Key points
A new study has examined the relationship between a specific type of narcissism, called vulnerable narcissism, and harmful interpersonal behavior.
Vulnerable narcissists exhibit hypersensitivity to rejection, social isolation, negative emotions, distrust, and increased anger and hostility.
The study found that those who scored higher on vulnerable narcissism were more likely to fear being ridiculed and more likely to ridicule others.
Narcissism is typically characterized by selfishness, a sense of entitlement, a lack of empathy, and a strong need for admiration.
A new study published in Personality and Individual Differences has examined the relationship between a specific type of narcissism, called vulnerable narcissism, and a variety of harmful interpersonal behaviors.
“Vulnerable narcissism is broadly defined in terms of hypersensitivity to rejection, negative emotions, social isolation, distrust of others, and increased levels of anger and hostility,” says study co-author Ana Blasco-Belide of the University of Girona in Spain. “We came up with the idea of testing the relationship between vulnerable narcissism and the tendency toward sarcasm and laughter.”
To better understand this phenomenon, the researchers invited more than 400 college students to fill out questionnaires that measured their levels of vulnerable narcissism as well as their perceptions of situations involving sarcasm and laughter. The questionnaires targeted three types of behavior:
People’s fear of being ridiculed or being the subject of ridicule.
The potential feeling of joy and/or reward when they are ridiculed.
And the feeling of pleasure in exploiting and humiliating others through sarcasm.
The researchers found that people who scored higher on the vulnerable narcissism scale were more likely to fear being made fun of and were more likely to enjoy laughing at others. Vulnerable narcissists were also more likely to report using isolation and social withdrawal as ways to avoid interactions in which they might feel vulnerable, ashamed, or inferior.
“Vulnerable narcissism is an internal trait, meaning it is characterized by high levels of neuroticism and low levels of agreeableness and openness,” says Blasko-Bild. “The internal experience of inadequacy or the paranoid fear of criticism and rejection is something that is ‘built-in’ in vulnerable narcissists.”
The study identified two other key dimensions of vulnerable narcissism, neurotic introversion, and hostility, which are described below.
Neurotic introversion – the social avoidance and withdrawal that vulnerable narcissists use to avoid revealing their vulnerable selves by hiding their feelings and assessments of inferiority, shame, and envy toward others
Neurotic hostility – projecting aggressive feelings onto others and trying to express their feelings in secret
The authors highlight how vulnerable narcissists’ behaviors can have several harmful effects, including depression, anxiety, withdrawal, feelings of hostility, and social ostracism – and provide a compelling example of how vulnerable narcissism manifests itself in the workplace.
“To describe this, let’s introduce a vulnerable narcissistic colleague and call him Vladi,” says Blasko-Bild. “Vladi will think: ‘I’m really afraid that someone will hurt me, but I also want people to like me.’ (This represents the high psychological fragility and deserved expectations of vulnerable narcissism.) However, people don’t show signs of admiration towards me (because vulnerable narcissists anticipate others’ reactions but don’t do anything until the reactions appear), so I feel ashamed. As a result of negative self-evaluation, Vladi engages in aggressive behaviors against himself and others.
