Achievement goals and causal attributions of students with characteristics of grandiose and vulnerable narcissism
Abstract
Recent evidence suggests a rise in incidence of narcissistic traits in younger populations including traits associated with both grandiose and vulnerable narcissism. Individuals exhibiting the traits associated with these two subtypes have been shown to react differently in specific situations and to specific outcomes. The current study compared the attributions for success and failure made by young individuals evidencing a range of traits associated with subclinical grandiose and vulnerable narcissism. Two hundred and two participants, ranging in age from 18 to 23, were provided with a randomly assigned mastery or performance task and experienced success or failure outcomes. Results indicated that traits associated with subclinical grandiose and vulnerable narcissism were not related statistically to causal attributions of locus of causality or stability following success or failure. Mastery and performance tasks were also not predictive of different causal attributions for vulnerable and grandiose narcissistically organized individuals experiencing success or failure. A limitation of the current study included inadequate internal consistency of the Narcissism Personality Inventory-16 and the Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale which may have contributed to the lack of significant findings. Further research is needed to determine the potential relationships between subtypes of narcissism, achievement goals, and causal attributions.
Subject Area
Social psychology|Psychology|Personality psychology
Recommended Citation
Cardinale, Matthew John, "Achievement goals and causal attributions of students with characteristics of grandiose and vulnerable narcissism" (2014). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI3625779.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI3625779
