An examination of the relationship between vulnerable and grandiose narcissism, affective neuroscience personality traits, and theory of mind

The aim of the present study is to investigate how the vulnerable and grandiose dimensions of narcissistic personality structure relate to Theory of Mind (ToM) abilities and primary emotion systems. Earlier—yet limited—research on the cognitive and affective correlates of narcissism has suggested that marked differences may exist between these constructs. Accordingly, data collected from 541 participants using the Pathological Narcissism Inventory, the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test, and the Short Form of the Affective Neuroscience Personality Scale were analysed through Independent-Samples t-tests, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Welch's test, correlation coefficients, and multiple linear regression. Results indicated that vulnerable narcissism scores were higher among women. Moreover, vulnerable narcissism was significantly negatively associated with ToM scores, and significantly positively associated with the SADNESS, FEAR, and ANGER systems. This pattern suggests that vulnerable narcissism is characterised by heightened sensitivity to negative emotions and by weaknesses in empathic processing. By contrast, grandiose narcissism was significantly positively associated with the SEEKING and PLAY systems, and significantly negatively associated with both ToM scores and the FEAR system. These results indicate that grandiose narcissism involves reward-oriented, socially outgoing tendencies, yet displays deficiencies in empathic processes.