that can be administered quickly while also reliably measuring both the agentic and antagonistic aspects of grandiose narcissism. In this study, we sought to validate the factor structure, provide representative descriptive data and reliability estimates, assess the reliability across the trait spectrum, and examine the nomological network of the short version of the Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire (NARQ-S; Back et al., 2013). We used data from a large convenience sample (total N = 11,937) as well as data from a large representative sample (total N = 4,433) that included responses to other narcissism measures as well as related constructs, including the other Dark Triad traits, Big Five personality traits, and self-esteem. Confirmatory factor analysis and item response theory were used to validate the factor structure and estimate the reliability across the latent trait spectrum, respectively. Results suggest that the NARQ-S shows a robust factor structure and is a reliable and valid short measure of the agentic and antagonistic aspects of grandiose narcissism. We also discuss future directions and applications of the NARQ-S as a short and comprehensive measure of grandiose narcissism. (PsycINFO Database Record

Narcissism is broadly described as a grandiose sense of self, feelings of entitlement, and a need for attention and admiration. Theorists have long suggested that to maintain an overly positive self-image, individuals with narcissistic features often self-enhance (Leary, 2007) and exhibit distorted (John & Robins, 1994) self-perceptions. Despite this theoretical link, little is known about its relationship to response style, particularly in regard to underreporting or defensiveness. Nevertheless, response style has been extensively studied in psychopathy, narcissism's closest neighbor, due to concerns that psychopathic individuals may lack insight into their traits and/or may be unwilling to admit to perceived faults or difficulties. Given the limited research on this topic, we examined narcissism's relation to response style in multiple samples (i.e., two undergraduate samples; one incarcerated sample) with several well-validated measures of response validity and narcissism. Across samples, the findings indicate that narcissism is not characterized by response invalidity, at least not in low-stakes research settings; in fact, vulnerable features of narcissism were found to be negatively associated with underreporting and a defensive response style. Implications for the present findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

Orth, Trzesniewski, and Robins (2010) concluded that the nationally representative Americans' Changing Lives (ACL) cohort-sequential study demonstrated moderate to large age differences in self-esteem, and no birth cohort (generational) differences in the age trajectory. In a reanalysis of these data using 2 different statistical techniques, we find significant increases in self-esteem that could be attributed to birth cohort or time period. First, hierarchical linear modeling analyses with birth cohort as a continuous variable (vs. the multiple group formulation used by Orth et al.) find that birth cohort has a measurable influence on self-esteem through its interaction with age. Participants born in later years (e.g., 1960) were higher in self-esteem and were more likely to increase in self-esteem as they aged than participants born in earlier years (e.g., 1920). However, the estimated age trajectory up to age 60 is similar in Orth et al.'s results and in the results from our analyses including cohort. Second, comparing ACL respondents of the same age in 1986 versus 2002 (a time-lag design) yields significant birth cohort differences in self-esteem, with 2002 participants of the same age higher in self-esteem than those in 1986. Combined with some previous studies finding significant increases in self-esteem and positive self-views over time, these results suggest that cultural change in the form of cohort and time period cannot be ignored as influences in cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. (PsycINFO Database Record

The Five-Factor Narcissism Inventory (FFNI; Glover, Miller, Lynam, Crego, & Widiger, 2012) is a 148-item self-report inventory of 15 traits designed to assess the basic elements of narcissism from the perspective of a 5-factor model. The FFNI assesses both vulnerable (i.e., cynicism/distrust, need for admiration, reactive anger, and shame) and grandiose (i.e., acclaim seeking, arrogance, authoritativeness, entitlement, exhibitionism, exploitativeness, grandiose fantasies, indifference, lack of empathy, manipulativeness, and thrill seeking) variants of narcissism. The present study reports the development of a short-form version of the FFNI in 4 diverse samples (i.e., 2 undergraduate samples, a sample recruited from MTurk, and a clinical community sample) using item response theory. The validity of the resultant 60-item short form was compared against the validity of the full scale in the 4 samples at both the subscale level and the level of the grandiose and vulnerable composites. Results indicated that the 15 subscales remain relatively reliable, possess a factor structure identical to the structure of the long-form scales, and manifest correlational profiles highly similar to those of the long-form scales in relation to a variety of criterion measures, including basic personality dimensions, other measures of grandiose and vulnerable narcissism, and indicators of externalizing and internalizing psychopathology. Grandiose and vulnerable composites also behave almost identically across the short- and long-form versions. It is concluded that the FFNI-Short Form (FFNI-SF) offers a well-articulated assessment of the basic traits comprising grandiose and vulnerable narcissism, particularly when assessment time is limited.

Two dimensions of narcissism exist, grandiose and vulnerable, which are thought to be associated with distinctly different patterns of interpersonal behavior. Social network analysis is a way of quantifying and analyzing interpersonal interactions that may prove useful for characterizing the networks associated with these narcissism dimensions. In the current study, participants (N = 148) completed scales assessing both narcissism dimensions and a measure of the five-factor model of personality. Egocentric network information about participants' 30 closest friends and family members (i.e., "alters") was also obtained. Both narcissism dimensions were characterized by negative perceptions of the individuals who comprise one's social networks, and many of these relations were mediated by individuals' higher levels of antagonism. Grandiose narcissism also interacted with alter centrality (i.e., importance to the network) such that individuals low on grandiose narcissism were less likely to perceive central alters in a negative light and were more attuned to central alters than were individuals high on grandiose narcissism. Overall, both narcissism dimensions were associated with perceiving one's overall social environment negatively because of the high levels of antagonism that characterize both narcissism dimensions. Individuals high on grandiose narcissism, however, appear to be more insensitive to the relative importance of individuals in their social networks.

Impulsivity has been consistently associated with pathological gambling (PG), but the diversity of definitions and measures of impulsivity has led to ambiguity with regard to which indices are independently relevant. Toward clarifying this relationship, the current study examined indices from an array of commonly-used impulsivity measures in relation to PG severity in an adult community sample of frequent gamblers (N = 353). These included both survey assessments and behavioral tasks. Using a factor analytic approach, four latent factors were identified among 19 indices and were designated reward sensitivity, punishment sensitivity, delay discounting, and cognitive impulsivity. All four latent variables were positively and independently related to PG severity, albeit at a trend level for cognitive impulsivity in a combined model. These findings reveal four generally independent domains of impulsivity that are related to PG severity, clarify which assessment measures aggregate in each domain, and illustrate the importance of measurement specificity in studying impulsivity in relation to PG and other psychiatric disorders.

Anger at God has begun to receive empirical attention as a psychological construct. Studies have shown that anger at God is common, and is often associated with various indicators of psychological distress. Past research has demonstrated that multiple aspects of personality, including psychological entitlement, are related to anger at God. The goal of the present study was to evaluate whether psychological entitlement is robustly associated with anger at God, even when diverse aspects of personality are statistically controlled. We tested this hypothesis in two groups: an undergraduate sample (n 413) and an adult web sample (n 148). Results provided strong, consistent support for our hypothesis: psychological entitlement consistently emerged as a unique predictor of anger at God, even when controlling for the Big Five factors of personality and narcissistic entitlement. These findings strongly demonstrate that psychological entitlement is a robust predictor of anger toward God, beyond previously established predictors.

American culture is filled with cultural products. Yet few studies have investigated how changes in cultural products correspond to changes in psychological traits and emotions. The current research fills this gap by testing the hypothesis that one cultural product—word use in popular song lyrics—changes over time in harmony with cultural changes in individualistic traits. Linguistic analyses of the most popular songs from 1980–2007 demonstrated changes in word use that mirror psychological change. Over time, use of words related to self-focus and antisocial behavior increased, whereas words related to other-focus, social interactions, and positive emotion decreased. These findings offer novel evidence regarding the need to investigate how changes in the tangible artifacts of the sociocultural environment can provide a window into understanding cultural changes in psychological processes.

We address 3 issues relevant to narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) and the DSM-V. First, we argue that excluding NPD while retaining other traditional personality disorder constructs (e.g., avoidant) makes little sense given the research literature on NPD and trait narcissism and their association with clinically relevant consequences such as aggression, self-enhancement, distorted self-presentation, failed relationships, cognitive biases, and internalizing and externalizing dysregulation. Second, we argue that the DSM-V must include content (in diagnostic form or within a dimensional trait model) that allows for the assessment of both grandiose and vulnerable variants of narcissism. Finally, we suggest that any dimensional classification of personality disorder should recover all of the important component traits of narcissism and be provided with official recognition in the coding system.

The empirical literature on narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is quite sparse with only a small number of studies singularly devoted to this important construct. Of the published articles on NPD, the majority (approximately 80%) are either of a theoretical nature or present data from a case study perspective. There is, however, a thriving and growing literature on trait narcissism. In comparison to NPD, trait narcissism is viewed as a continuous construct in which no attempt is made to make dichotomous decisions of a clinical nature. Recent data suggest that research on trait narcissism is relevant to NPD as self-report scores are substantially correlated with the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed., American Psychiatric Association, 1994) interviews of NPD and generate a five-factor model personality profile that is congruent with expert ratings of prototypical NPD. We review the literature on trait narcissism in relation to implicit and explicit aspects of self-esteem, self-presentation, decision making, relationships, work performance, and externalizing behavior (e.g., aggression). Ultimately, we argue that this literature might be used as a stepping stone toward the development of a better empirical understanding of NPD and its nomological network.

Narcissistic entitlement impedes forgiveness in ways not captured by other robust predictors (e.g., offense severity, apology, relationship closeness, religiosity, Big Five personality factors), as demonstrated in 6 studies. Narcissistic entitlement involves expectations of special treatment and preoccupation with defending one's rights. In Study 1, entitlement predicted less forgiveness and greater insistence on repayment for a past offense. Complementary results emerged from Study 2, which used hypothetical transgressions, and Study 3, which assessed broad forgiveness dispositions. Study 4 examined associations with the Big Five, and Study 5 extended the findings to a laboratory context. Study 6 demonstrated that entitlement predicted diminished increases in forgiveness over time. Taken together, these results suggest that narcissistic entitlement is a robust, distinct predictor of unforgiveness.

Five studies investigated the links among narcissism, self-esteem, and love. Across all studies, narcissism was associated primarily with a game-playing love style. This link was found in reports of general love styles (Study 1a) and of love in ongoing romantic relationships (Studies 1b-3, 5). Narcissists' game-playing love style was the result of a need for power and autonomy (Study 2) and was linked with greater relationship alternatives and lesser commitment (Study 3). Finally, narcissists' self-reports of game playing were confirmed by their partners in past and current relationships (Studies 4, 5). In contrast, self-esteem was negatively linked to manic love and positively linked to passionate love across studies. Implications for the understanding of narcissism in relationships are discussed.

Accommodation refers to the willingness, when a partner has engaged in a potentially destructive behavior, to (a) inhibit impulses toward destructive responding and (b) instead respond constructively. A pilot study and 3 additional studies examined the hypothesis that self-control promotes individuals' ability to accommodate in response to a romantic partner's potentially destructive behavior. Dispositional self-control was positively associated with accommodative tendencies in all 4 investigations. In addition, Study 1 (a retrospective study) and Study 2 (a laboratory experiment) revealed that "in-the-moment" self-regulatory strength depletion decreased the likelihood that an individual would accommodate. Finally, Study 3 demonstrated that self-control exerted a significant effect on accommodation even after the authors included commitment to the relationship in the model. Implications for relationship functioning are discussed.

A model of narcissism and romantic attraction predicts that narcissists will be attracted to admiring individuals and highly positive individuals and relatively less attracted to individuals who offer the potential for emotional intimacy. Five studies supported this model. Narcissists, compared with nonnarcissists, preferred more self-oriented (i.e., highly positive) and less other-oriented (i.e., caring) qualities in an ideal romantic partner (Study 1). Narcissists were also relatively more attracted to admiring and highly positive hypothetical targets and less attracted to caring targets (Studies 2 and 3). Indeed, narcissists displayed a preference for highly positive-noncaring targets compared with caring but not highly positive targets (Study 4). Finally, mediational analyses demonstrated that narcissists' romantic attraction is, in part, the result of a strategy for enhancing self-esteem (Study 5). From the perspective of the modern observer, the ancient Greek myth of Narcissus can be viewed as a tale of romantic attraction. The handsome youth Narcissus wanders the world refusing romantic offers from a variety of eligible others, none of whom he deems worthy of his love. Eventually, he finds himself in a dark wood staring into a pool of water. It is here that he discovers the face of the person he loves staring back at him. This person he so adores is himself. Narcissus's attraction freezes him on the spot; he dies, and eventually turns into a flower. The story of Narcissus yields interesting insights into the nature of narcissism and romantic attraction. The myth suggests that, in the domain of narcissism, romantic attraction is bound up with a focus on the self and a lack of attention to others. The former is evident in Narcissus's gaze at his own reflection, and the latter is evident in his refusal to form relationships with those who desire him. What drives this pattern of romantic attraction in narcissists? The myth of Narcissus suggests that self-love, which in modern psychological terms may be translated as self-enhancem ent (i.e., the desire to maintain or increase the positivity of the selfconcept), underlies narcissists' romantic attraction. The goal of the present research was to understand the relation between narcissism and romantic attraction. Arguably, this brief exposition of the myth of Narcissus reveals a theme central to the romantic life of narcissists, elements of which are an attention to the self, a relative lack of intimate contact with others, and a strategy for self-esteem regulation. I trace this theme through the

This article examined the impact of relationship closeness on the self-serving bias (SSB). Members of relationally distant dyads working on interdependen t-outcomes tasks manifested the SSB: They took credit for dyadic success but blamed the partner for dyadic failure. However, members of relationally close dyads did not manifest the SSB: They did not take more credit than their partner for dyadic success and did not blame the partner more than the self for dyadic failure. This gracious attributional pattern of relationally close dyad members is due, at least in part, to formation of a favorable impression of the partner. Relationship closeness acts as a bound to an individual's selfenhancing tendencies. If more than one person is responsible for a miscalculation, none will be at fault—Murphy's Law

A meta-analysis, a review, and an experiment investigated the effect of arousal on attraction. The meta-analysis examined experiments that manipulated arousal level. Results indicated that arousal affects attraction even when the arousal source is relatively unambiguous. In contrast, a review of experiments that manipulated arousal source ambiguity suggested that arousal exerts a stronger influence on attraction when arousal sources are greater in ambiguity. The authors proposed a judgment and adjustment model that states that arousal automatically affects judgments of attraction but that individuals can correct (i.e., adjust) for this automatic effect when the arousal source is unambiguous. Consistent with this model, an experiment provided evidence that cognitive busyness interferes with the adjustment process.

Comments on the articles by A. E. Skodol et al. (see record 2013-24395-001), E. Ronningstam (see record 2014-42878-005), D. Diamond et al. (see record 2014-42878-004), and A. L. Pincus et al. (see record 2014-01439-001). The tie that binds these four articles together is the respective authors' emphasis on the vulnerability- emotional, self-esteem/ego, interpersonal- that they consider to be central to pathological narcissism. The current authors agree that it is important that the field acknowledge both grandiose and vulnerable aspects of narcissism (e.g., Miller & Campbell, 2008), but they wonder whether the pendulum is now swinging too far back in the direction of vulnerability.