Narcissistic Acts in Everyday Life
Abstract
This article presents a series of studies on narcissism, a personality syndrome receiving increasing theoretical and practical attention. Four empirical studies were carried out to (a) identify narcissistic acts in everyday life, (b) identify the acts subsumed by dispositions that are seen as central components of narcissism, (c) identify which acts and which dispositions are most and least central to narcissism, (d) test the hypothesis that the conceptually specified component dispositions of the narcissistic personality disorder indeed covary sufficiently to merit the designation of narcissism as a syndrome, (e) identify sex differences in the acts through which narcissism is manifested, (f) validate the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (a major personality instrument developed to assess narcissism), and (g) locate narcissistic act performance within each of three major taxonomies of personality psychology.
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Narcissists often brag and exaggerate their positive attributes to draw attention to their superiority.
“To draw attention to their superiority, narcissists often brag (Buss & Chiodo, 1991) and exaggerate their positive attributes (Collins & Stukas, 2008).”
From The "Why" and "How" of Narcissism: A Process Model of Narcissistic Status Pursuit (2020) · cites this paper as Buss & Chiodo, 1991
Narcissists tend to go out of their way to impress others (e.g., groom appearance, brag, showcase talents).
“Narcissists (i.e., individuals with relatively high levels of grandiose narcissism) tend to go out of their way to impress others: They often groom their appearance to grasp others’ attention (Back, Schmukle, & Egloff, 2010), brag about themselves (Buss & Chiodo, 1991), and showcase their talents and abilities in front of others (Wallace & Baumeister, 2002).”
From The "Why" and "How" of Narcissism: A Process Model of Narcissistic Status Pursuit (2020) · cites this paper as Buss & Chiodo, 1991
Narcissists try to stand out through acts that demonstrate superior competences, such as showing off, publicly succeeding in challenging tasks, or publicly enacting altruistic behaviors when they increase status.
“They might try to demonstrate their superior competences, for example, by showing off in the presence of potentially admiring bystanders (Buss & Chiodo, 1991), by striving to publicly succeed in challenging tasks (Wallace & Baumeister, 2002), or by publicly enacting altruistic behaviors, provided these behaviors increase status (Konrath, Ho, & Zarins, 2016; Konrath & Tian, 2018).”
From The "Why" and "How" of Narcissism: A Process Model of Narcissistic Status Pursuit (2020) · cites this paper as Buss & Chiodo, 1991
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- Authors
- Buss, D. M., & Chiodo, L. M.
- Affiliations
- University of Michigan (US)
- Corresponding author
- Buss, David M.
- Venue
- Journal of Personality
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 1991-06
- Volume
- 59
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 179-215
- ISSN
- 0022-3506 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-6494
- OpenAlex
- W2042400081
- Cited by
- 286
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 23 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 20 · 2016: 17 · 2015: 18 · 2014: 15 · 2013: 13 · 2012: 13
- FWCI
- 2.65
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Personality (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (5r01mh044206-03)
- National Institute of Mental Health (MH-44206-01)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Disorders and Psychopathology
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › History, Medicine, and Leadership
- Keywords
- narcissism, narcissistic personality disorder, Narcissistic Personality Inventory, personality dispositions, sex differences, personality taxonomy, daily behavior
- MeSH terms
- Empathy, Exhibitionism, Female, Humans, Male, Narcissism, Personality, Personality Disorders, Personality Inventory, Self Concept, Sex Factors
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