Narcissists as "Victims": the role of narcissism in the perception of transgressions

Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 2003 Jul;29(7):885-93. doi: 10.1177/0146167203029007007.

Abstract

Narcissism is a set of traits that are motivated by the desire to establish and maintain a grandiose self-image. Consistent with this conceptualization, the authors hypothesized that narcissistic people perceive themselves to be the victims of other people's inter-personal transgressions more frequently than do less narcissistic people. In a 14-day diary study, the authors found that narcissism (particularly in its exploitiveness/entitlement dimension) was associated positively with the number and frequency of transgressions that respondents reported. The narcissism-victimization relationship appears to result, at least in part, from biased recall or self-presentation. The exploitiveness/entitlement dimension of narcissism may be particularly useful for explaining why narcissistic people report higher rates of interpersonal transgressions in their daily lives.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Aggression / psychology
  • Crime Victims / psychology*
  • Defense Mechanisms
  • Female
  • Hostility
  • Humans
  • Internal-External Control
  • Interpersonal Relations
  • Male
  • Mental Recall
  • Narcissism*
  • Personality Inventory
  • Self Concept
  • Social Perception*
  • Students / psychology