Hunting lovers: Narcissists keep trophies from their past relationships

The common psychological core in grandiose and vulnerable narcissism is a sense of oneself being special and better than others. It has been shown that this need may be satisfied through relationships with attractive and successful partners. We propose that after dissolving romantic relationships, both grandiose and vulnerable narcissistic individuals may want to keep inanimate objects associated with their ex-partners as symbols of their mating success (i.e., trophies). Consistent with this hypothesis, the results of two cross-sectional correlational studies (N = 330 and N = 414) showed that while grandiose and vulnerable narcissism are not related to the nostalgic value of keepsakes from past relationships, they predict the perception of these objects as trophies. The effect holds when controlled for gender and self-esteem. We further discuss the mechanism by which “trophy keepsakes” may bolster positive self-views in both grandiose and vulnerable narcissistic individuals.