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An Expanded Version of the Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale (The Maladaptive Covert Narcissism Scale)

Authors:
Jonathan M Cheek at Wellesley College
Jonathan M Cheek
Holly M. Hendin at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center (AZ, USA)
Holly M. Hendin
Paul Wink at Wellesley College
Paul Wink
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Abstract

The purpose of the present research was to improve the reliability and item content of the recently popular Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale (HSNS; Hendin & Cheek, 1997) by expanding it into a more complete measure of maladaptive covert narcissism. In an Amazon Mechanical Turk survey of 420 adults, the 23-item expanded version of the Maladaptive Covert Narcissism Scale (MCNS) had an alpha reliability of .89 compared to .75 for the original HSNS, and it correlated .65 with the MMPI composite measure of covert narcissism. In our second sample of 182 college women, the MCNS had an alpha of .85, a correlation of .66 with the MMPI measure of covert narcissism, and similar correlations with the Big Five Inventory scales as found for the original HSNS by Hendin and Cheek (1997). Overall, the present results indicate that the new scale represents a significant improvement in the assessment of maladaptive covert narcissism. [Cheek, J.M., Hendin, H.M., & Wink, P.M. (2013, June). An expanded version of the Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale (The Maladaptive Covert Narcissism Scale). Presented at the meeting of the Association for Research in Personality, Charlotte, NC.]
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1
Association for Research in Personality - June 2013 Poster - Charlotte NC
Poster Title: An Expanded Version of the Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale
(The Maladaptive Covert Narcissism Scale)
Corresponding Name: Jonathan M. Cheek
Author Email: jcheek@wellesley.edu
Affiliation: Wellesley College
Mailing Address: Department of Psychology, 106 Central St, Wellesley, MA 02481
Phone: 781-283-3130
Other Authors Names: Holly M. Hendin, Paul M. Wink
Affiliations: Phoenix Neurological Associates, Wellesley College
Poster Abstract
The fundamental distinction between overt and covert narcissism in the normal range of individual
differences (e.g., Wink, 1991) finally has become accepted in personality and social psychological
research (e.g., Miller et al., 2011). These two factors or “faces” of maladaptive narcissism were named
Grandiosity-Exhibitionism (overt) and Vulnerability-Sensitivity (covert) by Wink. Hendin and Cheek
(1997) constructed a new scale by correlating items from Murray’s (1938) Narcism Scale with a
composite of the two MMPI-based measures of covert narcissism used in Wink’s research. The resulting
10-item measure was named the Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale (HSNS). According to PsycINFO, the
Hendin and Cheek (1997) article was cited only 15 times in the first 10 years after its publication but
more than 80 times since 2007. The purpose of the present research was to improve the reliability and
item content of the recently popular HSNS by expanding it into a more complete measure of maladaptive
covert narcissism.
In an Amazon Mechanical Turk survey of 420 adults, the 23-item expanded version of the Maladaptive
Covert Narcissism Scale (MCNS) had an alpha reliability of .89 compared to .75 for the original HSNS; it
correlated .65 with the MMPI measure of covert narcissism compared to .30 with the maladaptive overt
narcissism factor of the NPI and -.16 with the Adaptive Overt Narcissism Scale (Cheek, Wink,
Hargreaves, & Derr, 2013). As may be seen in Table 2, correlations with shame divided overt and covert
maladaptive narcissism (.02 vs. .58) and correlations with entitlement rage connected overt and covert
maladaptive narcissism (.55 and .64). The new MCNS showed very similar correlations with the Big Five
Inventory scales as the original HSNS had in Hendin and Cheek (1997) except for a substantially more
negative correlation with conscientiousness. In our second sample of 182 college women, the MCNS had
an alpha of .85, a correlation of .66 with the MMPI measure of covert narcissism, and similar correlations
with the Big Five Inventory scales except for a more modest negative correlation with conscientiousness
(-.16; these results are not show in Table 2).
Overall, the present results indicate that the new scale represents a significant improvement in the
assessment of maladaptive covert narcissism.
Cheek, J.M., Hendin, H.M., & Wink, P.M. (2013, June). An expanded version of the Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale
(The Maladaptive Covert Narcissism Scale). Presented at the meeting of the Association for Research in Personality,
Charlotte, NC.
2
References for text and tables
Cheek, J.M., & Hendin, H.M. (1996, August). Shyness, narcissism, and shame. In D.L. Paulhus (Chair),
Social cognition of shyness and social anxiety. Symposium conducted at the annual meeting of the
American Psychological Association, Toronto.
Cheek, J.M., Wink, P.M., Hargreaves, K.M., & Derr, J.L. (2013, July). Distinctions among overt, covert
and adaptive types of narcissism: Conceptualization and measurement. Presented at the annual meeting of
the American Psychological Association, Honolulu.
Glover, N., Miller, J. D., Lynam, D. R., Crego, C., & Widiger, T. A. (2012). The five-factor narcissism
inventory: A five-factor measure of narcissistic personality traits. Journal of Personality Assessment, 94,
500-512.
Fossati, A., Borroni, S., Grazioli, F., Dornetti, L., Marcassoli, I., Maffei, C., & Cheek, J. (2009). Tracking the
hypersensitive dimension in narcissism: Reliability and validity of the Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale.
Personality and Mental Health, 3, 235-247.
Hendin, H. M., & Cheek, J. M. (1997). Assessing hypersensitive narcissism: A reexamination of Murray's
Narcism Scale. Journal of Research in Personality, 31, 588-599.
Hill, P. L., & Lapsley, D. K. (2011). Adaptive and maladaptive narcissism in adolescent development. In
C. T. Barry, P. K. Kerig, K. K. Stellwagen, T. D. Barry (Eds.), Narcissism and Machiavellianism in
youth: Implications for the development of adaptive and maladaptive behavior (pp. 89-105). Washington,
DC US: American Psychological Association.
John, O. P., & Donahue, E. M., & Kentle, R. L. (1991). The “Big Five” Inventory—Version 41 and 54
(Technical Report). Berkeley, California: University of California, Institute of Personality Assessment
and Research.
Miller, J. D., Hoffman, B. J., Gaughan, E. T., Gentile, B., Maples, J., & Campbell, W. (2011). Grandiose
and vulnerable narcissism: A nomological network of analysis. Journal of Personality, 79, 1013-1042.
Murray, H. A. (1938). Explorations in personality. New York: Oxford University Press.
Pincus, A. L., Ansell, E. B., Pimentel, C. A., Cain, N. M., Wright, A. C., & Levy, K. N. (2009). Initial
construction and validation of the Pathological Narcissism Inventory. Psychological Assessment, 21, 365-
379.
Raskin, R., & Terry, H. (1988). A principal-components analysis of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory
and further evidence of its construct validity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 890-902.
Robbins, S. B. (1989). Validity of the Superiority and Goal Instability scales as measures of defects in the
self. Journal of Personality Assessment, 53, 122-132
Wink, P. (1991). Two faces of narcissism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 590-597.
Wink, P. (1992). Three narcissism scales for the California Q-set. Journal of Personality Assessment,
58, 51-66.
3
Table 1: Item characteristics of the Maladaptive Covert Narcissism Scale
Items
Loading on
First
Unrotated
Factora
Item correlation
with remainder
of scaleb
1. I can become entirely absorbed in thinking about my personal
affairs, my health, my cares or my relations to others.
.34
.29
2. My feelings are easily hurt by ridicule or by the slighting remarks
of others.
.52
.44
3. When I enter a room I often become self-conscious and feel that
the eyes of others are upon me.
.56
.47
4. I dislike sharing the credit of achievement with others.
.45
.35
5. I feel that I have enough on my hands without worrying about
other people's troubles.
.43
.45
6. I feel that I am temperamentally different from most people.
.41
.27
7. I often interpret the remarks of others in a personal way.
.58
.42
8. I easily become wrapped up in my own interests and forget the
existence of others.
.45
.36
9. I dislike being with a group unless I know that I am appreciated
by at least one of those present.
.54
.28
10. I am secretly annoyed when other people come to me with their
troubles, asking me for my sympathy.
.40
.34
11. I am jealous of good-looking people.
.51
.49
12. I tend to feel humiliated when criticized.
.58
.48
13. I wonder why other people aren't more appreciative of my good
qualities.
.53
.33
14. I see other people as being either great or terrible.
.47
.41
15. I sometimes have fantasies about being violent without knowing
why.
.49
.30
16. I am especially sensitive to success and failure.
.53
.40
17. I have problems that nobody else understands.
.57
.56
18. I try to avoid rejection at all costs.
.57
.41
19. My secret thoughts, feelings, and actions would horrify some of
my friends.
.53
.56
20. I tend to become involved in relationships in which I alternately
adore and despise the other person.
.46
.47
21. Even when I am in a group of friends, I often feel very alone
and uneasy.
.63
.36
22. I resent others who have what I lack.
.60
.58
23. Defeat or disappointment usually shame or anger me, but I try
not to show it.
.59
.38
Note. The first 10 items are the HSNS and the next 13 items were added to make the 23-item MCNS;
these two sets of item correlated .76 with each other (N = 420).
a. N = 420 adult men and women; b. N = 182 college women
4
Table 2: Correlations among Measures of Narcissism and with Emotion and Big 5 Scales
Adaptive
Overt
Narcissism
Scale
AONS
Adaptive
Narcissistic
Personality
Inventory-
10 items
Maladaptive
Overt
Narcissism
Scale
MONS
MMPI
Covert
Narc.
Com-
posite
Maladaptive
Covert
Narcissism
Scale
MCNS
AONS
(.88)
Adaptive
NPI-10
.49
(.78)
Maladaptive
NPI-20
.19
.58
MONS
.15
.45
(.78)
MMPI Covert
-.22
-.11
.19
(.72)
MCNS
-.16
-.03
.45
.65
(.89)
Entitlement
Rage (PNI)
-.08
.24
.55
.43
.64
Shame
(FFNI)
-.22
-.24
.06
.49
.58
Self Esteem
(Rosenberg)
.47
.26
-.08
-.61
-.54
Neuroticism
-.23
-.25
.00
.60
.58
Extraversion
.48
.49
.16
-.30
-.30
Openness
.62
.12
-.06
-.06
-.10
Agreeable-
ness
.19
-.09
-.34
-.37
-.48
Conscient-
iousness
.38
.14
-.23
-.44
-.44
Note. Numbers in parentheses are alpha coefficients of internal consistency reliability for each scale.
N = 420; Correlations > +/- .10 are statistically significant p < .05.
Sample means and standard deviations by gender for the 23-item MCNS
Females M = 66.70 SD = 14.93 (n = 249)
Males M = 68.40 SD = 13.96 (n = 171) [t(418) = 1.18, ns]
From Wellesley data:
College women M = 67.69 SD = 12.83 (n = 582)
5
The Maladaptive Covert Narcissism Scale (MCNS; Cheek, Hendin, & Wink, 2013)
[The first 10 items are the Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale (HSNS; Hendin & Cheek 1997)]
Please answer the following questions by deciding to what extent each item is characteristic of your
feelings and behavior. Fill in the blank next to each item by choosing a number from the scale printed
below.
1 = very uncharacteristic or untrue, strongly disagree
2 = uncharacteristic
3 = neutral
4 = characteristic
5 = very characteristic or true, strongly agree
____ 1. I can become entirely absorbed in thinking about my personal affairs, my health, my cares or my
relations to others.
____ 2. My feelings are easily hurt by ridicule or by the slighting remarks of others.
____ 3. When I enter a room I often become self-conscious and feel that the eyes of others are upon me.
____ 4. I dislike sharing the credit of an achievement with others.
____ 5. I feel that I have enough on my hands without worrying about other people's troubles.
____ 6. I feel that I am temperamentally different from most people.
____ 7. I often interpret the remarks of others in a personal way.
____ 8. I easily become wrapped up in my own interests and forget the existence of others.
____ 9. I dislike being with a group unless I know that I am appreciated by at least one of those present.
____ 10. I am secretly "put out" or annoyed when other people come to me with their troubles, asking me
for my time and sympathy.
____ 11. I am jealous of good-looking people.
____ 12. I tend to feel humiliated when criticized.
____ 13. I wonder why other people aren't more appreciative of my good qualities.
____ 14. I tend to see other people as being either great or terrible.
6
MCNS, continued
1 = very uncharacteristic or untrue, strongly disagree
2 = uncharacteristic
3 = neutral
4 = characteristic
5 = very characteristic or true, strongly agree
____ 15. I sometimes have fantasies about being violent without knowing why.
____ 16. I am especially sensitive to success and failure.
____ 17. I have problems that nobody else seems to understand.
____ 18. I try to avoid rejection at all costs.
____ 19. My secret thoughts, feelings, and actions would horrify some of my friends.
____ 20. I tend to become involved in relationships in which I alternately adore and despise the other
person.
____ 21. Even when I am in a group of friends, I often feel very alone and uneasy.
____ 22. I resent others who have what I lack.
____ 23. Defeat or disappointment usually shame or anger me, but I try not to show it.
... Others have pointed out that narcissism may be a complex and multifaceted construct, with different subtypes or dimensions [25,26]. Indeed, some have suggested that there may be important distinctions to be made between overt and covert forms of narcissism [27,28]. ...
... To further explore these two forms of narcissism, researchers have used a range of measures, including the Profile of Narcissistic Dispositions (POND) and Kohut measures of grandiosity and idealization [26][27][28][29][30][31][32]. These measures have been used to identify three clusters of narcissism: overt, adaptive, and covert. ...
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This study provides convergent, discriminant, and incremental validity data for a new measure of narcissistic personality traits created from the perspective of the Five-factor model (FFM) of general personality structure. Fifteen scales were constructed as maladaptive variants of respective facets of the FFM (e.g., Reactive Anger as a narcissistic variant of angry hostility), with item selection made on the basis of a criterion-keying approach using results from 167 undergraduates. On the basis of data from 166 additional undergraduates, the convergent validity of these 15 scales was tested with respect to 8 established measures of narcissism (including measures of both grandiose and vulnerable narcissism) and the respective facets of the FFM. Discriminant validity was tested with respect to facets from other FFM domains. Incremental validity was tested with respect to the ability of the FFM narcissism trait scales to account for variance in 2 alternative measures of narcissism, after variance accounted for by respective NEO PI-R facet scales and other established measures of narcissism were first removed. The findings support the validity of these new scales as measures of narcissistic personality traits and as maladaptive variants of the FFM.
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Initial Construction and Validation of the Pathological Narcissism Inventory
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  • Sep 2009
The construct of narcissism is inconsistently defined across clinical theory, social-personality psychology, and psychiatric diagnosis. Two problems were identified that impede integration of research and clinical findings regarding narcissistic personality pathology: (a) ambiguity regarding the assessment of pathological narcissism vs. normal narcissism and (b) insufficient scope of existing narcissism measures. Four studies are presented documenting the initial derivation and validation of the Pathological Narcissism Inventory (PNI). The PNI is a 52-item self-report measure assessing 7 dimensions of pathological narcissism spanning problems with narcissistic grandiosity (Entitlement Rage, Exploitativeness, Grandiose Fantasy, Self-sacrificing Self-enhancement) and narcissistic vulnerability (Contingent Self-esteem, Hiding the Self, Devaluing). The PNI structure was validated via confirmatory factor analysis. The PNI correlated negatively with self-esteem and empathy, and positively with shame, interpersonal distress, aggression, and borderline personality organization. Grandiose PNI scales were associated with vindictive, domineering, intrusive, and overly-nurturant interpersonal problems, and vulnerable PNI scales were associated with cold, socially avoidant, and exploitable interpersonal problems. In a small clinical sample, PNI scales exhibited significant associations with parasuicidal behavior, suicide attempts, homicidal ideation, and several aspects of psychotherapy utilization.
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Two Faces of Narcissism
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  • Nov 1991
The present study examines the lack of strong correlations among existing self-report measures of narcissism. A principal-components analysis of 6 MMPI narcissism scales resulted in 2 orthogonal factors, 1 implying Vulnerability-Sensitivity and the other Grandiosity-Exhibitionism. Although unrelated to each other, these 2 factors were associated with such core features of narcissism as conceit, self-indulgence, and disregard of others. Despite this common core, however, Vulnerability-Sensitivity was associated with introversion, defensiveness, anxiety, and vulnerability to life's traumas, whereas Grandiosity-Exhibitionism was related to extraversion, self-assurance, exhibitionism, and aggression. Three alternative interpretations of these results are considered, and an argument for the distinction between covert and overt narcissism is made.
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Grandiose and Vulnerable Narcissism: A Nomological Network Analysis
Article
  • Sep 2011
  • J PERS
ABSTRACT Evidence has accrued to suggest that there are 2 distinct dimensions of narcissism, which are often labeled grandiose and vulnerable narcissism. Although individuals high on either of these dimensions interact with others in an antagonistic manner, they differ on other central constructs (e.g., Neuroticism, Extraversion). In the current study, we conducted an exploratory factor analysis of 3 prominent self-report measures of narcissism (N=858) to examine the convergent and discriminant validity of the resultant factors. A 2-factor structure was found, which supported the notion that these scales include content consistent with 2 relatively distinct constructs: grandiose and vulnerable narcissism. We then compared the similarity of the nomological networks of these dimensions in relation to indices of personality, interpersonal behavior, and psychopathology in a sample of undergraduates (n=238). Overall, the nomological networks of vulnerable and grandiose narcissism were unrelated. The current results support the need for a more explicit parsing of the narcissism construct at the level of conceptualization and assessment.
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Three Narcissism Scales for the California Q-set
Article
  • Mar 1992
Three observer-based narcissism scales were developed from factor scores based on a California Q-set (CAQ) narcissism prototype. Each of the three scales--Willfulness, Hypersensitivity, and Autonomy--correlated with observer and self-report narcissism measures in the derivation sample of 105 women and a cross-validation sample of 175 men and 175 women. California Psychological Inventory (CPI), Adjective Check List (ACL), and Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) correlates and partner ACL ratings suggested that the Willfulness scale represents self-assuredness, rebelliousness, and exhibitionism characteristic of overt or phallic narcissism. The correlates of the Hypersensitivity scale included depression and introversion along with rebelliousness and hostility, indicative of covert narcissism. The Autonomy scale was correlated positively with creativity, empathy, achievement-orientation, and individualism, and thus assesses a healthy variant of narcissism.
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