NARCISSISTIC RAGE 781 O'Leary,&Balkin,1989)and beliefs in one's own istic grandiosity does not p wide strong rt for th Sedikide th this sive”p.48.More ntly o idea that nar sistic grandiosity engenders shame:in fact. ve behavior itself,there is surprisingly little eistie rage are ba To be st liose individu edirectly and publi imag itsky.2010:Sedikide 1.2008:Sma ggre Talley aulhu 2010).Even unde Narcissistic Vulnerability as a Source of Na 2002s In order to marshal evidence for the narcissistic rage hypothesis or a critique.see fer Rueda.2009).As the and will thus be stronely linked to all the three core features of and social status and le ctor of e features.namel Rhodewalt.2001).it should not be ising that their of f laced aggressio who has just berated th ression?Only thre examined dis ability and grandiositys predictors of anger vulnerability 2003 Furth given that displaced stron ly with angr hostility et of sion should be J.D.Miller ps020 e) s(Krizan Johar,2012).Second,evidenc suggest tha (Barry et al 00 2009)In addition, nd t ediate the link bet 206:Reidy. high findings suggests the possibility that grandiose individuals" sity(n et al. 009).To our kn vulncrability an with ou han uncontrolled acts of rage osal that it is narc ility (rather than grandios ty)that is the seat of Summary NPI (Raskin Hal Overview of Studies grandiose narcissism predicts lower depression and anxiety (Sedikides, Rudich, Gregg, Kumashiro, & Rusbult, 2004; Wright, O’Leary, & Balkin, 1989) and beliefs in one’s own superiority rather than inferiority (Campbell, Rudich, & Sedikides, 2002; Krizan & Bushman, 2011). Second, when it comes to shame specifically, grandiosity is either unrelated or negatively related to shame responses (Gramzow & Tangney, 1992; Krizan & Johar, 2012; Pincus et al., 2009; Wright et al., 1989). In short, there is no evidence that narcissistic grandiosity engenders shame; in fact, evidence points to the contrary. Turning to aggressive behavior itself, there is surprisingly little evidence that grandiosity fuels rage-driven aggression. To be sure, grandiose individuals are more likely to aggress against others who have directly and publicly impeached their image of superiority and status (Bushman & Baumeister, 1998; Ferriday, Vartanian, & Mandel, 2011; Reidy et al., 2008; Smalley & Stake, 1996; Twenge & Campbell, 2003). However, there is little evidence that such aggression occurs in the absence of public ego threats (see Bet￾tencourt, Talley, Benjamin, & Valentine, 2006; Ferriday et al., 2011; Jones & Paulhus, 2010). Even under conditions of ego threat, it is not clear that the observed aggression is driven by anger (Bushman & Baumeister, 1998; Stucke & Sporer, 2002). In this vein, note that aggression in studies on narcissism is typically assessed with the Competitive Reaction Time Task (Taylor, 1967; for a critique, see Ferguson & Rueda, 2009). As the name implies, this task assesses competitive noise blasts throughout a course of a multitrial performance competition. Given grandiose individuals’ competitiveness and investment in social status and superiority (Campbell et al., 2000, 2002; Krizan & Bushman, 2011; Morf & Rhodewalt, 2001), it should not be surprising that their engage￾ment in a competitive task with a person who has just berated them motivates competitive noise blasting. Does grandiose narcissism promote displaced aggression? Only three studies examined dis￾placed aggression, and they provide conflicting findings (Bushman & Baumeister, 1998; Martinez, Zeichner, Reidy, & Miller, 2008; Twenge & Campbell, 2003). Furthermore, given that displaced aggression was always assessed with competition-based measures, the exact interpretation of the observed aggression should be tentative. Finally, we should note that narcissistically grandiose (but not vulnerable) individuals frequently report engaging in proactive, instrumental aggression, that is, deliberate acts of aggression that are used to further one’s social status or other goals, often by scheming or manipulating others (Barry et al., 2007; Fossati, Borroni, Eisenberg, & Maffei, 2010). In addition, grandiosity is related to sadism and unprovoked aggression, with enjoyment of aggression found to mediate the link between grandiosity and aggressive behavior (Buckels, Jones, & Paulhus, 2013; Girgis, 2006; Reidy, Foster, & Zeichner, 2010). Taken together, these findings suggests the possibility that grandiose individuals’ ag￾gressive responses to ego threat are deliberate means of asserting superiority and dominance or twisted games to be enjoyed, rather than uncontrolled acts of rage. Summary In short, existing evidence based on the NPI (Raskin & Hall, 1981) reveals weak and inconsistent links between (grandiose) narcissism and chronic anger or hostility, negative links with shame and inferiority, and little evidence for unrestrained or dis￾placed aggression. As a result, we conclude that evidence bearing on narcissistic grandiosity does not provide strong support for the idea of narcissistic rage. In accord with this sentiment, Costa and Widiger (1993) state that “narcissist is not particularly hostile... or even particularly aggressive” (p. 48). More importantly, we contend that many of these studies are not ideal tests of the narcissistic rage hypothesis, as they examine narcissism exclu￾sively in terms of narcissistic grandiosity. Measures of narcissistic grandiosity do not seem to capture individuals on which clinical accounts of narcissism and narcissistic rage are based, given gran￾diose individuals’ relative social adjustment, lack of depression and anxiety, and lack of treatment seeking (Corruble, Ginestet, & Guelfi, 1996; Peck, 1998; Pincus & Lukowitsky, 2010; Sedikides et al., 2004). This raises additional doubts about whether many existing studies of narcissism and aggression should be taken as tests of the narcissistic rage hypothesis in the first place. Narcissistic Vulnerability as a Source of Narcissistic Rage In order to marshal evidence for the narcissistic rage hypothesis, we looked to narcissistic vulnerability. We hypothesized that vul￾nerable narcissism will be a powerful predictor of rage reactions and will thus be strongly linked to all the three core features of narcissistic rage outlined earlier. In the paragraph below we briefly discuss existing evidence in support of our proposal that vulnera￾ble narcissism should be a key predictor of these features, namely, anger, shame, and reactive, as well as displaced aggression. We conclude with an overview of four studies we conducted that examined narcissistic rage as a function of narcissistic vulnerabil￾ity (in addition to grandiosity). First, investigations that directly contrasted narcissistic vulner￾ability and grandiosity as predictors of anger suggest vulnerability to be a stronger predictor. For example, vulnerability, relative to grandiosity, is associated more strongly with angry hostility (a facet of neuroticism), and with hostile and paranoid personality features (J. D. Miller & Campbell, 2008; J. D. Miller et al., 2011; Okada, 2010). Moreover, vulnerability is a stronger predictor of anger reported in response to hypothetical provocation scenarios (J. D. Miller et al., 2011; Okada, 2010), as well as hostile envy of others (Krizan & Johar, 2012). Second, evidence suggests that vulnerable narcissism predicts stronger shame responses, whereas grandiose narcissism actually predicts less shame (Krizan & Johar, 2012; Pincus et al., 2009); In addition, vulnerability is strongly associated with depressive reactions, a key feature of shameful experiences (Pincus et al., 2009; Tritt, Ryder, Ring, & Pincus, 2010). Third, those high on vulnerability are more likely to report generally engaging in aggressive behavior than those high on grandiosity (Pincus et al., 2009). To our knowledge, no published studies examined the link between vulnerability and displaced aggression. Regardless, these findings are consistent with our proposal that it is narcissistic vulnerability (rather than grandios￾ity) that is the seat of narcissistic rage. Overview of Studies To marshal evidence for the narcissistic rage hypothesis, four studies examined vulnerable narcissism as a predictor of anger and This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly. NARCISSISTIC RAGE 787