کمال گرایی چند بعدی و خودشیفتگی: بزرگ و یا آسیب پذیر؟

Multidimensional perfectionism is related to grandiose narcissism, with other-oriented perfectionism showing the strongest, most consistent relationships. The relationships with vulnerable narcissism, however, are unclear. Our study investigated how three forms of perfectionism—self-oriented, other-oriented, and socially prescribed perfectionism (Hewitt & Flett, 1991)—are related to narcissistic grandiosity and vulnerability. A sample of 375 university students completed the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (Raskin & Terry, 1988), Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale (Hendin & Cheek, 1997), and Pathological Narcissism Inventory (Pincus et al., 2009) capturing various facets of narcissistic grandiosity and vulnerability. Multiple regressions were conducted controlling for the overlap between the three forms of perfectionism and gender. Other-oriented perfectionism showed unique positive relationships with key facets of grandiose narcissism. In contrast, socially prescribed perfectionism showed positive relationships with all facets of vulnerable narcissism. Self- and other-oriented perfectionism showed positive relationships with individual facets only. Other-oriented perfectionism appears to represent a form of perfectionism predominantly related to narcissistic grandiosity, whereas socially prescribed perfectionism is predominantly related to narcissistic vulnerability. As the first study to examine perfectionism in relation to narcissistic grandiosity and vulnerability, our research both extends and clarifies the nomological network of the perfectionism construct in important ways.

1.1. Multidimensional perfectionism Perfectionism is a personality trait characterized by striving for flawlessness, setting exceedingly high standards of performance, and evaluating one’s behavior in an overly critical way (Flett and Hewitt, 2002 and Frost et al., 1990). Evidence suggests perfectionism is best conceptualized as multidimensional (Enns & Cox, 2002), with different forms of perfectionism each having their own unique characteristics. One of the most influential and widely researched conceptualizations of multidimensional perfectionism is Hewitt and Flett’s (1991) model, which differentiates three forms of perfectionism: self-oriented, other-oriented, and socially prescribed. Self-oriented perfectionism comprises internally motivated beliefs that striving for perfection and being perfect are important. Self-oriented perfectionists have exceedingly high personal standards, strive for perfection, expect to be perfect, and are highly self-critical if they fail to meet these expectations. In contrast, other-oriented perfectionism comprises internally motivated beliefs that it is important for others to strive for perfection and be perfect. Other-oriented perfectionists expect others to be perfect, and are highly critical of others who fail to meet these expectations. Finally, socially prescribed perfectionism comprises externally motivated beliefs that striving for perfection and being perfect are important to others. Socially prescribed perfectionists believe that others expect them to be perfect, and that others will be highly critical of them if they fail to meet their expectations (Hewitt and Flett, 1991 and Hewitt and Flett, 2004).

Our study represents the first study of multidimensional perfectionism and narcissism differentiating grandiose and vulnerable narcissism, and makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the perfectionism–narcissism relationships. In particular, our results indicate that self-oriented, other-oriented, and socially prescribed perfectionism differ with respect to grandiose and vulnerable narcissism. Whereas all three forms of perfectionism showed unique positive relationships with individual aspects of narcissistic grandiosity and vulnerability, other-oriented perfectionism was predominantly related to grandiose narcissism and socially prescribed perfectionism was predominantly related to vulnerable narcissism.