Aiming (too) high: Narcissism and unrealistic goal setting.

It is well established that people scoring high in narcissism fantasize about a grandiose future. However, little research has examined whether narcissism is actually associated with setting unrealistic, grandiose future goals for oneself. In the present study, we pool three independent adult samples (total N = 482) to evaluate the relationship between three dimensions of narcissism (agentic extraversion, antagonism, and narcissistic neuroticism) and self-reported likelihood of setting statistically unlikely goals (e.g., creating world peace). Through a series of bootstrapped correlation and regression analyses, we find that participants scoring higher in agentic extraversion and antagonism are more likely to set unrealistic goals, whereas participants scoring higher in narcissistic neuroticism are less likely to set unrealistic goals. When controlling for covariance between these narcissism dimensions as well as self-esteem and history of manic/hypomanic symptoms, agentic extraversion emerges as the strongest correlate of setting unrealistic goals. Overall, this study demonstrates that narcissism, and particularly agentic extraversion, is associated with intending to set grandiose future goals.

Grandiose narcissism influences the phenomenology of remembered past and imagined future events.

Little empirical work has examined future thinking in narcissistic grandiosity. We here extend prior work finding that people scoring high in grandiosity have self-bolstering tendencies in remembering past events, and we consider whether these tendencies extend to imagining future events. Across an initial study (N = 112) and replication (N = 169), participants wrote about remembered past events and imagined future events in which they embodied or would embody either positive or negative traits. Participants then rated those events on several subjective measures. We find that people scoring higher in grandiosity remember past events in which they embody positive traits with greater detail and ease than past events in which they embody negative traits. These same effects persist when people scoring high in grandiosity imagine possible events in their future. Those scoring higher in grandiosity endorse thinking about positive events in their past and future more frequently than negative events, and they judge positive future events as more plausible than negative future events. These tendencies did not extend to objective detail provided in their written narratives about these events. Taken together, these findings demonstrate that grandiosity is associated with self-bolstering tendencies in both remembering the past and imagining the future.

Functional fantasies: the regulatory role of grandiose fantasizing in pathological narcissism.

Introduction: Pathological narcissism is characterized by maladaptive efforts to maintain a bolstered but fragile sense of self. Clinical theory suggests that grandiose fantasizing may be one form of this self-regulation. However, no empirical research has directly assessed the regulatory function of grandiose fantasizing in narcissism. Here, we examine (1) whether people scoring higher in narcissism choose to engage in grandiose fantasizing to regulate themselves when they are feeling down and (2) whether grandiose fantasizing is a more efficacious self-esteem and affect regulator for people scoring higher in narcissism than it is for those scoring lower in narcissism. Methods: Adult participants (N = 189) completed a self-report measure of narcissism and were randomized to either a negative mood induction or filler task condition. Then, participants wrote about a future event to make themselves feel better, choosing between a positive affect word or a grandiose word to guide their writing. Throughout the study, participants reported their state positive and negative affect and self-esteem. A secondary sample (N = 128) of adult participants rated the future event writing of the original participants. Results: Supporting the validity of the study design, grandiose future events significantly differed from positive future events (e.g., they were rated by independent raters as less plausible, more ambitious, more active, and occurring further in the future). Participants scoring higher in narcissism and participants who experienced larger increases in negative affect were more likely to choose to engage in grandiose fantasizing. Grandiose fantasizing was more effective at decreasing negative affect among participants scoring higher in narcissism than those scoring lower in narcissism, whereas positive future thinking was equally effective at decreasing negative affect across levels of narcissism. Discussion: This study demonstrates that people scoring higher in narcissism are more likely to choose to engage in grandiose fantasizing to make themselves feel better. It further demonstrates that grandiose fantasizing is a more efficacious affect regulator for those scoring higher in narcissism.

Hurting the Grandiose Self: Examining Presence, Frequency, and Functions of Nonsuicidal Self-Injury in Pathological Narcissism.

The present study examines whether dimensions of pathological narcissism are associated with the presence, frequency, and function of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI). Adults (N = 252) completed questionnaires assessing narcissistic grandiosity, narcissistic vulnerability, fluctuation between these narcissistic states, and borderline personality disorder (BPD) symptoms. Those with a history of NSSI (n = 105) also reported the method, frequency, and function of their NSSI engagement. When controlling for co-occurring BPD symptoms, there were very few associations between vulnerability, grandiosity, and narcissistic fluctuation and NSSI presence and frequency. However, a clear pattern emerged regarding NSSI functions. Although vulnerability and narcissistic fluctuation were not associated with any functions of NSSI when co-occurring BPD symptoms were controlled for, grandiosity was positively associated with all interpersonal functions of NSSI (e.g., peer bonding, revenge) and negatively associated with the intrapersonal function of affect regulation. These results suggest a unique relationship between narcissistic grandiosity and NSSI that may inform clinical intervention.

The default mode network and rumination in individuals at risk for depression.

The default mode network (DMN) is a network of brain regions active during rest and self-referential thinking. Individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) show increased or decreased DMN activity relative to controls. DMN activity has been linked to a tendency to ruminate in MDD. It is unclear if individuals who are at risk for, but who have no current or past history of depression, also show differential DMN activity associated with rumination. We investigated whether females with high levels of neuroticism with no current or lifetime mood or anxiety disorders (n = 25) show increased DMN activation, specifically when processing negative self-referential information, compared with females with average levels of neuroticism (n = 28). Participants heard criticism and praise during functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans in a 3T Siemens Prisma scanner. The at-risk group showed greater activation in two DMN regions, the medial prefrontal cortex and the inferior parietal lobule (IPL), after hearing criticism, but not praise (relative to females with average levels of neuroticism). Criticism-specific activation in the IPL was significantly correlated with rumination. Individuals at risk for depression may, therefore, have an underlying neurocognitive vulnerability to use a brain network typically involved in thinking about oneself to preferentially ruminate about negative, rather than positive, information.

Neuroticism modulates the qualitative effects of inferior parietal tDCS on negatively-valenced memories.

For individuals with increased levels of neuroticism, experiencing criticism or receiving negative feedback has been associated with worse psychological and cognitive outcomes. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can change cognitive processes in clinical populations. We bilaterally stimulated the posterior inferior parietal lobule (pIPL), a critical superficial node of the default model network. We investigated how baseline neuroticism modulates the impact of bilateral tDCS to pIPL on qualitative measures of memory after hearing criticism, hypothesizing that cathodal stimulation of the IPL would offer qualitative memory improvements for individuals with higher levels of neuroticism. Ninety individuals from the community were randomly assigned to receive anodal, cathodal, or sham stimulation while they were exposed to critical comments before and after stimulation. Participants then recalled the critical comments, and their linguistic responses were analyzed using Pennebaker's Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count software, a quantitative analysis software for linguistic data. Results showed that for individuals receiving cathodal tDCS, higher neuroticism scores corresponded with greater proportions of non-personal language (i.e., words such as "us," "they," or "other" instead of "I" or "me") when recalling negative feedback. For individuals with higher neuroticism, cathodal tDCS stimulation, rather than anodal or sham, of the pIPL prompted increased emotional distancing and perspective taking strategies when recalling criticism. These results further highlight the state-dependent nature of tDCS effects and the role of the IPL in interpersonal processing - a clinically meaningful outcome that current tDCS studies solely examining quantitative measures of memory (e.g., task-based accuracy or speed) do not reveal.

Narcissistic and dependent traits and behavior in four archetypal 2-person, 2-choice games.

Introduction: The characteristic behaviors we use to define personality pathology arise from specific interpersonal interactions. In an effort to create a laboratory-based context in which behavior might be expected to be influenced by particular personality traits, we used four 2-person, 2-choice games (the Prisoner's Dilemma, Chicken, Leader, and Hero games) to create a simulated interaction and focused specifically on narcissism and dependency. Method: An online sample of 1137 (35% male, M age = 38.46 years, SD age = 13.20) participants completed brief, self-reported measures of trait narcissism and dependency and played one of the four games. Before deciding how to act or react, participants received either no message, a promise to cooperate, or a threat to defect from a (confederate) partner. Results: When receiving no message, those who cooperated in the Prisoner's Dilemma had lower trait narcissism, while those who defected in the Chicken and Leader games had higher trait narcissism. Also with no message, participants who cooperated in the Hero game had higher trait dependency. Promises only affected the relationship between trait narcissism in the Leader game while threats only affected the relationship between trait dependency in the Chicken game. Discussion: These findings add to the limited behavioral research on personality pathology and largely support established interpersonal conceptualizations and models. Future work might extend these findings using even more ecologically valid approaches to explore the behavioral correlates of personality traits that have important implications for interpersonal interactions.

The Narcissistic Grandiosity Scale: A meta-analytic examination of item convergent and discriminant validity.

The Narcissistic Grandiosity Scale (NGS; Rosenthal et al., 2020) is a 16-item adjective-rating scale with scores that measure narcissistic grandiosity, a central feature of the grandiose form of narcissism. The NGS was developed both to measure the narcissistic grandiosity construct and to do so in a way that maximally distinguishes narcissistic grandiosity from nongrandiose self-esteem, a construct with which narcissistic grandiosity is often conflated. Over the past few years, different shortened versions of the NGS have been recommended in the literature. To evaluate these shortened versions, we used a meta-analysis to assess how well scores on each NGS item measured narcissistic grandiosity and distinguished it from self-esteem. Using zero-order and partial correlations from 40 data sets, which included information from 14,938 individual participants, we found that all NGS items correlated moderately with grandiose narcissism and largely retained those relations when controlling for self-esteem as well as narcissistic entitlement. The results help inform researchers about the degree to which items recommended for shorter versions of the NGS meet the scale's theoretical goals. We conclude that, when possible, it is advantageous for researchers to continue to use the full 16-item version of the scale. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Emotional changes following discrimination induction in gender- and sexuality-diverse adolescents.

Sexual and gender minority (SGM)-identifying adolescents are particularly vulnerable to negative psychological outcomes, including engagement in nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI). However, little is known about why these relationships exist. We used experimental methods to test the psychological mediation framework in an online sample of 328 adolescents who reported female sex at birth and a range of sexual and gender identities. Participants reported on depressive symptoms, self-criticism (both self-report and implicit), NSSI, and discrimination. They also completed a discrimination-based mood induction to test emotional reactivity. At baseline, SGM participants reported higher levels of implicit and self-reported self-criticism, depressive symptoms, discrimination, and higher rates of NSSI compared with cisgender, heterosexual participants (ps < .03). Following the discrimination induction, SGM-identifying participants exhibited larger emotional reactivity compared with cisgender heterosexual participants, as measured by change in negative mood, F(1, 326) = 7.33, p = .01, ηp2 = .02, and state self-criticism, F(1, 326) = 4.67, p = .03, ηp2 = .014, but not implicit affect toward the self. This effect was associated with baseline depressive symptoms, self-criticism, NSSI history, and discrimination. Post hoc analyses revealed that participants who tended to reframe experiences of discrimination as opportunities for growth exhibited attenuated emotional reactivity to the induction; findings remained significant after adjusting for SGM status and event severity (ps < .001). Results indicate that adolescents identifying as SGM may experience elevated psychological distress compared with their cisgender heterosexual peers and that stigma-related stressors may increase emotion dysregulation and maladaptive cognitive styles, paralleling previously proposed psychological mediation models. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Functional assessment of restrictive eating: A three-study clinically heterogeneous and transdiagnostic investigation.

Restrictive eating is common and associated with negative psychological outcomes across the life span and eating disorder (ED) severity levels. Little is known about functional processes that maintain restriction, especially outside of narrow diagnostic categories (e.g., anorexia nervosa). Here, we extend research on operant four-function models (identifying automatic negative, automatic positive, social negative, and social positive reinforcement functions) that have previously been applied to nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI), binge eating, and purging to restricting. We assessed restrictive eating functions in three samples: clinically heterogeneous adolescents (Study 1: N = 457), transdiagnostic adults (Study 2: N = 145), and adults with acute or recently weight-restored anorexia nervosa (Study 3: N = 45). Study 1 indicated the four-function model was a good fit for restricting (root mean square error of approximation [RMSEA] = .06, Tucker-Lewis index [TLI] = .88). This factor structure replicated in Study 2 (comparative fit index [CFI] = .97, RMSEA = .07, TLI = .97, standardized root mean square residual [SRMR] = .09). Unlike NSSI, binge eating, and purging, which have been found to primarily serve automatic negative reinforcement functions, all three present studies found automatic positive reinforcement was most highly endorsed (by up to 85% of participants). In Studies 1 and 3, automatic functions were associated with poorer emotion regulation (ps < .05). In Study 1, social functions were associated with less social support (ps < .001). Across studies, automatic functions were associated with greater restriction ps < .05). Functions varied slightly by ED diagnosis. Across ED presentation, severity, and developmental stage, restrictive eating may be largely maintained by automatic positive reinforcement, with some variability across presentations. Continued examination of restrictive eating functions will establish processes that maintain restriction, allowing more precise treatment targeting for these problematic behaviors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Validation of an emotional stop-signal task to probe individual differences in emotional response inhibition: Relationships with positive and negative urgency.

Performance on an emotional stop-signal task designed to assess emotional response inhibition has been associated with Negative Urgency and psychopathology, particularly self-injurious behaviors. Indeed, difficulty inhibiting prepotent negative responses to aversive stimuli on the emotional stop-signal task (i.e. poor negative emotional response inhibition) partially explains the association between Negative Urgency and non-suicidal self-injury. Here, we combine existing data sets from clinical (hospitalised psychiatric inpatients) and non-clinical (community/student participants) samples aged 18-65 years (N = 450) to examine the psychometric properties of this behavioural task and evaluate hypotheses that emotional stop-signal task metrics relate to distinct impulsive traits among participants who also completed the UPPS-P (n = 223). We specifically predicted associations between worse negative emotional response inhibition (i.e. commission errors during stop-signal trials representing negative reactions to unpleasant images) and Negative Urgency, whereas commission errors to positive stimuli - reflecting worse positive emotional response inhibition - would relate to Positive Urgency. Results support the emotional stop-signal task's convergent and discriminant validity: as hypothesised, poor negative emotional response inhibition was specifically associated with Negative Urgency and no other impulsive traits on the UPPS-P. However, we did not find the hypothesised association between positive emotional response inhibition and Positive Urgency. Correlations between emotional stop-signal task performance and self-report measures were the modest, similar to other behavioural tasks. Participants who completed the emotional stop-signal task twice (n = 61) additionally provide preliminary evidence for test-retest reliability. Together, findings suggest adequate reliability and validity of the emotional stop-signal task to derive candidate behavioural markers of neurocognitive functioning associated with Negative Urgency and psychopathology.

Attenuated beta-adrenergic response to stress and increased anticipation and perception of social threat in women high on perceived criticism.

A large amount of literature has demonstrated that Perceived Criticism (PC)-that is, how critical a person believes a given relative is of him or her-is associated with negative clinical outcomes in a broad range of psychiatric disorders (e.g., relapse or recurrence of symptoms). A possible mechanism behind the predictive value of PC might be its association with the stress regulation process. This is the first study to investigate differences in the psychophysiological response to a social stress task in young women (mean age = 21.66, SD = 4.33) with high (n = 40) and low (n = 39) PC. The physiological response was investigated by measuring two markers of sympathetic activity mediated by acetylcholine (skin conductance levels; SCL) and adrenaline (pre-ejection period; PEP) levels, respectively, and one marker of the vagally-mediated parasympathetic system (heart rate variability; HRV). Moreover, we investigated the anticipation and perception of social threat, in the form of criticism, during the stressor. No differences in HRV and SCL were observed. However, individuals high in PC mobilized fewer cardiovascular resources to deal with the stressor, reflected in an attenuated beta-adrenergic response (i.e., lower PEP response). Women high in PC also expected and perceived more criticism during the stress task. Together, our results indicate that women high in PC make heightened social threat anticipation and interpretations, and they tend to engage in less active coping when exposed to socially evaluated stressful events. Our findings indicate that PC is associated with underlying stress-related psychobiological vulnerabilities that may contribute to its association with negative clinical outcomes.

Advancing a temporal framework for understanding the biology of nonsuicidal self- injury: An expert review.

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a serious clinical problem, particularly for adolescents and young adults. NSSI is a complex behavior that emerges through the intersecting effects of social, psychological, and biological mechanisms. Although the social and psychological contributions to risk for developing NSSI are relatively well understood and have guided the development of effective psychosocial treatments for self-injury, the biological mechanisms underlying NSSI have just begun to come to light. To evaluate and categorize the biological research conducted on the topic of NSSI, we propose a model that distinguishes between trait and state markers. According to this model, risk factors and mechanisms involved in NSSI can be distinguished into both trait and state factors. We review the existing evidence on distal biological traits (predictors) of NSSI, proximal biological traits (correlates) of NSSI, and biological states directly preceding or following NSSI. We conclude by providing recommendations for future research on the neurobiology of NSSI.

Psychosis proneness, loneliness, and hallucinations in nonclinical individuals.

Hallucinations occur along a continuum of normal functioning. Investigating the factors related to this experience in nonclinical individuals may offer important information for understanding the etiology of hallucinations in psychiatric populations. In this study we test the relationship between psychosis proneness, loneliness, and auditory hallucinations in a nonclinical sample using the White Christmas paradigm. Seventy-six undergraduate students participated in this study. We found that slightly more than half of our participants endorsed a hallucinatory experience during the White Christmas paradigm. However, we did not observe a relationship between the number of hallucinatory experiences and schizotypy, propensity to hallucinate, or loneliness. Moreover, there were no differences on these measures between individuals who reported hearing a hallucination during the White Christmas paradigm relative to those who did not. Thus, there may be other contextual factors not investigated in this study that might clarify the mechanism by which auditory hallucinations are experienced in a nonclinical population.

Attentional biases towards food and body stimuli among individuals with disordered eating versus food allergies.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Individuals with disordered eating display heightened attentional biases towards food- and body-related stimuli. However, it is unknown whether these attentional biases reflect maladaptive thinking/eating pathology. We investigated the differences between maladaptive and adaptive ways of thinking about food by assessing food- and body-related attentional biases among individuals with disordered eating, participants with peanut allergies (i.e., individuals who think frequently about food in an adaptive manner), and healthy controls. We also examined the extent to which negative mood and rumination exacerbated attentional biases among those in these groups. METHOD: Three hundred and twenty-one individuals with disordered eating (n = 139), peanut allergies (n = 60), and healthy controls (n = 122) completed food- and body-based Stroop tasks prior to and following a cognitive rumination task designed to increase negative mood. RESULTS: Individuals with disordered eating and individuals with peanut allergies had significantly worse performance on the food and body Stroop tasks relative to healthy controls at baseline (ps < .001). However, there were no perceived differences in performance by group following rumination. LIMITATIONS: The cognitive rumination task heightened negative mood for those in the disordered eating group but not for those in the peanut allergy or healthy control groups. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that frequent thoughts involving food are associated with attentional biases towards food and body stimuli. This appears to be the case regardless of whether these frequent thoughts are due to disordered eating or to fear of an allergic reaction.

Parents still matter! Parental warmth predicts adolescent brain function and anxiety and depressive symptoms 2 years later.

Anxiety is the most prevalent psychological disorder among youth, and even following treatment, it confers risk for anxiety relapse and the development of depression. Anxiety disorders are associated with heightened response to negative affective stimuli in the brain networks that underlie emotion processing. One factor that can attenuate the symptoms of anxiety and depression in high-risk youth is parental warmth. The current study investigates whether parental warmth helps to protect against future anxiety and depressive symptoms in adolescents with histories of anxiety and whether neural functioning in the brain regions that are implicated in emotion processing and regulation can account for this link. Following treatment for anxiety disorder (Time 1), 30 adolescents (M age = 11.58, SD = 1.26) reported on maternal warmth, and 2 years later (Time 2) they participated in a functional neuroimaging task where they listened to prerecorded criticism and neutral statements from a parent. Higher maternal warmth predicted lower neural activation during criticism, compared with the response during neutral statements, in the left amygdala, bilateral insula, subgenual anterior cingulate (sgACC), right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, and anterior cingulate cortex. Maternal warmth was associated with adolescents' anxiety and depressive symptoms due to the indirect effects of sgACC activation, suggesting that parenting may attenuate risk for internalizing through its effects on brain function.

In smiles we trust? Smiling in the context of antisocial and borderline personality pathology.

Research suggests that people behave more cooperatively towards those who smile and less cooperatively towards those with personality pathology. Here, we integrated these two lines of research to model the combined effects of smiles and personality pathology on trust. In two experiments, participants read vignettes portraying a person with either borderline personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, or no personality pathology. These portrayals were paired with a brief video clip that showed a person with either a neutral expression or a smile. Participants then played a Trust game with the "person" presented using each vignette and video clip combination. In Experiment 1, rates of trust were lower in response to the borderline and antisocial personality disorder vignettes compared with the control vignette. Interestingly, the effect of smiles was dependent upon personality. Although participants were more trusting of smiling confederates portrayed as having borderline personality disorder or no pathology, they were less trusting of confederates portrayed as having antisocial personality disorder if they smiled. In Experiment 2, run with a second set of personality vignettes, rates of trust were lower in response to both personality disorder vignettes and higher in response to smiles with no significant interaction. Together, these results suggest that information regarding both the current emotional state as well as the personality traits of a partner are important for creating trust.

Decreased Amygdalar Activation to NSSI-Stimuli in People Who Engage in NSSI: A Neuroimaging Pilot Study.

In healthy individuals, stimuli associated with injury (such as those depicting blood or wounds) tend to evoke negative responses on both self-report and psychophysiological measures. Such an instinctive aversion makes sense from an evolutionary perspective. However, to engage in nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI), this natural barrier must be overcome. The Benefits and Barriers model of NSSI predicts that people who engage in NSSI will show diminished aversion to NSSI-related stimuli compared to controls who do not engage in NSSI. We tested this hypothesis in a pilot study assessing 30 adults, 15 of whom reported current skin cutting and 15 of whom had no history of NSSI. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data were collected while participants viewed neutral, positive, and negative images selected from the International Affective Picture System. Participants also viewed NSSI images depicting razors, scalpels, or wounds caused by cutting. Compared to healthy control (HC) participants, the NSSI group showed decreased amygdala and increased cingulate cortex (CC) and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) activation to NSSI and negative images. They also showed increased amygdalar and OFC activation to positive images. Neither the control group nor the NSSI group demonstrated significant activation within regions more typically associated with reward during any of the conditions; however, positive and negative affect ratings collected throughout the course of the task suggested that none of the affective conditions were viewed as rewarding. Although preliminary, these findings are suggestive of reduced limbic and greater cortical processing of NSSI stimuli in those with a history of this behavior. This has potentially important implications for current models of NSSI as well as for its treatment.

Nonsuicidal Self-Injury: Diagnostic Challenges And Current Perspectives.

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) involves deliberate and intentional injury to body tissue that occurs in the absence of suicidal intent. Typical examples here might include self-cutting, burning, or self-hitting. Behavior of this kind is fundamentally unsettling as well as perplexing. It is also the case that self-harming behavior of any kind runs counter to a fundamental survival instinct. In the past, behaviors such as these were viewed as self-mutilation and considered to be a form of attenuated suicide. Much has changed over time, culminating in the entry of NSSI Disorder into DSM-5 as a condition in need of further study. In this review we describe the evolution of the NSSI construct and consider current issues in its diagnosis and assessment.