Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Characterizing Pathological Narcissism in Terms of the HEXACO Model of Personality

  • Published:
Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study investigated the grandiose and vulnerable subscales of the Pathological Narcissism Inventory (PNI; Pincus et al. (Psychological Assessment, 21, 365-379, 2009)) in the context of the HEXACO model of personality. Based upon previous research, we predicted that grandiose aspects of narcissism would be related to high extraversion, low emotionality, and low agreeableness, while vulnerable aspects of narcissism would be associated with low extraversion, high emotionality, and low agreeableness (Miller and Campbell (Journal of Personality, 76, 449-476, 2008)). We also examined whether the honesty-humility domain helped differentiate between the two aspects of narcissism. We predicted that grandiose aspects of narcissism would be related to low levels of honesty-humility because of a tendency to exploit others, while vulnerable aspects of narcissism would be unrelated to honesty-humility. Our predictions were supported for the vulnerable subscale of the PNI for both zero-order and partial effects. However, for the grandiose subscale, our predictions were only supported when controlling for covariance between the PNI subscales and the HEXACO domains.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Due to a clerical error, a 5 point scale was used instead of the 6 point scale in the original PNI (Pincus et al. 2009).

References

  • Ashton, M. C., & Lee, K. (2001). A theoretical basis for the major dimension of personality. European Journal of Personality, 15, 327–353.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ashton, M. C., & Lee, K. (2005). Honesty-humility, the big five and the five factor model. Journal of Personality, 73, 1321–1354.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ashton, M. C., & Lee, K. (2007). Empirical, theoretical, and practical advantages of the HEXACO model of personality structure. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 11, 150–166.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Atlas, G. D., & Them, M. A. (2008). Narcissism and sensitivity to criticism: a preliminary investigation. Current Psychology, 27, 62–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bushman, B. J., & Baumeister, R. F. (1998). Threatened egotism, narcissism, self-esteem, and direct and displaced aggression: does self-love or self-hate lead to violence? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 219–229.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cain, N. M., Pincus, A. L., & Ansell, E. B. (2008). Narcissism at the crossroads: Phenotypic descriptions of pathological narcissism across clinical theory, social/personality psychology, and psychiatric diagnosis. Clinical Psychology Review, 28, 638–656.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, W. K., Bonacci, A. M., Shelton, J., Exline, J. J., & Bushman, B. J. (2004). Psychological entitlement: Interpersonal consequences and validation of a self-report measure. Journal of Personality Assessment, 83, 29–45.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Costa, P. T., & McCrae, R. R. (1992). Revised NEO personality inventory (NEO-PI-R) and NEO five-factor inventory (NEO-FFI) professional manual. Luts: PAR, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foster, J. D., Campbell, W. K., & Twenge, J. M. (2003). Individual differences in narcissism: inflated self-views across the lifespan and around the world. Journal of Research in Personality, 37, 469–486.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hendin, H. M., & Cheek, J. M. (1997). Assessing hypersensitive narcissism: a reexamination of Murray’s narcism scale. Journal of Research in Personality, 31, 588–599.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, K., & Ashton, M. C. (2005). Psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and Narcissism in the five-factor model and the HEXACO model of personality structure. Personality and Individual Differences, 38, 1571–1582.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, K., & Ashton, M. C. (2007). HEXACO personality inventory—revised. Unpublished instrument.

  • Miller, J. D., & Campbell, W. K. (2008). Comparing clinical and social-personality conceptualizations of narcissism. Journal of Personality, 76, 449–476.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, J. D., Gaughan, E. T., Pryor, L. R., Kamen, C., & Campbell, W. K. (2009). Is research using the narcissistic personality inventory relevant for understanding narcissistic personality disorder? Journal of Research in Personality, 43, 482–488.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nurse, R. A. (1998). The dependent/narcissistic couple. In J. Carlson & L. Sperry (Eds.), The disordered couple (pp. 315–331). Philadelphia: Brunner/ Mazel. O’Connor, B.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paunonen, S. V., & Ashton, M. C. (2001). Big five factors and facets and the prediction of behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 524–539.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pincus, A. L., & Lukowitsky, M. R. (2010). Pathological narcissism and narcissistic personality disorder. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 6, 421–446.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pincus, A. L., Ansell, E. B., Pimentel, C. A., Cain, N. M., Wright, G. C., & Levy, K. N. (2009). Initial construction and validation of the pathological narcissism inventory. Psychological Assessment, 21, 365–379.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Raskin, R., & Terry, H. (1988). A principal-component analysis of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory and further evidence of its construct validity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 809–902.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rhodewalt, F., Madrian, J. C., & Cheney, S. (1998). Narcissism, self-knowledge organization and emotional reactivity: the effect of daily experiences on self-esteem and affect. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24, 75–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ruiz, J. M., Smith, T. W., & Rhodewalt, F. (2001). Distinguishing narcissism and hostility: Similarities and differences in interpersonal circumplex and five-factor correlates. Journal of Personality Assessment, 76, 537–555.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Samuel, D. B., & Widiger, T. A. (2008a). Convergence of narcissism measures from the perspective of general personality functioning. Assessment, 15, 364–374.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Samuel, D. B., & Widiger, T. A. (2008b). A meta-analytic review of the relationship between the five-factor model and DSM-IV-TR personality disorders: a facet level analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 28, 1326–1342.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Saulsman, L. M., & Page, A. C. (2005). Corrigendum to the five-factor model and personality disorder empirical literature: a meta-analytic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 25, 383–394.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sedikides, C., Rudich, E. A., Gregg, A. P., Kumashiro, M., & Rusbult, C. (2004). Are normal narcissists psychologically healthy?: Self-esteem matters. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 87, 400–416.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Stinson, F. S., Dawson, D. A., Goldstein, R. B., Chou, S. P., Huang, B., Smith, S. M., et al. (2008). Prevalence, correlates, disability, and comorbidity of DSM-IV narcissistic personality disorder: results from the wave 2 national epidemiologic survey on alcohol and related conditions. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 69, 1033–1045.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tritt, S. M., Ryder, A. G., Ring, A. J., & Pincus, A. L. (2010). Pathological narcissism and the depressive temperament. Journal of Affective Disorders, 122, 280–284.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Twenge, J. M., Konrath, S., Foster, J. D., Campbell, W. K., & Bushman, B. J. (2008). Egos inflating over time: a cross-temporal meta-analysis of the narcissistic personality inventory. Journal of Personality, 76, 875–902.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Watson, P. J. (2005). Complexity of narcissism and a continuum of self-esteem regulation. In M. Maj, H. S. Akiskal, J. E. Mezzich, & A. Okasha (Eds.), Evidence and experience of psychiatry volume 8: Personality disorders (pp. 336–338). New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wink, P. (1991). Two faces of narcissism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 590–597.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wright, A. G. C., Lukowitsky, M. R., Pincus, A. L., & Conroy, D. E. (2010). The higher order factor structure and gender invariance of the Pathological Narcissism Inventory. Assessment. doi:10.1177/1073191110373227.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychology Department, North Dakota State University, 2765, P.O. Box 6050, Fargo, ND, 58108-6050, USA

    Konrad Bresin & Kathryn H. Gordon

Authors
  1. Konrad Bresin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Kathryn H. Gordon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Konrad Bresin.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bresin, K., Gordon, K.H. Characterizing Pathological Narcissism in Terms of the HEXACO Model of Personality. J Psychopathol Behav Assess 33, 228–235 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-010-9210-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-010-9210-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation