This experiment aimed to identify narcissistic risk factors for aggression. Grandiose narcissism, the more familiar form of narcissism involving overt assertion of personal superiority, was differentiated from vulnerable narcissism, which is found in people who present themselves as shy and humble. Aggression was measured in multiple ways, including laboratory behavior, self-report measures (reaction to provocation and proactive, instrumental aggression were measured separately), and hormonal reactivity (testosterone). Grandiose narcissism predicted behavioral, reactive, and proactive aggression and testosterone response. Vulnerable narcissism predicted self-reported aggression but was irrelevant to behavior and testosterone. Thus, testosterone responses in aggression depend on both situational context and trait, and grandiose narcissism may contribute more than vulnerable narcissism to externalizing aggression.
Reactive aggression refers to uncontrolled or impulsive outbursts of anger that serve as a defensive reaction to provocation or frustration. In contrast, proactive aggression is relatively non-emotional, often premeditated or planned, and is typically used to gain extrinsic benefits such as money and power (Dodge & Coie, 1987). Individuals can engage in both types of aggression, which should be considered as separate dimensions (Poulin & Boivin, 2000). While situational factors like emotional states (Baumeister & Lobbestael, 2011) have proven valuable in explaining aggression, Anderson and Bushman, 1997 and Anderson and Bushman, 2002 General Aggression Model highlights the role of dispositional factors. Accordingly, the current study focused on narcissism as a predictor of reactive and proactive aggression.
Two types of narcissism have been distinguished: grandiose and vulnerable. Both share a cognitive-affective preoccupation with the self, a tendency to give into one’s own needs, and disregard for others. Grandiose narcissists are self-assured extraverts who are preoccupied with receiving attention and admiration from others. In contrast, feelings of grandeur remain largely unconscious in vulnerable narcissists, who present themselves as timid and insecure and as lacking in self-confidence (Wink, 1991). Factor and cluster analyses denoted grandiose and vulnerable narcissism as separate constructs (e.g., Lapsley & Aalsma, 2006). Furthermore, grandiose narcissism is correlated with high self-esteem, high life-satisfaction, Cluster B personality disorder traits, and domineering interpersonal problems. In comparison, vulnerable narcissism is correlated with avoidant and depressive personality disorders and depression (Dickinson and Pincus, 2003, Miller et al., 2010, Rose, 2002 and Watson et al., 1987).
Narcissism has long been linked to aggression (Kernberg, 1975). Grandiose narcissists are generally described as bossy, aggressive, and cruel (Wink, 1991). Grandiose narcissism has been linked to reactive aggression through the concept of threatened egotism, where aggression is designated as a defensive response when the highly favorable self-view is challenged by less favorable external appraisals (Baumeister & Boden, 1998). This view was supported by studies linking grandiose narcissism to aggression after provocation (e.g., Bushman and Baumeister, 1998 and Bushman et al., 2009), although others could not replicate these findings (Cale and Lilienfeld, 2006 and Martinez et al., 2008). Yet other studies have found a relationship between grandiose narcissism and both reactive and proactive aggression (e.g., Fossati et al., 2010, Reidy et al., 2010 and Seah and Ang, 2008). Theoretically, vulnerable narcissists are also described as defensive, hostile, and insisting upon having their own way (Wink, 1991). The only experimental study that has been conducted found a unique relationship between vulnerable narcissism and reactive aggression (Fossati et al., 2010). Taken together, these findings suggest that both grandiose and vulnerable narcissism could motivate reactive aggression in order to defend a positive self-view, while the instrumental, proactive use of aggression seems linked to grandiose narcissism only. The present study investigated all links between the two narcissism types and the two aggression types.
An additional goal of the current study was to assess hormonal correlates (i.e. testosterone) of narcissism and aggression. Testosterone is a steroid hormone involved in the reproductive and immune systems. It forms the end-product of the hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal axis (Johnson, Kamilaris, Chrousos, & Gold, 1992). While empirical findings on the relationship between testosterone and self-reported aggression in human adults can be considered controversial (see Archer, 2006), some findings suggest a more consistent relationship between testosterone and dominance-related attributes like toughness, personalized power, and over-ranking oneself relative to peers (see Archer, 2006). Given the close relationship between dominance and grandiose narcissism (Raskin et al., 1991a and Raskin et al., 1991b) we expected grandiose narcissism to be related to increased testosterone in response to provocation. Because testosterone has been shown to fluctuate in reaction to environmental cues such as challenge and competition (see Archer, 2006), we hypothesized that grandiose narcissism may be related to increased testosterone levels while engaging in aggressive behavior.
The current study examined how narcissism contributes to aggression and to hormonal testosterone changes while engaging in aggressive behavior. We measured both grandiose and vulnerable narcissism, and both reactive and proactive aggression, with self-report scales. We also used a behavioral aggression measure and collected testosterone data before and after the behavioral manipulation. The unique aspects of this study are that aggression was assessed with both self-report and direct behavioral observation, and that hormonal changes in testosterone were assessed while participants were engaging in an aggressive task. Our predictions were that both grandiose and vulnerable narcissism would be related to higher levels of aggression, and grandiose narcissism in particular would be associated with greater increases in testosterone while engaging in aggressive behavior.
