Applying Implicit Measures to Assess the Agentic Facets of Narcissistic Self-Concept

According to the Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Concept model, the grandiose self-concept can be regulated through two different strategies: self-enhancement (agentic narcissism) and self-protection (antagonistic narcissism). The individual differences in these strategies can be measured with the Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire (NARQ), which showed adequate reliability and construct validity. However, as for all self-report measures, the NARQ is prone to self/other deception biases, as well as to introspective limits, and thus it is not suited to capture the automatic component of the grandiose self-concept regulation. To overcome these limits both associative (Implicit Association Test; IAT) and propositional (Relational Responding Task; RRT) implicit measures were applied to assess the agentic facets of narcissism. The reliability and concurrent and incremental validity of these measures were tested across two studies. In the first one (N=317), an adequate internal consistency for both Grandiosity IAT and Grandiosity RRT was found, along with an adequate concurrent validity with respect to self-report scales of narcissism and self-esteem. In the second study (N=222), the internal consistency and concurrent validity were confirmed. Moreover, the implicit Admiration beliefs revealed a significant incremental validity over explicit Admiration beliefs in predicting self-enhancement. Theoretical and methodological issues were discussed.