Narcissistic defensiveness: hypervigilance and avoidance of worthlessness
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Individual narcissists unconsciously engage in vigilant scanning for ego-threatening information, which they subsequently repress.
“Experimental studies show that individual narcissists unconsciously engage in vigilant scanning for ego-threatening information, which they subsequently repress (Horvath & Morf, 2009).”
From Collective Narcissism: Political Consequences of Investing Self‐Worth in the Ingroup’s Image (2019) · cites this paper as Horvath & Morf, 2009
When primed with failure, narcissists tend to be faster than nonnarcissists in recognizing words associated with worthlessness.
“Attesting to this, when primed with failure, narcissists tend to be faster than nonnarcissists in recognizing words associated with worthlessness—a finding suggestive of higher vigilance in encoding cues related to the loss of status (Horvath & Morf, 2009).”
From The "Why" and "How" of Narcissism: A Process Model of Narcissistic Status Pursuit (2020) · cites this paper as Horvath & Morf, 2009
Vigilance has not been studied in relation to narcissism.
“By contrast, despite theoretical propositions (e.g., Cisek et al., 2014) and indirect evidence (e.g., Horvath & Morf, 2009) vigilance has not been studied in relation to narcissism.”
From The "Why" and "How" of Narcissism: A Process Model of Narcissistic Status Pursuit (2020) · cites this paper as Horvath & Morf, 2009
In a non-clinical sample, subjects with the highest levels of narcissism demonstrated hypervigilance for information conveying worthlessness, but were apparently unaware of this information.
“Analogously, Horvath and Morf [31] found that in a non-clinical sample the subjects with the highest levels of narcissism demonstrated hypervigilance for information conveying worthlessness, but were also apparently unaware of this information.”
From Symptom severity and mindreading in narcissistic personality disorder. (2018) · cites this paper as [31]
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The "Why" and "How" of Narcissism: A Process Model of Narcissistic Status Pursuit
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“By contrast, despite theoretical propositions (e.g., Cisek et al., 2014) and indirect evidence (e.g., Horvath & Morf, 2009) vigilance has not been studied in relation to narcissism.”
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“Experimental studies show that individual narcissists unconsciously engage in vigilant scanning for ego-threatening information, which they subsequently repress (Horvath & Morf, 2009).”
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Symptom severity and mindreading in narcissistic personality disorder.
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The role of identity instability in the relationship between narcissism and emotional empathy.
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Pathological Narcissism and Emotional Responses to Rejection: The Impact of Adult Attachment
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- Authors
- Horvath, S., & Morf, C. C.
- Affiliations
- University of Bern (CH)
- Corresponding author
- Horvath, Stephan
- ORCID
- Horvath, Stephan
- Venue
- Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2009-11
- Volume
- 45
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1252-1258
- ISSN
- 0022-1031 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2116207427
- Cited by
- 130
- References
- 50
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 6.02
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Experimental Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
- Bern Open Repository and Information System (University of Bern) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Emotions and Moral Behavior
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
- Keywords
- narcissism, worthlessness, hypervigilance, ego threat, self-regulation, automatic processes, grandiosity, priming, self-perception
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