Narcissistic Processes: Optimistic Expectations, Favorable Self‐Evaluations, and Self‐Enhancing Attributions

Abstract

Three studies investigated the relationship between narcissism (as measured by the Narcissistic Personality Inventory; Raskin & Hall, 1979) and three forms of self‐enhancement. In Study 1, narcissism positively correlated with predictions of own final course grades, but not with actual grades received. In Study 2, narcissism positively correlated with estimated current course grades; high narcissists tended to overestimate their grades, while low narcissists tended to underestimate them. In Study 3, narcissism was associated with optimistic expectations for own performance on a laboratory interdependence task and with attributions of a successful task outcome to own ability and effort, but it did not correlate with attributions to a partner’s ability or effort, suggesting self‐aggrandizement but not other‐derogation. Narcissism was also associated with weaker gratitude and liking. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for the origins and generality of self‐enhancement and for the relationship between narcissism and self‐functioning in the social domain.