Misperceiving grandiose narcissism as self-esteem: Why narcissists are well liked at zero acquaintance

When people estimate their personal intelligence who is overconfident? Who is accurate?

OBJECTIVE

We explore accurate self-knowledge versus overconfidence in personal intelligence-a "broad" intelligence about personality. The theory of personal intelligence proposes that people vary in their ability to understand the traits, goals, plans, and actions of themselves and others. We wondered who accurately knew that they were higher in personal intelligence and who did not, and whether individuals with more accurate estimates were distinguishable from others in their psychological characteristics.

METHOD

Three archival data sets were identified that included both self-estimates and objective measures of personal intelligence: The measures were the Self-Estimated Personal Intelligence scale and the Test of Personal Intelligence.

RESULTS

People who were over-confident-overestimating their ability-level of personal intelligence-were positive in their outlook and more sociable. People who provided the most accurate self-estimates were higher in verbal and personal intelligences, more open, and more conscientious than others.

CONCLUSIONS

People who were accurate about themselves have not been studied before in this context but may, for example, serve as the monitors and thinkers who help keep themselves and others reasonable and on track.

The "Why" and "How" of Narcissism: A Process Model of Narcissistic Status Pursuit

We propose a self-regulation model of grandiose narcissism. This model illustrates an interconnected set of processes through which narcissists (i.e., individuals with relatively high levels of grandiose narcissism) pursue social status in their moment-by-moment transactions with their environments. The model shows that narcissists select situations that afford status. Narcissists vigilantly attend to cues related to the status they and others have in these situations and, on the basis of these perceived cues, appraise whether they can elevate their status or reduce the status of others. Narcissists engage in self-promotion (admiration pathway) or other-derogation (rivalry pathway) in accordance with these appraisals. Each pathway has unique consequences for how narcissists are perceived by others, thus shaping their social status over time. The model demonstrates how narcissism manifests itself as a stable and consistent cluster of behaviors in pursuit of social status and how it develops and maintains itself over time. More broadly, the model might offer useful insights for future process models of other personality traits.