Impulsivity mediates the association between narcissism and substance-related problems beyond the degree of substance use: a longitudinal observational study.

BACKGROUND: Narcissism has been implied as a putative risk factor for substance use disorders (SUDs). However, previous research did not disentangle the degree of substance use from substance-related problems, the symptoms of SUDs. This preregistered study addressed the open question whether grandiose and vulnerable narcissism and their constituent traits convey specific SUD risk, that is, explain substance-related problems beyond the degree of use. Furthermore, we tested whether impulsivity or substance use motives linked to narcissistic self-regulation mediate this association. METHODS: Narcissism, impulsivity, substance use motives, past-year substance use, and substance-related problems were assessed in 139 (poly-)substance users, 121 of whom completed a one-year follow-up. For significant longitudinal associations between narcissism factors and substance-related problems controlled for the degree of use, we tested impulsivity and substance use motives as mediators. RESULTS: Grandiose narcissism (r =.24, p =.007) and its constituent factors antagonistic (r =.27, p =.003) and agentic narcissism (r =.18, p =.050), but not vulnerable narcissism, prospectively predicted substance-related problems beyond the degree of substance use. Associations of grandiose narcissism and antagonistic narcissism with substance-related problems were fully mediated by impulsivity, but not substance use motives. Impulsivity explained roughly one third of the association of both grandiose (P̂M = 0.30) and antagonistic narcissism (P̂M = 0.26) with substance-related problems. DISCUSSION: We demonstrate that grandiose narcissism- particularly antagonistic but also agentic narcissism- is specifically linked to substance-related problems beyond the degree of substance use. The mediating effect of impulsivity but not substance use motives suggests that impulsivity may be a more important mechanism than narcissistic self-regulation in promoting SUD in narcissism. However, future studies may use more targeted measures than substance use motives to further probe the role of self-regulation. Similar result patterns for alcohol compared to all substances together indicate that mechanisms may be alike across substances. In conclusion, narcissistic individuals may not use substances more but have a higher SUD risk, informing prevention and treatment.

Do highly sensitive persons display hypersensitive narcissism? Similarities and differences in the nomological networks of sensory processing sensitivity and vulnerable narcissism.

BACKGROUND: Individuals with high sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) ("highly sensitive persons") are thought to be easily excitable and overwhelmed, highly attentive to aesthetic impressions, and particularly sensitive to sensory stimulation. Public discourse suggests that those who describe themselves as highly sensitive see themselves as fundamentally different from others, and view their personality as a gift and a burden. From a clinical personality perspective, high sensitivity could be considered to have substantial overlaps with hypersensitive narcissism, or generally vulnerable narcissism. METHOD: We investigated the associations and shared nomological networks between high sensitivity and hypersensitive narcissism in two studies using convenience and representative samples (n1 = 280, n2 = 310). RESULTS: There is evidence for replicable associations between SPS and hypersensitive (.53 ≤ r ≤ .54) as well as vulnerable narcissism (.44 ≤ r ≤ .54), associations were not attributable to general neuroticism. Nomological networks were similar and pointed to a neurotic-introverted personality profile with reduced personality functioning. Latent class analyses further pointed to substantial and practically relevant person-level covariance. CONCLUSION: Sensory processing sensitivity and hypersensitive narcissism are substantially related constructs. For clinicians, this points to the importance of being attentive to narcissistic self-regulatory strategies in individuals presenting as highly sensitive.

The nonlinear association between grandiose and vulnerable narcissism: An individual data meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Narcissism can manifest in grandiose and vulnerable patterns of experience and behavior. While largely unrelated in the general population, individuals with clinically relevant narcissism are thought to display both. Our previous studies showed that trait measures of grandiosity and vulnerability were unrelated at low-to-moderate levels of grandiose narcissism, but related at high levels. METHOD: We replicate and extend these findings in a preregistered individual data meta-analysis ("mega-analysis") using data from the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI)/Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale (HSNS; N = 10,519, k = 28) and the Five-Factor Narcissism Inventory (FFNI; N = 7,738, k = 17). RESULTS: There was strong evidence for the hypothesis in the FFNI (ßGrandiose < 1 SD  = .08, ßGrandiose > 1 SD  = .36, ßGrandiose > 2 SD  = .53), and weaker evidence in the NPI/HSNS (ßGrandiose < 1 SD  = .00, ßGrandiose > 1 SD  = .12, ßGrandiose > 2 SD  = .32). Nonlinearity increased with age but was invariant across other moderators. Higher vulnerability was predicted by elevated antagonistic and low agentic narcissism at subfactor level. CONCLUSION: Narcissistic vulnerability increases at high levels of grandiosity. Interpreted along Whole Trait Theory, the effects are thought to reflect state changes echoing in trait measures and can help to link personality and clinical models.

Lay theories of grandiose and vulnerable narcissism.

In public discourse, narcissism is often portrayed one-sidedly and overly negative, rendering a picture of narcissistic individuals as "toxic people" or "evil characters". Beyond these salient associations, psychological theories point to a more complex phenomenon, and different developmental mechanisms are being discussed in relation to it. We investigated the prevalence of different implicit theories on narcissism including beliefs about its developmental antecedents. We put forward the question whether grandiose and vulnerable narcissistic behaviors are regarded as congruent or incongruent expressions of underlying feelings and motives, that is whether grandiose behavior is attributed to underlying grandiosity or underlying vulnerability, and vice versa. Results of an online survey (N = 177) show higher agreement with congruent rather than incongruent theories (i.e., grandiose narcissism is attributed to feelings of superiority rather than inferiority, vulnerable narcissism is attributed to inferiority rather than superiority). In line with this, participants displayed predominant beliefs in parental overvaluation as a developmental antecedent of grandiose narcissism/parental coldness as an antecedent of vulnerable narcissism. With higher self-reported prior knowledge of narcissism, endorsement of theories assuming incongruencies increased. The likability of narcissism was not associated with endorsement of the different implicit theories, but instead with perceivers' own narcissism levels. Results suggest that laypeople employ an "it is what it seems" - heuristic facing both grandiose and vulnerable narcissistic behaviors and are less likely to attribute grandiose or vulnerable behavior to incongruent motivational states. Findings might help to better understand the public image of narcissism and its social consequences. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-020-01296-w.

Brain activation during social cognition predicts everyday perspective-taking: A combined fMRI and ecological momentary assessment study of the social brain.

Identifying distinct neural networks underlying social affect (empathy, compassion) and social cognition (Theory of Mind) has advanced our understanding of social interactions. However, little is known about the relation of activation in these networks to psychological experience in daily life. This study (N = 122) examined the ecological validity of neural activation patterns induced by a laboratory paradigm of social affect and cognition with respect to social interactions in everyday life. We used the EmpaToM task, a naturalistic video-based paradigm for the assessment of empathy, compassion, and Theory of Mind, and combined it with a subsequent 14-day ecological momentary assessment protocol on social interactions. Everyday social affect was predicted by social affect experienced during the EmpaToM task, but not by related neural activation in regions of interest from the social affect network. In contrast, everyday social cognition was predicted by neural activation differences in the medial prefrontal cortex - a region of interest from the social cognition network - but not by social cognition performance in the EmpaToM task. The relationship between medial prefrontal cortex activation and everyday social cognition was stronger for spontaneous rather than deliberate perspective taking during the EmpaToM task, pointing to a distinction between propensity and capacity in social cognition. Finally, this neural indicator of Theory of Mind explained variance in everyday social cognition to a similar extent as an established self-report scale. Taken together, this study provides evidence for the ecological validity of lab-based social affect and cognition paradigms when considering relevant moderating factors.

Narcissism in independent and interdependent cultures.

Narcissism can manifest in a grandiose form - admiration-seeking, exhibitionism, and dominance - or a vulnerable form - anxiety, withdrawal, and hypersensitivity. While grandiose narcissism is conceptually in line with an independent self-construal, as prevalent in Western countries, the vulnerable form can be assumed to relate more to an interdependent self-construal, as prevalent in Eastern countries. We studied both forms of narcissism in Germany and Japan (Ns = 258, 280), which differ fundamentally in their independent and interdependent self-construal, yet are similar regarding global developmental standards. We tested whether (1) mean differences in both narcissism forms would conform to the predominant self-construal, (2) self-construal would explain variance in narcissism beyond broad personality traits, and (3) there would be stronger mental health tradeoffs for culturally incongruent forms of narcissism. Our results largely confirm these expectations for vulnerable narcissism, which is (1) more prevalent in Japan than Germany, (2) related to self-construal beyond broad traits, and, (3) more strongly related to mental health problems in Germany than Japan. For grandiose narcissism, data analyses indicated that construct equivalence can only be assumed for the entitlement factor, and internal structure and nomological networks differ substantially between cultural contexts.

Self-Reported Levels of Personality Functioning from the Operationalized Psychodynamic Diagnosis (OPD) System and Emotional Intelligence Likely Assess the Same Latent Construct.

We tested the hypothesis that structural integration, as assessed in the Operationalized Psychodynamic Diagnosis (OPD) system, and emotional intelligence (EI), as studied in personality psychology, might be closely related constructs at a general level, as both might assess general personality functioning. In three studies (n1 = 166, n2 = 204, n3 = 349), we used a self-report measure of OPD structural integration and measures of Trait and Ability EI. Structural integration and Trait EI display very high correlation at general factor level (r = .77 - .82) and almost perfect latent correlation (r = .85 - .90). This correlation cannot be explained away by the general positivity of self-views or socially desirable responding. There is also substantial latent correlation between structural integration and Ability EI (r = .20 - .65). Results replicate over different samples from different countries and extend to the DSM-5 self-report personality functioning scale.

Psychometric properties of the German version of the Youth Psychopathic traits Inventory - short version.

BACKGROUND: The aim of the current study is to examine the psychometric properties of the German Version of the Youth Psychopathic traits Inventory-Short Version (YPI-S). METHODS: A sample of 856 adolescents (age: 15-19) from the German-speaking part of Switzerland was included. All participants completed the 50-item YPI, of which we derived the 18 items of the YPI-S. Furthermore, participants completed the Massachusetts Youth Screening Instrument-Version-2 (MAYSI-2), as well a self-report delinquency questionnaire. RESULTS: We were able to replicate a three-factor structure and found moderate to good internal consistency for the total score as well as for the three dimensions of the YPI-S. Measurement invariance across gender was established. Furthermore, we found positive small to medium correlations with both internalizing and externalizing mental health problems, substance abuse problems, and offending behavior. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that the German version of the YPI-S is a reliable and valid screening instrument for psychopathic traits in both boys and girls from the general population in the German-speaking part of Switzerland.

Country-level correlates of the Dark Triad traits in 49 countries.

OBJECTIVES: The Dark Triad traits (i.e., narcissism, psychopathy, Machiavellianism) capture individual differences in aversive personality to complement work on other taxonomies, such as the Big Five traits. However, the literature on the Dark Triad traits relies mostly on samples from English-speaking (i.e., Westernized) countries. We broadened the scope of this literature by sampling from a wider array of countries. METHOD: We drew on data from 49 countries (N = 11,723; 65.8% female; AgeMean  = 21.53) to examine how an extensive net of country-level variables in economic status (e.g., Human Development Index), social relations (e.g., gender equality), political orientations (e.g., democracy), and cultural values (e.g., embeddedness) relate to country-level rates of the Dark Triad traits, as well as variance in the magnitude of sex differences in them. RESULTS: Narcissism was especially sensitive to country-level variables. Countries with more embedded and hierarchical cultural systems were more narcissistic. Also, sex differences in narcissism were larger in more developed societies: Women were less likely to be narcissistic in developed (vs. less developed) countries. CONCLUSIONS: We discuss the results based on evolutionary and social role models of personality and sex differences. That higher country-level narcissism was more common in less developed countries, whereas sex differences in narcissism were larger in more developed countries, is more consistent with evolutionary than social role models.

Creativity on tap? Effects of alcohol intoxication on creative cognition.

Anecdotal reports link alcohol intoxication to creativity, while cognitive research highlights the crucial role of cognitive control for creative thought. This study examined the effects of mild alcohol intoxication on creative cognition in a placebo-controlled design. Participants completed executive and creative cognition tasks before and after consuming either alcoholic beer (BAC of 0.03) or non-alcoholic beer (placebo). Alcohol impaired executive control, but improved performance in the Remote Associates Test, and did not affect divergent thinking ability. The findings indicate that certain aspects of creative cognition benefit from mild attenuations of cognitive control, and contribute to the growing evidence that higher cognitive control is not always associated with better cognitive performance.

Personality and complex brain networks: The role of openness to experience in default network efficiency.

The brain's default network (DN) has been a topic of considerable empirical interest. In fMRI research, DN activity is associated with spontaneous and self-generated cognition, such as mind-wandering, episodic memory retrieval, future thinking, mental simulation, theory of mind reasoning, and creative cognition. Despite large literatures on developmental and disease-related influences on the DN, surprisingly little is known about the factors that impact normal variation in DN functioning. Using structural equation modeling and graph theoretical analysis of resting-state fMRI data, we provide evidence that Openness to Experience-a normally distributed personality trait reflecting a tendency to engage in imaginative, creative, and abstract cognitive processes-underlies efficiency of information processing within the DN. Across two studies, Openness predicted the global efficiency of a functional network comprised of DN nodes and corresponding edges. In Study 2, Openness remained a robust predictor-even after controlling for intelligence, age, gender, and other personality variables-explaining 18% of the variance in DN functioning. These findings point to a biological basis of Openness to Experience, and suggest that normally distributed personality traits affect the intrinsic architecture of large-scale brain systems. Hum Brain Mapp 37:773-779, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Gray matter correlates of creative potential: a latent variable voxel-based morphometry study.

There is increasing research interest in the structural and functional brain correlates underlying creative potential. Recent investigations found that interindividual differences in creative potential relate to volumetric differences in brain regions belonging to the default mode network, such as the precuneus. Yet, the complex interplay between creative potential, intelligence, and personality traits and their respective neural bases is still under debate. We investigated regional gray matter volume (rGMV) differences that can be associated with creative potential in a heterogeneous sample of N=135 individuals using voxel-based morphometry (VBM). By means of latent variable modeling and consideration of recent psychometric advancements in creativity research, we sought to disentangle the effects of ideational originality and fluency as two independent indicators of creative potential. Intelligence and openness to experience were considered as common covariates of creative potential. The results confirmed and extended previous research: rGMV in the precuneus was associated with ideational originality, but not with ideational fluency. In addition, we found ideational originality to be correlated with rGMV in the caudate nucleus. The results indicate that the ability to produce original ideas is tied to default-mode as well as dopaminergic structures. These structural brain correlates of ideational originality were apparent throughout the whole range of intellectual ability and thus not moderated by intelligence. In contrast, structural correlates of ideational fluency, a quantitative marker of creative potential, were observed only in lower intelligent individuals in the cuneus/lingual gyrus.

To create or to recall? Neural mechanisms underlying the generation of creative new ideas.

This fMRI study investigated brain activation during creative idea generation using a novel approach allowing spontaneous self-paced generation and expression of ideas. Specifically, we addressed the fundamental question of what brain processes are relevant for the generation of genuinely new creative ideas, in contrast to the mere recollection of old ideas from memory. In general, creative idea generation (i.e., divergent thinking) was associated with extended activations in the left prefrontal cortex and the right medial temporal lobe, and with deactivation of the right temporoparietal junction. The generation of new ideas, as opposed to the retrieval of old ideas, was associated with stronger activation in the left inferior parietal cortex which is known to be involved in mental simulation, imagining, and future thought. Moreover, brain activation in the orbital part of the inferior frontal gyrus was found to increase as a function of the creativity (i.e., originality and appropriateness) of ideas pointing to the role of executive processes for overcoming dominant but uncreative responses. We conclude that the process of idea generation can be generally understood as a state of focused internally-directed attention involving controlled semantic retrieval. Moreover, left inferior parietal cortex and left prefrontal regions may subserve the flexible integration of previous knowledge for the construction of new and creative ideas.

Creating metaphors: the neural basis of figurative language production.

Neuroscience research has thoroughly studied how nonliteral language is processed during metaphor comprehension. However, it is not clear how the brain actually creates nonliteral language. Therefore, the present study for the first time investigates the neural correlates of metaphor production. Participants completed sentences by generating novel metaphors or literal synonyms during functional imaging. Responses were spoken aloud in the scanner, recorded, and subsequently rated for their creative quality. We found that metaphor production was associated with focal activity in predominantly left-hemispheric brain regions, specifically the left angular gyrus, the left middle and superior frontal gyri-corresponding to the left dorsomedial prefrontal (DMPFC) cortex-and the posterior cingulate cortex. Moreover, brain activation in the left anterior DMPFC and the right middle temporal gyrus was found to linearly increase with the creative quality of metaphor responses. These findings are related to neuroscientific evidence on metaphor comprehension, creative idea generation and episodic future thought, suggesting that creating metaphors involves the flexible adaptation of semantic memory to imagine and construct novel figures of speech. Furthermore, the left DMPFC may exert executive control to maintain strategic search and selection, thus facilitating creativity of thought.

Sex differences in the IQ-white matter microstructure relationship: a DTI study.

Sex differences in the relationship between general intelligence and brain structure are a topic of increasing research interest. Early studies focused mainly on gray and white matter differences using voxel-based morphometry, while more recent studies investigated neural fiber tracts using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to analyze the white matter microstructure. In this study we used tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) on DTI to test how intelligence is associated with brain diffusion indices and to see whether this relationship differs between men and women. 63 Men and women divided into groups of lower and higher intelligence were selected. Whole-brain DTI scans were analyzed using TBSS calculating maps of fractional anisotropy (FA), radial diffusivity (RD), and axial diffusivity (AD). The results reveal that the white matter microstructure differs between individuals as a function of intelligence and sex. In men, higher intelligence was related to higher FA and lower RD in the corpus callosum. In women, in contrast, intelligence was not related to the white matter microstructure. The higher values of FA and lower values of RD suggest that intelligence is associated with higher myelination and/or a higher number of axons particularly in men. This microstructural difference in the corpus callosum may increase cognitive functioning by reducing inter-hemispheric transfer time and thus account for more efficient brain functioning in men.

Intelligence, creativity, and cognitive control: The common and differential involvement of executive functions in intelligence and creativity.

Intelligence and creativity are known to be correlated constructs suggesting that they share a common cognitive basis. The present study assessed three specific executive abilities - updating, shifting, and inhibition - and examined their common and differential relations to fluid intelligence and creativity (i.e., divergent thinking ability) within a latent variable model approach. Additionally, it was tested whether the correlation of fluid intelligence and creativity can be explained by a common executive involvement. As expected, fluid intelligence was strongly predicted by updating, but not by shifting or inhibition. Creativity was predicted by updating and inhibition, but not by shifting. Moreover, updating (and the personality factor openness) was found to explain a relevant part of the shared variance between intelligence and creativity. The findings provide direct support for the executive involvement in creative thought and shed further light on the functional relationship between intelligence and creativity.

Neural efficiency as a function of task demands.

The neural efficiency hypothesis describes the phenomenon that brighter individuals show lower brain activation than less bright individuals when working on the same cognitive tasks. The present study investigated whether the brain activation-intelligence relationship still applies when more versus less intelligent individuals perform tasks with a comparable person-specific task difficulty. In an fMRI-study, 58 persons with lower (n = 28) or respectively higher (n = 30) intelligence worked on simple and difficult inductive reasoning tasks having the same person-specific task difficulty. Consequently, less bright individuals received sample-based easy and medium tasks, whereas bright subjects received sample-based medium and difficult tasks. This design also allowed a comparison of lower versus higher intelligent individuals when working on the same tasks (i.e. sample-based medium task difficulty). In line with expectations, differences in task performance and in brain activation were only found for the subset of tasks with the same sample-based task difficulty, but not when comparing tasks with the same person-specific task difficulty. These results suggest that neural efficiency reflects an (ability-dependent) adaption of brain activation to the respective task demands.

The roles of associative and executive processes in creative cognition.

How does the mind produce creative ideas? Past research has pointed to important roles of both executive and associative processes in creative cognition. But such work has largely focused on the influence of one ability or the other-executive or associative-so the extent to which both abilities may jointly affect creative thought remains unclear. Using multivariate structural equation modeling, we conducted two studies to determine the relative influences of executive and associative processes in domain-general creative cognition (i.e., divergent thinking). Participants completed a series of verbal fluency tasks, and their responses were analyzed by means of latent semantic analysis (LSA) and scored for semantic distance as a measure of associative ability. Participants also completed several measures of executive function-including broad retrieval ability (Gr) and fluid intelligence (Gf). Across both studies, we found substantial effects of both associative and executive abilities: As the average semantic distance between verbal fluency responses and cues increased, so did the creative quality of divergent-thinking responses (Study 1 and Study 2). Moreover, the creative quality of divergent-thinking responses was predicted by the executive variables-Gr (Study 1) and Gf (Study 2). Importantly, the effects of semantic distance and the executive function variables remained robust in the same structural equation model predicting divergent thinking, suggesting unique contributions of both constructs. The present research extends recent applications of LSA in creativity research and provides support for the notion that both associative and executive processes underlie the production of novel ideas.

Psychological and neural correlates of social affect and cognition in narcissism: A multimethod study of self-reported traits, experiential states, and behavioral and brain indicators.

"Lack of empathy" is a diagnostic criterion of narcissism, but the nature of interpersonal functioning in narcissism is still being debated. Both, empathy and narcissism, are multidimensional constructs, and their relation might depend upon contextual factors. We investigated social affect and cognition in narcissism spanning self-reported traits and experiential states (Ecological Momentary Assessment) as well as behavioral and brain indicators (task-related functional magnetic resonance imaging). N = 140 individuals were selected to cover the full dimensional range of grandiose and vulnerable narcissism, including their constituent self-regulatory dimensions of agentic, antagonistic, and neurotic narcissism. Grandiose narcissism was associated with lower social affect at almost all analysis levels. The associations can be attributed to antagonistic self-regulatory dynamics, and are associated with lower brain activation during subjective experiencing of social affect in regions of the salience network. Social cognition was habitually lowered but not impaired in antagonistic narcissism. Our findings do not support a general "lack of empathy." (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The peaks and valleys of narcissism: The factor structure of narcissistic states and their relations to trait measures.

Although interindividual differences in narcissism are well studied, little is known about assessing narcissism at the within-person level. To fill this research gap, we investigated whether the narcissism construct is represented in the same way at the between- and within-person levels. We analyzed four established narcissism measures across multiple studies. In each of the studies, participants completed narcissism measures in ecological momentary assessment or daily diary studies. Equivalent construct representation across between- and within-person narcissism (i.e., cross-level measurement invariance) was found. State narcissism measures showed convergent validities for the trait narcissism scales. Moreover, we also found that antagonistic narcissism was most strongly related to within-person variability in narcissism. Our investigation sheds new light on the structure and assessment of narcissism on the within-person level by providing a comprehensive examination of its measurement. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).