Narcissists are people who feed off the energy of others. They draw on the people around them to boost their self-esteem. As a result, they are unusually selfish. If you have a narcissistic boss, it can be very difficult. Narcissists are reluctant to share credit with others.

One question about narcissists is whether they are also prone to aggressive and violent reactions toward others when their self-esteem is threatened. This issue was explored in a research paper by Zlatan Krizan and Umesh Johar in the May 2015 issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

The researchers suggest that there are two subtypes of narcissism:

The first is grandiose narcissism, which is characterized by people having a high opinion of themselves. Grandiose narcissists believe that others care about them and that others should listen to them. One of the most common personality tests used to identify narcissists, the Narcissistic Personality Test, measures grandiose narcissism.

The second subtype is vulnerable narcissism, in which people are selfish but also defensive and resentful of others.

This new set of studies suggests that vulnerable narcissism leads to aggressive and violent reactions toward others, while grandiose narcissism does not.

In one study, participants were given several personality inventories, including one designed to test grandiose narcissism and another designed to test vulnerable narcissism. Participants filled out scales measuring levels of physical and verbal aggression, as well as anger and hostility toward others. The researchers also measured individuals’ tendency to feel shame.

Vulnerable narcissists were more likely than grandiose narcissists to feel shame, to feel that their self-esteem was affected by others’ beliefs, and to feel anger and rage toward others. Grandiose narcissists were also more likely than vulnerable narcissists to feel entitled and to try to exploit others.

A second study examined aggression in the laboratory. Participants were measured on scales of grandiose and vulnerable narcissism. Participants were told that the study focused on food preferences. They were told that they were paired with a partner sitting in another room. First, an unseen partner would choose a food for them to taste, and then they would choose a food for their partner to taste. The first stage of the study was designed to elicit a response from participants. They were told that their partner would choose a bitter drink for them to taste. They were told that their partner could offer them a slightly bitter or strongly bitter drink, and they could choose how much the person would taste. One group of participants was given three ounces of the strongly bitter drink. This was expected to make the participant feel that their partner disliked them. A second group of participants was given three ounces of the slightly bitter drink. This condition served as a control. All participants were asked to drink whatever they were given, and all did. Participants who drank the bitterest drink felt it was unpleasant. Participants rated how annoyed they were with the other person, as well as how angry they were toward that person and how trustworthy they were.

In the second phase of the study, participants selected a hot sauce for a second person to drink. They could choose the amounts from two bottles, one of very hot pepper sauce and the other of mild. Participants tasted a few sauces to see how unpleasant the hot sauce was. The idea was that the more aggressive a participant felt toward their partner, the more hot sauce they wanted to drink.

Participants who drank the bitter drink were more annoyed with their partner than those who drank the mild drink. As a result, people who drank the bitter drink were more likely to give the hot sauce to the other person than those who drank the mild drink. People high in vulnerable narcissism who drank the bitter drink were more likely to give the hot sauce to the other person. Vulnerable narcissists who drank the bitter drink were also angrier and less trustworthy of the other person. However, grandiose narcissism did not predict aggression toward the other person or ratings of anger or trust.

These studies suggest that there are two distinct subtypes of narcissists:

Those whose narcissism reflects a sense of self-importance tend to exploit others, but they do not tend to act aggressively or violently toward others.
Those whose narcissism reflects feelings of defensiveness and resentment feel shame when their self-esteem is threatened, and they tend to respond to these threats with anger and aggression.